The beautiful game... it’s not about billionaires Football gave the hope of the downtrodden to register a victory over the much better off – a hope that springs eternal in the human heart Michael Falzon 27 April 2021, 7:01am In the space of a few days a controversy involving football – also known as soccer in the US – erupted and was quickly extinguished. In my opinion it was an attempt to Americanise the beautiful game. The origins of football in the UK and Europe was never the result of some business venture and one cannot act in a way as if football is just a money-maker while ignoring its history and its anthropology. In its origins, football was the ordinary workman’s spectator sport. Making money from it came much later.