Hated. Adored. Never Ignored
I think that Manchester United, since I was young - and I'm not just saying this because I'm here; I'm an honest guy, and I never lie - I think it's the biggest club in England. That's what I think.
~ Alexis Sanchez
You probably think this is a piece about that one English football club. Disclaimer: it actually is, but through a little-not-so-little girl's eyes, approximately 10,000 km away from Europe. This is an ongoing story of how a once-labelled yo-yo club is unknowingly saving lives, one game at a time.
Her story with the Reds began around 19 years ago, during her formative years, when a man's worship sparked her interest. An apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and in all honesty, the relationship she had with her father made the apple in question seem like it was attached to the tree at the hip, without ever detaching itself. Their thought process was, and still is, very similar. From simple things like how animations are made to trivial matters like understanding the nature of the World Wars! She had an internal craving to share a brain with her father, which meant she craved to be part of the thrill that United gave him. As a boomer, he probably enjoyed a bit of the Busby Babes victory stories, and this meant that he would grow up to actually watch the Ferguson years and bathe in the glory that is Manchester United.
As a girl, football sounded like a crazy thing to be interested in, but because she saw it through her sire's eyes, she had a deep connection to the game. Football nights were some of her favourite childhood moments. They were quite interesting for sure! Mum would place the food on the table, and all three of them would be glued to the TV. One understood the game; the other would always say a prayer for the injured players; and the other would be very clueless and only celebrate when suspect number one shouted, "Goal!" as the ball hit the white net. These memories never left her. She might not have known it then, but for her, they meant a stable two-parent home, where she was loved by a caring mother and an enthusiastic father. According to her, life would always be okay.
I guess retirement is contagious because little miss, "I love Manchester United," got other interests and forgot all about the game. She got new friends who weren't her parents; she was no longer the homebody who would have a blast with the two 'oldies' who raised her; she was now a grown-ass babe who could make her own decisions and suffer the consequences without having a buffer. Football, altogether with the Red Devils, became a thing of the past for her. Or so she thought.
"Glory Glory Man United...” 22nd August 2022. The bloody Devils beat Liverpool 2-1!
How does she know this? Didn't she leave football alone? Hasn't it been like 9 years since she cared about the game? Questions, Eights, Questions.
“GGMU!”That wakes her. Not that she was physically asleep, but there's a specific type of slumber that she's awakened from. Her eyes well up, and in the moment, she can't explain why. She's surrounded by her friends, whom she invited over to her house to dine and chill, and they decided to watch the game, but all of a sudden she feels like she's the only one in that cramped University 'living room'. Out of nowhere, she feels alive after being a walking corpse for so long. A sense of peace engulfs her. She's actually flabbergasted by the wave of sadness that rises from her chest and into a locked compartment in her brain!
"Meilar, Meilar, Meilar!" She's taken out of her head and into reality by someone intensely begging for her attention.
"Yes?" She sniffles
"Is everything okay?" They ask
...
How does she answer? How can she explain what her brain cannot immediately comprehend? How can she start talking about how the chants took her back home, to a state of normalcy? Of hope? What words can she use to explain that, in that moment of disappearance from the world, she saw a little girl enjoy a United game in her childhood living room, with her mother and father sitting across from each other, sharing a meal and having no other care in the world? How would they understand? How could they feel the emptiness that she felt for years before that exact moment, because the one who served the meal had been brutally taken away from her, changing the dynamic of her entire family, and this one moment brought her some comfort? How would they understand?
"Yeah. Ni kitunguu tu." (It's the onion's fault) She lies, drops the knife, and decides to watch the game to completion. Dinner preparations end there; take-out is ordered, and Bruno gets the attention he deserves. Football weekends are brought back to life, her Old Trafford dream is revived, and she's hell-bent on forever seeing Manchester being red. With every game, she feels her mum's heart, her dad's roar, and most importantly, her sense of belonging.
"Take me home, United road
To the place I belong, To Old Trafford, To see United
Take me home, United road
Take me home, United road."
Who would have thought that watching men in red toss a ball across a field would give a human being purpose? Make one desire to live again? Tap into one's peace and yank it to the surface? Not me! But through this girl's story, one thing is clear;
Life isn't perfect, but when United play, it suddenly makes sense
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