The ball strikes the bar and bounces inside the line and then out. The goal Keeper flounders like a fish out of water, is it a goal? Who knows, it’s at the referees discretion, depending on the referee’s line of sight, how he/she is feeling and not necessarily the facts. Welcome to football.

Football A game of inches

To many the game of football is more than a game, it is a religion. There is so much that hinges on just one game, to the point that it will make or break how a supporter feels the entire day or week. I myself remember saying, i don’t care what happens today, so long as my team wins. Even if the performance wasn’t the best, the final result is what mattered the most.

Football isn’t just about emotions for many, it is also a business, a very big business. With billions invested in the game, there is a lot at stake. With all that being said, all that is at risk, so much hinging on the 90 minutes, the most incredible part about it all is that it can take just one inch between the ball hitting the cross bar and bouncing in or out, or a linesman (assistant referee) putting his/her flag up for offside or not, as was the case in this weeks top of the table clash at Stamford Bridge, where Manchester United’s Chicharito came back from an offside position to poach the game winning goal and to add insult to injury, the referee gave Fernando Torres a controversial second yellow card for diving. Last season’s English Premier League winners Manchester City won it not just on the last day, but in the last seconds of overtime. In fact they were 2-1 down with minutes to go, but with two very very late goals won the game and claimed the title. If the referee had decided to give 3 minutes instead of 4 minutes, Manchester United would now be our current English Premier League champions.

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Again, there is so much at stake, many decisive factors outside the control of the player, like the referee and how they view a tackle or the motive of a player. So much resting on a game in terms of emotions, money, even people’s lives. And this is our game, football, a game that comes down to a matter of inches. It is a very fine line. A fine line between success and failure. A fine line between getting promoted, relegated, winning and losing titles, and inevitably it is the fine line between a player getting a pay rise or not having their contract renewed. A miss timed tackle that will take a player out for a season, if the player got to the ball a second sooner or later, an inch here or there, he/she misses the challenge, no broken leg and nothing to discuss.

Football, is like life sometimes, a missed job interview, the love of your life looking the other way at exact moment she/he could have been looking in your direction, or on the other hand, you get to an interview and the better applicant misses it. Football is like life sometimes which is why we love it. It gives us hope, inspires us, it can also screw up our week. That is why we love it.