Хөлбөмбөгийн баяр цэнгэл эх дэлхийгээс хэтэрч сансар огторгуй, туйлын бүсүүдэд хүртэл нэгдмэл мэдрэмжийг төрүүлж байна.
Олон улсын сансрын станцад ажиллаж буй сансрын нисгэгчид болох Жессика Мейр, Крис Уильямс нар ажлын завсарлагаараа хөлбөмбөгийн тоглолтуудыг үзэж, эх дэлхийтэйгээ сэтгэл зүйн хувьд холбогдож байна. Тэд өнгөрсөн бямба гарагт Англи Норвегийг хожсон тоглолтыг хамтдаа үзжээ. Жессика Мейр сансарт хөлбөмбөгийн бөмбөгөөр агаарт эргэлт хийх зэргээр спортын идэвхтэй байр сууриа илэрхийлсэн бол Крис Уильямс хөлбөмбөг нь хүн төрөлхтнийг нэгтгэх хүчтэй гэдгийг онцолсон юм.
Дэлхийн хамгийн алслагдсан суурин болох Тристан Да Кунья арлын оршин суугчид ч мөн адил хөлбөмбөгийн тоглолтуудыг хүлээн авч үзэж байна. Тристан Да Кунья хөлбөмбөгийн клубийн үүсгэн байгуулагч Леон Гласс спортын уур амьсгал нь тус арлынхныг дэлхийн бусад хэсэгтэй холбох гүүр болдгийг тэмдэглэжээ. Тэдний хувьд хөлбөмбөг нь ажил төрлөө амжуулсны дараа хамтдаа шимтэн үздэг чухал үйл явдал болон хувирчээ.
Антарктидын МакМурдо судалгааны станцад 218 хүн ажиллаж байгаа бөгөөд тэд ч мөн хөлбөмбөгийн тэмцээнийг алдалгүй дагаж байна. Тус станцын менежер Амнисти Кочановски хөлбөмбөг нь хүмүүсийн ялгаатай байдлаас илүүтэй нийтлэг талыг нь сануулдаг болохыг хэллээ. Канадын хойд хэсгийн Алэрт цэргийн баазын хувьд ч Канадын шигшээ багийн амжилттай тоглолт нь цэргүүдийн сэтгэл санааг өргөж, нийгэмшлийг нь дэмжиж байна.
Аргентин болон Испанийн шигшээ багуудын хооронд болох аваргын төлөөх тоглолтыг үзэхийн тулд Алэрт баазын командлагч, хошууч Крейг Финкензеллер баар нээхээр төлөвлөж байгаагаа дурджээ. Дэлхийн өнцөг булан бүрд байгаа эдгээр хүмүүс хөлбөмбөгийн ачаар алс хол байгаа ч нэгэн цул мэт мэдрэмжийг авч байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүй эх сурвалжийг харах
Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
This World Cup has not been short of divisive moments.
Beyond on-pitch disputes over refereeing calls, life and politics have spilt into the tournament like never before. On many occasions, it has felt like the unifying power of the ‘beautiful game’ has been hard to find.
In a very literal sense, though, the ability to bring people from all around the globe together has not been lost.
The Athletic has talked to fans from far and wide — Earth’s most northerly permanent settlement, its remotest community, an Antarctic base, even in space — about what it has been like following the World Cup from the most isolated places on our planet… and beyond.
The International Space Station
Since Valentine’s Day, Jessica Meir and Chris Williams have worked 250 miles above the surface of the Earth in the International Space Station.
Meir, a 49-year-old Swedish-American, completed the first all-female space walk in 2020 (with Christina Koch) and has spent over 350 days in orbit, contributing to research on heart function. She is also a huge fan of “proper football” and has done a bicycle kick in zero gravity. She is joined by Williams, 42, from the U.S., who has a doctorate in physics from MIT and is on his first mission to the ISS.
Jessica Meir was one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020 (NASA)
Their days start at 7.30am and consist of 12 hours of activities such as exercise, scientific experiments and repairs.
“One of my favourite aspects about life as an astronaut is that each day is different,” Meir says. “Some days are a bit more unique, if we have spacewalks scheduled — such as to repair the station’s robotic arm — or when we capture cargo vehicles.”
The pair have weekends off, however, and make time to connect with family and have team dinners, such as the one they held to watch England beat Norway in the World Cup quarter-finals last Saturday.
Meir and Williams took off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in February (Aubrey Gemignani/NASA via Getty Images)
“Events like the World Cup definitely make me feel closer to home,” Meir says. “I lived in Vancouver, British Columbia, when it was a host city for the winter Olympics (in 2010), and I’ll never forget how alive the streets were. I was also training in Russia for my first spaceflight during the 2018 World Cup and felt that same energy in the streets of Moscow.
“It is always uplifting and refreshing to experience these moments of global unity. This feeling is very similar to the one that we astronauts are so privileged to have when we look down on our shared home planet from above and instantly understand that we are all connected.”
Williams is of the same mind.
“Watching the World Cup has made me feel closer to home,” he says. “When I look down, I can’t help but imagine people in the cities below cheering for their teams while watching the games, just like I am up on the space station.”
