Check for humanity: The best and worst scenes of the World Cup
Dmitry Kurkin
The World Cup will surely be remembered not only sporting results, goals, points, seconds and the list of top scorers. Any event of this scale - millions of participants, billions of spectators, absolute cosmopolitanism (in the top ten countries whose residents bought the largest number of tickets turned out to be the USA and China, whose teams for the tournament were not selected at all) and the maximum representation is first and foremost a social experiment. An experiment that allows people to learn something about themselves and about other countries and cultures. Testing for humanity, albeit with predetermined parameters: on the one hand, by policemen who look at elemental festivities through their fingers, on the other hand by fraudsters who perceive the flow of tourists as a means of easy money.
The experiment is not cheap - it cost Russia 680 billion rubles, becoming the most expensive world championship in history, and it will pay off, according to some estimates, only fifty years later. And of course, not all of his results are encouraging: what is worth only the disgusting persecution and threats against Russian women for relationships (and most often for any contacts) with foreigners that has unfolded in social networks and local media. But he is experimenting that his negative results are also results. Data received, problems highlighted.
There is a week and four matches left until the end of the World Cup, many of the fans who have arrived have already left Russia, which means you can try to sum up the results of the tournament and recall its brightest plots.
Japanese fans and the art of maintaining cleanliness
A lot of viewers usually mean tons of garbage (see at least photos from most music festivals). But not in the case of the Japanese fans, who cleaned up after themselves after all four matches of their team in the championship, at the same time reminding the world of the “sozido” philosophy). While the rest were amazed at their cleanliness, the Japanese were surprised that it surprised someone: sozido - in a broad sense, the doctrine of how to keep clean and the space around them, and their minds - they are taught from school.
Acquaintance with sozi is not the first time, although it becomes a surprise every time: absolutely the Japanese also behaved four years ago in Brazil, and the locals even adopted a good habit after the end of the championship. The example turned out to be contagious this time too. At the Russian stadiums, the fans of Senegal national teams and, even in the last match, Russia, cleaned up the trash.
Harassment and Homophobia
Total shaming against Russian women by compatriots almost made them forget about the harassment and sexist tricks of visiting fans, but, alas, they also have to talk about them. The victims of harassment were both sports reporters (and live) and ordinary fans. At home, the “distinguished” fans were particularly hard-pressed for sexism (they were declared a “shame of the country” and for less offenses - for example, they brought alcohol through binoculars), and an Argentine fan was even punished by banning visiting matches.
Fears about the possible manifestations of homophobia in the Russian world championship turned out to be exaggerated, but even here it was not without scandals. So, after the match with Germany, FIFA issued a warning to Mexico, whose fans allowed themselves homophobic insults. In order not to run into more serious sanctions, the players of the national team intervened in the matter, urging the Mexicans to respect the opponents.
One for all and all for one
It does not matter which official boycotted the championship and who ultimately refused the boycott; The most famous fan, who did not come to the tournament, in a few days became a Mexican Javier. His wife did not let him go to Russia, and then the company of his friends decided to bring his growth figure with them. Cardboard Javier, of course, started a blog that documented all his movements in detail, immediately became a favorite of the public and, judging by the photos, had a great time in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Rostov-on-Don.
A much more tragic story happened to another Mexican fan, Gilberto Martinez. Shortly before the World Cup in a car accident, he lost his wife and two children. After that, the grieving man doubted whether to go to Russia, but Mexico’s goalkeeper, having learned about the tragedy of his compatriot, persuaded him not to cancel the trip, saying that he would devote his game at the championship to him and his family. Martinez agreed.
To commemorate the family, he took with him the IDs (Fan-ID) of each of the victims, traveled with them by train from Moscow to St. Petersburg (as his wife Veronika wanted), reached the Bolshoi Theater (as Martinez explained, his daughter Mia dreamed become a ballerina) and received an autograph from Brazilian striker Neymar (whom Gilberto's son, Diego adored). According to Martinez, who became the symbol of the Mexican national team in this tournament, the rituals helped him cope with the tragedy: “It was a difficult trip. It was not easy. But in the end, I think it was good. It helped me to become calmer. a problem that I did not have time to solve within the family. "
Football for all
Signed events happened not only in Russia, but also abroad. For example, on June 20, in Iran, women for the first time since 1979 were allowed to watch football matches of men's teams. If Iranian fans could even go to the stadiums before, then only in men’s clothes and with false beards: there is no official ban on visiting women in the Islamic republic, but until recently it was severely condemned by the country's religious authorities. Of course, the fans who came after the Iranian national team to Russia, of course, had no such restrictions.
The historic treaty was reached on the eve of the championship, but before the first game of Iran with Morocco, the authorities almost outplayed it, citing "organizational problems", which caused another wave of protests from Iranian women. For the second match of the group stage, they finally got their way.
He needs it more
Fans with disabilities on football are usually treated with great attention - this is not only the official FIFA policy, but also the unwritten code of mutual support among fans. But even against this background, the act of the founder of What Pushes You Foundation, Able Vera, stands out. Once in the Moscow fan zone, he saw a Russian fan moving in a very old wheelchair and decided to give him his own chair worth 10 thousand dollars.
“Why should I keep 3-4 chairs in the house when I know that someone in Moscow needs it more,” Vera explained. “We did this today. We met this guy. He was so happy when he moved to a new chair. His smile, the way he sat, rode, touched and looked at him - like a child. "
