The inherent nature of competition stems from winning and losing. You’re pitting yourself against others to see who’s better at something, in this case sports. In every competition, people can play fairly and try to remain polite, but there’s always a little joy in winning and a little sting in losing. Amplify these feelings onto a national level; this includes audience members with no sense of professionalism, and you get the raving joy of victory and the crushing anger of loss.
One of the few ways the world interacts with each other is through their shared love of sports like soccer. We held the FIFA World Cup this year, where the best soccer teams in each country went head-to-head. It’s a volatile time in the name of sports. Nearly every soccer fan in the world was watching; people were rooting for their countries to win, with uproarious cheer in every game whenever someone got a goal.
This spread to the internet, where people set up camp for their favorite teams or just used the winning team as a reason to dunk on a losing team. No matter who won and lost, there were people who wanted to display toxicity by dunking on the loser.
There was a widespread movement of people cheering for Argentina’s downfall because of their country’s poor reputation and national identity surrounding their soccer prowess. Many brought external factors in, such as their currency value dropping below some video game currencies.
This toxicity also isn’t good for fans who want to travel across countries to cheer for their team; it’s like cheering for an away team in someone else’s stadium. Most other people will root against you and even get pushy if they’re close. That’s why these away fans have their own designated sections in stadiums.
I’m not going to say cool it down, because even if people claim themselves to be grown adults, the idea that a grown adult means you’re mature is one of the biggest fabrications mankind has ever made. I just want people to look out for this toxicity and be aware that the spirit of competition can consume you. Don’t let it.
