‘Weeping at Vasermil’: players, fans and tears

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper deals with the weeping of football players and fans during a game when some unexpected or extremely emotional event occurs, such as winning the championship, or being demoted to a lower division. Several decades ago, neither players nor fans dared to express their emotions by weeping in public, nor by hugging and kissing. Football (soccer) was considered ‘a man’s game’ and men don’t cry. In victory or in failure men restrain themselves – they did not shed tears. In recent decades things changed. When an extreme event occurs on the pitch, players and/or fans express their emotions and weep in public. This behavioural change on the football pitch seems to stem from changes in the cultural environment: The macho man skin has gotten thinner. The ‘new man’, the metrosexual, has replaced the ‘old man’; he is now allowed, even encouraged, to cry. The case study for this paper is the specific event of Hapoel Beer Sheva F.C. game in May 1998, where the result would decide whether the team survives in the senior division or be demoted to the second one. The club lost in the nineteenth minute. A heavy silence descended upon the terraces. The players collapsed on the pitch, covering their faces with their hands. Suddenly a crying voice: a young boy sat and sobbed – weeping for all of us.