Pope Francis: the beauty of sport as the main way to promote peace and unity

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23 October 2020Source of inspiration, example of virtue and righteousness, with their action sportsmen, both at a competitive and amateur level, have always left a deep imprint on us all in growth. A real educational and social function, sport, source of common good and well-being, which with its rules and regulations, helps to better understand the meaning of life, influences culture, trends and behaviors. In the Nice Declaration signed in the distant year 2000, the European Council, worried about the exasperated commercial interest in sporting competitions at every level, committed the member countries to promote essential social, educational and cultural values.

As a good Argentine,

has a sympathy for the practice of sport, and since the beginning of his pontificate he has met sportsmen and representatives of the various disciplines, often underlining their great educational responsibility: to encourage, through coherence in life, young people to become great inside, and maybe even champions in life.

Thinking of children and adolescents, he urges professionals to experience sport as a gift from God, an opportunity to multiply talents.

Sport, understood as the only source of inexhaustible notoriety, economic recognition and prestige distorts its true function with the risk of considering the person as an object that feeds the culture of waste.

A vision, in the long run, that opens the doors to corruption: the abuse of doping to enhance performance, keeping up with the challenges posed by an exasperatingly competitive and individualistic system sooner or later degenerates into violence.

Alex Zanardi asked himself the question about the meaning of well-being: luck, success, money, or rather knowing how to satisfy one's soul by really understanding what to do in life?

"Sports practice - recalls the pontiff in a meeting with the Italian Swimming Federation - in fact educates to be loyal, honest, to cultivate simplicity, a sense of justice, self-control: virtues not only for those who practice sports, but more properly of man ".

As a former soccer player and fan of the San Lorenzo de Almagro team in Argentina, Francesco is a supporter in particular of good football, of sport as a moment of encounter and tolerance, human and spiritual growth: "Like religion - he says - sport is capable of generating values ​​and growth in the human being, enhancing his life ".

Oriented towards good, it does not feed on envious rivalry or hatred between violent supporters.

And therefore "no one is able to win alone, nor on the playing field, much less in life".

It calls parents to collaborate in transmitting to their children a mentality based on play, on gratuitousness and sociality, to encourage them in difficult moments, especially those of defeat.

The bench is not a humiliation, but an opportunity to grow and an opportunity for someone else ”.

We met 

, President of the Italian Cricket Federation, a sport that has been practiced in our country since the end of the 18th century.

Values ​​and principles of this discipline, the promotion of the integration of different cultures, the fairness of the game on and off the pitch.  

Awareness of one's origins and cultural roots in the world of Cricket is fundamental: there is a strong sense of belonging, respect for the rules of the game and for the opponent, a respect for the other that has been lost in Europe.

Ours is a sport that requires a lot of teamwork.

The protagonists of our discipline are mostly foreigners, often second generation children, hard workers, who do not hold back on anything and with a strong sense of family, with a character also aligned with our customs.

Their parents immigrated to Italy years ago to help families in their countries of origin.

Cricket as such proposes a positive model for young people, a style of behavior dictated by the rules of good living within society, very British.

The International Federation also pushes a lot on this aspect, even on a global level.

In Italy it is still a little known sport, perhaps precisely because it offers many rules, we must set a good example.

This, of course, creates a mindset and leads to a greater commitment in life. 

At this precise moment I think it is really necessary to go back to talking and living more of the values ​​in sport.

The idea that sport is only necessary to maintain health and looking good is really reductive.

Sport is good for the mind when it teaches us to discipline ourselves in a certain way, for life.

Having a sense of respect for the rules of the game in sports makes us more capable of accepting a system of rules, for the well-being of inner and social life.

If in society it is now essential, for the good of all, to use a mask, what a mask it is.

I had to impose a very rigid protocol to be able to continue the national championship, I found myself in much less difficulty than I originally expected from my athletes.

In the world of cricket there is a greater respect and human relationship between people.

For us this already represents a way to start over differently. 

We must never lose sight of the fact that sport is ultimately a piece of life, even if we tend to see it in a central way.

In certain situations I have heard from some of my colleagues claiming the autonomy of sport and its importance for the economic sector.

However, it must be remembered that sport cannot be more central than other sectors, such as education or public health.

We must not forget the playful and recreational aspect of sport, which embraces the fun part of common living.

There are many other important aspects that contribute to excellence and to make an athlete reach the top.

There are millions of people working in the sector, they are also athletes but they don't earn the football figures.

So sport must remain fun, an integral part of life and participates in the growth of the individual and above all a bridge to promote peace and unity.  

The family is of great importance.

Parents are the first to stimulate their children to practice sports, and not necessarily only from the context in which one moves.

I myself was encouraged at the time by my parents to develop my sporting passion.

The family has a fundamental role in the formation and transmission of values, in respect for the opponent and for the rules.

There are athletes who in the past have been excellent in their disciplines and who today are excellent managers thanks to the values ​​learned in the family and in sport.

Parents play an important role, as an example of life, both in sport and in everyday life. 

There is a risk that the sporting result influences private life and one's happiness.

I think we should aim to simply be happy, do certain things regardless of any result, then enjoy the opportunity to play sports.

The football players who are overpaid today, even the less known, earn figures that are certainly not comparable with an average salary in Italy.

I think they should be more than satisfied that life has allowed them to earn their living by playing football, doing what they like best, regardless of the result they achieve.

So we have to work on humility.

I can say that Cricket brings together new and traditional values, the ones that once gave prestige in Europe, being a gentleman above all is more important than prizes and money.

The idea of ​​having to win at all costs empties sporting practice of its most noble and educational content, central, or at least for our discipline.

Personally, even at the end of a lost game, I have never felt depressed, indeed I was happy to have played, and I believe that Cricket in this sense has a lot to teach.

Incorrect behavior, attacking an opponent or protesting with the referee, but also any misconduct in ordinary life, in the British world is defined as That's not Cricket, it's not Cricket.

As for business, it would be better to keep it as far as possible on the sidelines.

Having a beer, sharing food among good friends, when everyone is able to enjoy this positive moment, sport becomes a common good.

Then, if I make a team grow economically, as is happening now in the Federation in some situations, it doesn't hurt, and we reach a level where people can choose whether to live from Cricket or play without losing sight of the playful aspect.  

I believe that cricket can teach respect above all: between people and for the rules, but also for diversity.

I have seen India and Pakistan play, which have been at war for over 30 years, and on the pitch the players compare themselves as friends.

We can learn so many positive things from the world of sports!

Cricket has shown that it knows how to promote not only its values, fairness on the pitch, the fair play of gentlemen's sport, but also the integration between peoples, races, cultures, respect, and therefore… other than the main road.

If we looked at all things more positively, life would become simpler.

http://www.crickitalia.org/