Avoidable Exhuberance

For the German football team it was time for euphoria, a long drawn trophy drought finally got over and their years of planning, after many frustrating hiccups, had borne fruit. For the clinically efficient Mannschaft it was time to loosen up and unwind a bit. But it ended up taking a wrong step.

The gauchos dance ridiculing Argentina during their victory parade in Berlin brought out a rare glimpse of cockiness, which the team did not display throughout the tournament. It does not behove a football team of its stature to get carried away in such a manner. The more troubling aspect was that senior players like Miroslav Klose too took part in that gig.

Germany has a troublesome history of aggressive nationalism which led the world to second world war. The Nazi swastika and the portrait of tooth brush moustached Hitler are still seen as ultimate symbols of intolerance and tyranny. However, since the world war it has been trying to cultivate an image of a tolerant country trying to live down its horrific anti-Semitic past. Hence even a minute display of intolerance makes the world nervous. If the same gig were done by soccer players of a country like say Australia nobody would have raised an eyebrow. Remember how Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn shooed off the then BCCI chief, Sharad Pawar, from the stage in 2006 after the Champions Trophy presentation.

This was indeed a temporary blip in the otherwise sterling performance for which the team had won its goodwill for being a multi-cultured, well-knit unit with deep bench strength. Even while it massacred Brazil in the semi finals, there was no chest thumping exuberance. In fact the players and the coach had stopped any display of jubilation after the third goal was scored.

Hence this was indeed a misstep they could have avoided.