Growing up, one does not usually wish to read the books assigned to them in classes. The texts describing vague historical events do not tend to illuminate the mind of the average young boy and girl. Personally, growing up the books I sought to read were the life narratives of my heroes: sports figures & those in the inside loop. But are these life narratives a legitimate sub-genre? Are they even worth a read?
The debate as to wether life narratives of sports personalities are purely ‘trashy’ fiction to be read by the masses, or valuable insights into some of the most recognisable faces on this planet can be easily debated.
Paolo Di Canio, for those who are not supporters of football (soccer, futbol, as you will), Canio is an outspoken Italian sports personality who never fails to make headlines with his antics. His life narrative is a truly amazing insight to this man of outrageous temper and Italian flair His younger days of partying before training and the explanations for his actions immerse the reader in the world of a world superstar.
The opposite however, can be said for the life narrative of several other ‘authors’. Many life narratives of sport have put me into a lull, and seem to drag on. This is when the debate as to wether life narratives of these (clearly non-qualified) authors are even worth a read. It is true that they offer little humanitarian, economic, or social influence, but are merely stories. It is also true that many may read said narratives solely to hear the ‘dirt’ dished out by the authors.
However, one must also consider the fact that these narratives are escapes. As a kid I wanted to read about my heroes and how they felt the butterflies in their stomaches before the final, or how they spent hours after training learning to take the perfect free kick.
My favourite life narrative of sport does not, however, come from a superstar. It does not come from an agent, an owner or a coach. It comes from the kit-man of my favourite soccer team Tottenham Hotspur. In Shirts, Shorts and Spurs ,Roy Reyland details how the players that I grew up watching cried, screamed, and celebrated together. It details how Muslim players used to pray in his small and cramped kit room during Ramadan to avoid the wandering eyes of the press.
Considering this, I must argue that anyone is qualified to to write a life narrative. Even though the focus of this blog post is on life narratives of sports figures, it makes you realize that anyone with a story worth being told can create a captivating piece of work. Anne Frank was not a trained writer, yet her story (albeit diary entries) continue to shock the world today.
As a fourteen year old me spent all night reading about how soccer legends had sat in silence as the stadium roared around them before the big cup final, I was entranced. Sports life narratives are indeed a legitimate sub-genre and do in fact have value. Even though many may consider them not worth the time, these life narratives are clearly some of the entertaining pieces of life narratives.
2 Comments
This was such a refreshing post to read. I feel like all of us has been talking about issues that are controversial and, since I can’t put it any other way, ‘serious’. We have also always been tackling traumatic life narratives, one that seem to have some sort of epiphany in it. I really like how you questioned if they (sports figures) are, indeed, qualified to write life narratives. I also agree with you that everyone is qualified to write a life narrative. They might not have a world-changing effect, but I feel like it does something for the individual sharing his/her experiences – I think life narratives don’t always have to be for the reader’s benefit only. When you think about it, some people still keep journals – this is a form of a life narrative itself, although not published. This doesn’t do anything for the reader, if there are any, (as I assume a journal is kept private) but benefits the individual only.
However, I think it’s perfectly fine for a life narrative to have a purpose that is purely for entertainment.
Thank you for writing this post! It’s nice to read about something else less controversial.
As a big fan of sports myself, I grew up reading life narratives of American football legends. Unlike the “mediated voyeurism” that motivates many readers to take a look into a life narrative that is completely out of their genres, I believe the genuine desire to be like the superstars drove me to read these autobiographies. I agree to your point of reading these life narratives as “an escape” but sometimes I found points of familiarity (such as butterflies before games) playing the same sport myself but on a lesser scale so personally, the life narratives served as my (I’m sure that of many other’s), dream(s). Many of these life stories I read were the typical, “overcoming adversity” types or teaching many to “step out of their comfort zone” but “Shirts, Shorts, and Spurs” gives it a different and interesting perspective of autobiography as one that is not coming from the players themselves. Now that we’ve been studying the different approaches to these autobiographies, it makes me wonder the extent to how much the players wrote their autobiographies as method of self-discovery, marketing an imagined self, or simply inspiring the audience etc. Thanks for the share, it made me bring back old memories of reading many sports narratives.