14/07/2026
Something strange has happened. I used to roll my eyes at football matches, childhood memories of getting the tube into central London through Wembley, involved feeling my parents gripping me tightly, the strong stench of sweat and b**r, and rowdy men jostling me off balance. It was scary.
As a teenager, I found nights in the pub stopped being about connecting with who I was with, as their eyes would be firmly fixated on screens behind me, and I sat there feeling bewildered and alone.
As I grew older, I heard about the amount of domestic violence that soars when England loses. I associated football with something men enjoyed and that hurt women.
But I knew so many wonderful people, and actors whom I revered, who loved football. There must be something to it... So in my mid-twenties I went to a live match with a theatre director I just finished working with, believing if I could get involved in the live action, the drama, the funny chants, I would get it...
But it was freezing, there was nothing I could eat and having no screens meant I couldn't see what was actually happening on the field from where I stood shivering, shivering and hungry.
Football remained an alien cult I didn't get.
Then this year, something shifted.
I think it is because I am out of the UK more than I am in it these days; I am appreciating what it has to offer and what the English are actually like, which you cannot understand when you are consistently in the midst of it all. Rather like being in your own jar of yourself, when inside with the lid on you cannot read the label.
One of the parts of my role I relish is helping clients understand and appreciate themselves and get clarity on what jar they are actually offering the world. It helps them create greater impact, become irreplaceable and truly love being themselves.
Last month, when I checked into the Manchester hotel, extremely jet-lagged and finally experiencing the UK heatwave, I had heard so much about it that I found myself unable to focus on revising my notes for the panel I was speaking on the next day.
Without much thought I flicked on the room's TV as background noise to assist with focus. Without much thought, I lifted the football, but quickly found I was unable to take my eyes off the screen. Switzerland were playing someone, and their goalkeeper picked up the ball with so much grace and ease that I began to believe that this was a really easy job that I could do. World Cup 2026 here I come!
When the match ended, I was full of adrenaline and excitement and ploughed into what I wanted to talk about for the Institute of Directors' annual conference the following day: mainly the need for leaders to become increasingly better at being human beings in the age of AI: more courage, more compassion, more wisdom.
But back to the football... As the World Cup progressed, I left the UK again for some work in the Ecuadorian jungle.
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Four of us from different countries had just been on a dusk lagoon ride, feeding piranhas, electric eels, and watching howler monkeys in the trees above. Magical. I won't mention the giant tonga ants that got down my colleague's pants and whose bites left her limping.
We were walking from the taxi boat to the car when a Swiss man in our group asked if we minded diving into the tiny local bar to watch the World Cup game that had ten minutes left. We did, instantly white-knuckled and whooping with the locals within. When extra time was called we jumped into the car and raced back to the retreat centre for dinner and to catch the last thirty minutes. On our way, we passed small shops that had remained open and wheeled large screens out front where locals shared fried plantains on plastic chairs to watch the game. The taxi driver slowed down and rolled past each shop as we all leaned out the windows, ogling the screens as a goal successfully hit the net. Hooray!
At that point I didn't even know who was playing; it wasn't Ecuador, but everyone was watching. I felt part of something unifying that transcended the fact I can't speak Spanish (yet). It was Cape Verde! And I was struck by the goalkeeper who clapped the opposition when they scored. yes he missed the goal but he was recognising their skill even in the midst of the competition.
It felt beautiful, so deeply humble and connected. Later I discovered he was a taxi driver and electrician by day and applied to be a goalie on LinkedIn. During the world cup his social media following had gone from 50k to 180 million. A life-changing experience. I was seeing what football can bring to the world, not just what it distorts.
Now, solo in the Galapagos, I watched the England game in the front garden of a little coffee shop, four Ecuadorian women the same age as me at another table, two in their early twenties at another and three waitresses, all cheering for England, and sang 'It's Coming Home' to me with their strong accents when we won.
Seeing the online banter between Norwegian Air and British Airways, with the former changing their logo to BA for 24 hours as they last their bet with grace and humour, seeing Norwegian fans sit on the luggage belt and row themselves around it with glee on their journey home after being defeated, seeing Haaland hug Bellingham after losing to him as a friend, not a rival.
Now, I see in an increasingly fractious world, where algorithms alienate, infrastructures are crumbling, humanity is shining.
Football is showing:
-where deep personal dedication and teamwork unite,
-where competition is honouring the opposition as those who serve to make you better and raise your game,
-where people cheer for strangers and enjoy the global dance of effort and fun; celebrating what makes us different and what brings us together.
It is indeed a beautiful game.
And what is more, it reminds me once again that what we focus on in this world we find.
Is domestic violence increasing when countries lose? Probably, but I also found out that it's impossible to buy a World Cup ticket from many countries if you're behind on your child maintenance.
Are there fights breaking out between groups? Probably somewhere, but I believe that there are more friendships being formed with strangers in pubs and gathered on plastic chairs outside shops than there is violence.
I really don't believe we would have ever made it this far as a species if the majority of people were doing bad things the majority of the time.
This is an invitation to you to see how, when you change how you look at something, the thing you look at changes.
Love Helen.
P.S. Ironically, now that I love the World Cup, as England gets to the semi-finals this week, the 2-hour match is the exact 2 hours I am on a flight to a course in Costa Rica. Maybe there will be wifi (dubious on the airline I am flying with) and maybe I can be like this man, who bought the wifi and stood with his laptop so the plane could catch the game...