Astronauts on International Space Station doing an overhead kick
Tristan Da Cunha
Back on Earth, Tristan Da Cunha is credited as being the most remote inhabited place in the world.
It’s a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean, about 1,500 miles east of South Africa, with South America over 2,000 miles to the west. There’s no airstrip: the only way to get away is by ship, and it can take anything from seven to 13 days to reach Cape Town in South Africa.
The main island is essentially a 40-square-mile volcano, and the few hundred inhabitants live in its lone settlement, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, which sits on a plateau covering about four square miles. One of the other islands is called Inaccessible, which by all accounts is not just a cool name.
Leon Glass is the founder of Tristan Da Cunha FC — the most remote football club in the world.
Unfortunately, the club are mostly dormant these days due to waning interest and, unsurprisingly, a shortage of opposition. That’s a shame, as one of the more recent matches listed on their website was a resounding 9-0 win against a side from a visiting ship.
Tristan is so remote that transport to deliver support takes various forms (AS1 Georgia Callaway/MoD Crown Copyright via Getty Images)
But watching other people play the game is another matter.
“Watching football most certainly keeps us connected to the rest of the world,” Glass says. “Most sporting events, from Formula 1 to snooker, hold a lot of interest for people here. I think the love of sport is just so global that you feel much more connected when you can watch them on TV.”
Tristan is part of the UK, part of a self-governing British Overseas Territory, along with Saint Helena and Ascension Island, both over 1,000 miles further north. People there tend to support the national team of their heritage, which is mostly England, but some follow Italy, the Netherlands or Portugal.
Internet service there is much better than it used to be, but still patchy. Tristan gets the main UK free-to-air channels, which has helped during the World Cup with every match shown by either BBC or ITV.
“I’m disappointed it’s coming to an end,” says Glass. “There’s been a lot of people just trying to get all their work done, their chores done, so they can just sit and watch the next big match.”
He hopes that the World Cup will inspire more of the islands’ inhabitants to get back into football: “England women winning the Euros for the first time (in 2022) was a special one for me, especially watching it with my two daughters, who were just starting to get more interested in sport then.”
McMurdo Station
As it’s in the southern hemisphere, it is currently winter at the United States’ McMurdo research station in Antarctica, which is only a three-hour flight from the South Pole but as far from the nearest country, New Zealand, as New York and Los Angeles are from one another.
Due to its latitude, it is also in complete darkness 24 hours a day at this time of year — except for the Moon, the stars and artificial lights.
“The 218 people at McMurdo experience a wide range of emotions at this relatively isolated station,” station manager Amnesty Kochanowski says. “We rely on each other for everything, from food to water to power to recreation.
“People are interesting, creative, highly dedicated, and working toward the same mission.”
There are many football fans within the group, and they have followed the World Cup through the American Forces Network and the station’s own broadcast network.
“The tournament makes North America truly feel 10,000 miles away, especially during the recent periods of very high heat and humidity,” Kochanowski says. “Our ambient temperatures have been 100+ degrees colder than those experienced during World Cup games.
“It also makes us feel closer to home by reminding us that most people have more in common than differences.”
Kochanowski and company watching the World Cup at McMurdo Station (U.S. National Science Foundation)
Canadian Forces Station Alert
The closest continuously inhabited place to the North Pole, roughly 500 miles away, is the CFS Alert settlement. While McMurdo is currently experiencing round-the-clock darkness in the Antarctic winter, up in the Canadian Arctic archipelago it’s summer and 24 hours of daylight.
Though its main function is as a signals intelligence station for Canada’s military, it also supports Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Global Atmosphere Watch Observatory, and hosts several wildlife and geology research teams. So what does that actually mean for the day-to-day?
“It’s like living in a nature documentary narrated by Sir David Attenborough while also being part of a sci-fi movie taking place on a lunar outpost,” says Major Craig Finkenzeller, the post’s commanding officer. “All while making sure everyone is prepared for the inevitable plot twist.”
One of the plot twists of the tournament went down especially well among base personnel — the Canadian men’s national team having their greatest-ever World Cup run, while serving as one of the event’s three co-hosts.
(Craig Finkenzeller, CFS Alert)
“I am really proud of how far our national team has come. I think every one of us were really impressed with the skill and poise of their playing,” Finkenzeller says.
“The win against Qatar was bittersweet (key player Ismael Kone suffered a broken leg in that 6-0 victory), but it showed the world that Canada can make goals happen. It’s impressive to see how a relatively young national program can compete with the best in the world.
“The World Cup is a common bond we share with every fan across the station and across the world. I could say it lessens the distance psychologically that sometimes we might feel being this far north. For example, if I haven’t been able to watch a game, my wife and kids will send me text messages with updates if someone scores. Or, as I pass someone in the hall or meal line, they describe their favourite highlights. It’s great for morale!”
The final is on Sunday, and Finkenzeller has one more task to complete before defending champions Argentina face current European title holders Spain: “I need to see about getting the bar open for the game!”
Additional reporting: Joshua Kloke and Nick Miller
