Passion- is it all that?

Passion.

 strong and barely controllable emotion:

 an intense desire or enthusiasm for something:

These are two of the definitions for passion in the Oxford Dictionary. The second one in particular is the one I would associate best with the word.

It is a word which is fast becoming one of my pet hates because of its overuse in football. This idea that having passion will automatically give you success just makes me squirm, and inspired by a quite brilliant late night discussion last night, I felt I had to address my concerns.

Whilst I’d often identify Italy as being the country of passion through iconic figures such as Ferrari, the Italian accent and the Ultras/Tifosi, the UK is quickly trying to wrestle this tag away from the Italians.

Let’s start with the idea that passion wins you football games. England, as we know, had an underwhelming and below expectations World Cup in 2010, winning just 1 of 4 games and going out with a 4-1 hiding to the Germans. OK fair enough, those Germans were technically brilliant (and a shocking referring decision thrown in there). We couldn’t break down a resilient Algerian side, whilst our keeper threw one in against the USA.

Rob Green lacking the passion….. or was he just lacking the skill?

Yet all you heard from media outlets and fans was that the team were a disgrace, showed no PASSION, no heart, no desire, no commitment… nothing. Fabio Capello, the brilliant coach he proved to be, was axed in somewhat disgrace.

How about just saying we were technically rubbish?

I played in a staff vs pupils game at school for charity. I was rubbish- stemming from the fact I’m totally unfit and haven’t played football for ages, as much as I love the game. Within 5 minutes, I was shattered, so I couldn’t track back. I had no impact on the game, but was I lacking passion? No. I was just not good enough!

England’s national team will continue to ‘fail’ at every major tournament until this idea of passion, and not skill, wins matches, is a complete myth. Think back to when we destroyed a class Dutch team at Euro 96, or hammered Germany in Munich, did we win because we were more passionate? No, we just played football from the Gods against what became demoralized opposition.

And please don’t tell me San Marino players lack passion, despite only winning ONE international fixture (1-0 against Liechtenstein)

The Germans racking up another in their 13-0 win over San Marino… an obvious lack of passion from the 3 San Marino players in shot

Listening to radio phone-ins as I do, you’ll hear the latest new signing or managerial appointment being greeted with optimism by the club’s fans. i bet you almost all of them mention “He’ll bring passion back to the club” or words to that extent. Give me strength…

Only in England can talented players like Dimitar Berbatov be lambasted and ridiculed for ‘not giving a toss’ yet an honest lad without that natural flair, like a “Scotty” Parker, is highly sought-after and seen as a golden asset by fans and the media alike.

Look how the passionate Scotty Parker completely negates the disinterested waster that is Berbatov

Paolo di Canio was lauded at Sunderland during his brief, but explosive spell in charge there. He was a passionate person. One who wore his heart on his sleeve, but for Sunderland to appoint him on that basis, knowing that he was unproven as a top level manager, was a huge error of judgement. Gus Poyet has only just got them out of the mess he put them in.

I don’t think I would ever question any Boston players’ commitment levels, their passion or their desire. There are days where we are ineffective, seemingly have no idea how to break the opposition down, or simply our players collectively have a nightmare- there were plenty of them last season. But to say they lack passion, they don’t want to play for the shirt/badge…. I’m sorry, I’m no having that. They’re all passionate footballers, they’re in this profession because of it. There’s nothing wrong with just being rubbish or inferior to the opposition.

But to close, I’ll show you my definition of passion.

Rubin Kazan fans making a 5,000 mile journey to Wigan for a Europa League tie on a Thursday night

Thanks For Reading,

Josh