by: Samuel “Pro’z” Sokale.
The round leather game is supposedly the most patronised
and enjoyed sports in the globe with millions of viewers,
thousands of gamblers, team fans and haters, thus heralding
surplus direct and indirect investments by global and national
brands, which in turn places the game on a sport-business
pedestal. Its a uniting religion among races, ages, tribes,
continents and even gender. infact, countries like Brazil and
Argentina, i learnt, worship football through an illusory god of
soccer.
Personally,I sometimes deliberately excuse the comfort of my
apartment to go see football matches in public viewing
stations, because of the interments in forms of comments,
heated arguments and spites exchanged among viewers. A
sort of embellishments to the whole game, that makes
Football super-interesting and keeps one embroided.
The Euro 2016/Portugal Episode…
Submissively, i am not a fervent football follower (i am sure i
stated that in my most previous article).But YES! i see
important matches like Finals, especially if it involves highly
percieved underdog teams, that altered supporter’s beliefs to
emerge victorious.
Its no gainsaying that 90% of football followers who watched
the opening games of the Euro 2016, did not see a strand of
Championiship in the Portuguese team. in short, If you ask
me, i never saw them making it to the knockout stages not to
talk of the Finals. of course, they finished as the Best Loser in
their group but how they managed to
woefully babble to the
finals and emerge champions is one thought-provoking
occurence that inspired this piece. maybe Because they
worked hard? but could they have been the most hardworking
of all the contigents. Oh! perhaps they are the most dogged,
commited and ambitious? Am sure other teams were not their
to hawk zobo nor wear jerseys in the name of football
fashion. They all had common goals and were poised to
sacrifice whatever it requires to retain the trophy.
Apparently, The Portuguese squad was not a galaxy of
players in comparison to Argentina, Spain, Germany, Italy and
the co-finalist, France. and also they couldnt have been so
dogged and determined, than the whole of the participants in
the tourney considering the doggedness of the Belgians,
Walsh and team Iceland but the transition from the
tournament’s underdog to the tournament’s champions, in my
own thinking transcends the obvious and its a function of
what i called “Spirit of excellence”. It is basically divine and to
a large extent spiritual, Which breaks the protocol of
hardwork, smartwork, crazy work, stubborn work and what
have you.
We have heared and seen people with no enviable
background or even without academic qualifications making
great exploits and setting paces. Around us, there are
individuals that have once been regarded as underdogs in
their fields or career but just within the blink of an eye, things
turned around for them and today, they are role models. Its
not just about hardwork or strongwork, but its because GOD
has installed in them, the “Spirit of excellence” software that
doesnt bow to the Hardware of “hardwork” but rather work
with it. Havent we seen some people that has being on a
particular chosen field with nothing to show forth? Also, there
are some people who trailed the same field path,Just in few
years, and are being fulfilled already.
The world today is filled with conscious youths, amongst
which a handful value hardwork than GOD’s work. They
believe more in their productivity and less in Divinity, Hence
the street slogan “Hustle hard till your name becomes a
sentence, hustle hard till your acct number becomes a phone
number, hardwork pays, No sleep till hustle pays” amongst
others. If you ask me, all these slangs/quotes are quite
motivational and inspiring, but trust me, Nothing in the
physical is possible without the proper spiritual blend.
Hardwork is good, Yes. but imagine a world where everyone
has graduated into an hardworker towards common goals,
Definitely, the competition would be stiff and more
demanding, Crisis and hate will surface as the quest for
survival deepens.
But the only way to corner this, is to understand the need for
the “spirit of excellence” in one’s endeavour. Relegating this
and not according due consideration to it, is likened to
Driving a car without proper service as at when due.Yes, the
car will function but not as it is meant to and the car might
just pack-up one day for elusive reasons.
I may not confidently ascribe the Portuguese Victory to the
lone function of “spirit of excellence” but i can categorically
tell you its basically as a result of “spirit of excellence”. Like
other contigents, They trained hard, they were determined,
they were committed, they prayed well too but guys, its not
only about “who sabi pass, who fit do am well, or who perfect
pass”, its more of who GOD Ordains for excellence. As un-
cordinated as the team was they excelled beyond every battle
to slide into glory.
For a while now, I seek ways to share this piece with a
germane analogy until last night. I know some hard hustlers/
hard workers have been on the street for a while now but cant make an head way despite so much effort. Probably
they do not understand that, To workhard and smart is good
but the truth is hardwork only, will progress you, while
hardwork or hustle coupled with the spirit to excel will propel
your progress. Even if one is extremely sure to be doing one’s
purpose on earth, the spirit of excellence is still vital because
there may be many individuals with such purpose and talents
on earth as well.
Thank you for your time, I hope this piece made it to your
heart and soul.
You can connect me on Facebook: Samuel Sokale,
Twitter,
Instagram and snapchat: @o_proz, @thaglyph.
