BY FITSUM GETACHEW
The final act of life is always death and this has been accepted by all humans because ‘man is mortal’ is an undeniable truth, a fact of life. And so, anyone who may have had the greatest of lives while alive is inevitable that they too die at a certain age. The big point here is that man should do all the best throughout one’s life. The question arises ‘what has he or she done in life?” And we have come to see infinite times people dying even if we would have liked them to live for infinite years.
Across the years we have seen magnificent ‘actors of life’ in all professions die at a certain age and we have lost some at a very early age and grieved lot thinking about what we lost. But when we see that people die after doing everything they could do in a wonderful manner, in their entire lifetime, our sorrow gets very much diluted because we rather celebrate their life going back to the wonderful memories they leave us rather than get buried in sorrow and grief. We recognize that they have given us the maximum during their lives.
When I think of the Great Pele, the King of Football, I find it less agonizing than the death of someone who could have written more wonderful chapters in his or her profession or career. The grand Pele has given us everything he could during his lifetime and he has lived as the ambassador of the beautiful game throughout his life. No football player has ever achieved what he has done and will probably be unreachable even in the times that will come.
Winning three world cups for one footballer can only be a dream and winning it with exceptional performances is yet another extra achievement, and Pele has done exactly that. That is why he has deserved the appellative ‘the Greatest of All Times’, the ‘King of Football’, the ‘Brazilian Legend’ and many more others. During his more than two decade career Pele has graced the pitches of football with wonderful displays of exquisite football scoring unbelievable goals and he was spectacular even during his misses.
Many people say football owes Pele a lot because this sport would not have achieved the popularity it has gained had it not been for Pele’s outstanding achievements, his exceptional performances from the very early days of his life. He was synonymous with football and every great player wanted to measure their feet with Pele. Every football player wanted to be called Pele and in fact whenever we see some young talent exploding we would immediately compare him with Pele even knowing that comparing any football player with Pele would be a long shot.
Pele has done a lot to his country Brazil because football became the national sport of the country that would drive people mad. He served as the ambassador of his country more than anyone else and created the myth that football is an art in Brazil and it was not only about scoring goals or winning alone. The very presence of Pele on the pitch was a guarantee that there would be spectacle.
Long before the kinds of ‘current kings’ such as the Argentinians Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi emerged and filled the air with all sorts of media, Pele was the only player that could be put head and shoulders above each and every immortal of football also because he reigned for so many years and won so many trophies. He began at the tender age of 15 when many of us would be playing in our neighborhood’s playgrounds among youths of our village and we would be satisfied. But Pele was already a world celebrity at that age having shined at the world stage, the maximum stage of international football, holding high up the World Cup for his country. What is more, he has scored two goals at the final with Sweden and became a legend since then.
That was in 1958! We have seen footages of the 1958 world cup when the Swedes themselves were applauding him for the goals he scored or the dribbling and other gestures he carried out during the encounter. He drove Brazil crazy and millions expressed their delight and admiration for their team and particularly for their legend Pele. Since then Brazil and football became synonymous and if there are millions of people across the world who support Brazil at the world cup events it is also because the myth was planted by the great Pele.
After Sweden 1958 Pele had two other occasions of lifting the famous trophy in 1962 and 1970 when he was in fact a very mature and complete sportsman. He showed how complete a footballer he was by jumping high up excelling his Italian marker Facchetti who was much taller than Pele was and scoring a goal. Everyone was amazed by such an exploit. The game itself ended 4-1 for Brazil against Italy. In fact in many football images we see that famous jump and the outstanding precision of his kicks.
Pele has delighted the football fans of the world with his exceptional performances and was the most famous Brazilian ever thanks to his history of three world cups. If Pele was born in this generation it would be interesting to guess how much he would be worth when we hear young footballers with talent being worth millions of dollars. It was only at the end of his career that Pele went to the US and was called to popularize football in that country with Cosmos. It was years that famous footballers from all of the world would travel to the US not only to continue with their vocation at a slow pace but also to earn lots of dollars that they would not earn back home.
Pele did attract a lot of attention in the US and was used to publicize lots of products with lavish payments. Today, footballers are paid immense fees for their performance but also for the sponsorship they get from huge companies such as Adidas and Nike or soft drinks such as Pepsi. It was the likes of Pele who initiated this commercial exploits and further popularized football in the entire world.
There are few people who do not know the name Pele because he is beyond a sporting personality and since we were kids we identified football excellence with Pele and this is thanks to his achievements. What is exceptional also about Pele is that we never heard bad things about him such as we hear nowadays with certain football players involved in some undesirable activities. Pele hence can also be considered as a morally decent person despite the attractions he may be subjected to.
In Ethiopia Pele has always been identified with football and with Brazil and that is why millions of Ethiopians are fans of Brazil in every football world cup. True today there is the challenge of Argentina but the five time champions are always more attractive than Argentina. Maradona and Messi have narrowed the gap but by far Brazil has the upper hand when we talk of football.
Even if Brazil does produce scores of excellent players every season and we can mention currently people such as Neymar Jr and Vinicius Jr. no one dares compare them with the great Pele and Brazil has yet to produce another Pele. Pele may have passed but his works are immortal and his name will always be mentioned whenever and wherever football lives. That is why FIFA the world football governing body has honored him with the Footballer of the Century in 2000.
The Ethiopian Herald January 4/2023
