Language that unites” “

OPEN CHURCHES IN PORTUGAL. Not only slogans and stadium choirs are accompanying the European soccer championships: the fans arriving from all over Europe will also find at Aveiro – one of the Portuguese towns where the matches are being played – the churches open at unusual hours (from 13.00 to 20.00), thanks to the service of young and elderly volunteers. The project, announced by the Portuguese press agency “Ecclesia”, is called “Churches open to the public”. Its aim is to “permit the use of the Church’s huge religious patrimony” and “encourage contemplation and spirituality”. The Portuguese Church had already expressed its views on the soccer championships last November, in a statement with the title “Sport at the service of the development of the person and the meeting between peoples”. The statement points out not only the positive values of sport, but also “the dark sides” of a “media-based sport like football. Among these negative features – called “social sins” – the Portuguese bishops identify “the exaggerated commercialisation of the sporting phenomenon” and the “lack of transparency in contracts”: “In practice, football, in many cases, ceases to be a ‘game’ and becomes an industry instead. In this way it loses its ludic and humanizing value and is transformed into a competition of artists paid their weight in gold, who offer a spectacle of high commercial value but often deprived of feeling and soul”. Among the “darker sides” of sport the Portuguese bishops also cite the use of “banned chemical substances”, the “factory of ‘player idols manipulated by impresarios, “the pressure on the referees”, and the violence in the stadia. For this reason they hope that “Euro 2004” may be “a celebration of life”, “an occasion to strengthen dialogue between peoples” and “a contribution to build a Europe united on the values of the dignity of man”. The bishops conclude their message by making a series of appeals: to the sportsmen, that they respect “the values of loyalty, solidarity, good behaviour and respect for others”; to the managers, that “they be the guardians of the true meaning of football”; to the journalists “that they fulfil their duty to inform the public and avoid fomenting conflicts and tensions in public opinion”; and to the fans in general, that “they discover in football a healthy entertainment, an expression of art and beauty, a celebration of dialogue and not a “factor of conflict”. A TELEVISION COMMENTATOR’S VIEWS. The most familiar face and voice of the Italian commentators covering the championships in Portugal, BRUNO PIZZUL says: “The language of sport is universal. In this sense the European football championships can be, in their way, a means of bringing the peoples of the continent closer together”. Is this tournament imbued with an atmosphere of “European unity”? “Teams from all over Europe have descended on Portugal. Each speaks its own language; each comes with its own national dress; each demands to be able to eat its own national dishes. It seems a festive Babel. Yet, as soon as the referee blows his whistle, they all suddenly understand each other: the game itself and the fans on the terraces are the same everywhere. I would go even further: players that belong to football clubs in all the countries of Europe are present in the national teams. The players tour the continent, they exchange know-how and experiences. Each club thus becomes a European microcosm, where various languages, customs and even religions are encountered. This too is one of the characteristics of football today. In short, the teams may appear at heart like little laboratories of European integration”. Everywhere people play ball, but… “Sport inherently has a positive significance, but of course it depends on how it is practiced, how it is lived. Various sports have unfortunately renounced some basic principles of inspiration, first and foremost its disinteredness. Football at certain levels suffers from this aspect: that also goes for Italy. And yet there are hundreds of thousands of athletes, of all ages and all levels, who play football, who enjoy playing basketball, swimming, skiing and many other sports; who play sport to enjoy themselves, to be together with others, to learn the importance of effort and sacrifice. It’s in this that the universality of the language of sport consists. This is what 2004, indicated by the European Union as the European Year of Education through Sport, hopes to teach, and it’s the same spirit that inspires so many small societies, associations and church-run youth clubs in which, not by chance, so many champions have developed. I am convinced that it is possible to grow in humanity through sport: it is healthy for the body and for the mind. Its social and ethical potential needs to be fostered. We mustn’t only have eyes for the top sporting events”. ———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1305 N.ro relativo : 45 Data pubblicazione : 17/06/04