Albert Ostermaier

The poet and director Pier Paolo Pasolini was a passionate footballer who saw and celebrated the universal dimension of football. For him, football offered the possibility of an ideal world. Whether in the stadiums or on the dusty pitches of the suburbs, the game was a celebration, the ball the object of the most intimate love. The players could become heroes or gods, regardless of their background or status. Football as the true communism?
In his highly poetic monologue, Albert Ostermaier carries Pasolini's passion forward. And tells of an almost religious devotion to the game. And of the dreams of young players of advancement, fame and honour, which threaten to burst under the inhuman pressure and unfulfillable expectations. And of forbidden love. Because it is not only the love of the ball that glows in the hearts of young men, but sometimes also the love between them. Even if the love for football is a very male one, male love in football is always a taboo. And so the hearts and bodies of young players are still sacrificed on the altar of the ‘church of the poor’ – money, because ‘what are the club managers if not the priests of capitalism?’
A haunting reflection on the contradictions of football and at the same time a passionate declaration of love for the ball and the footballer Pier Paolo Pasolini.
Football is a man's sport, they say.
Football is a sport in which men love men,
I say.