The reason why those of our generation find it sacrilegious to read opinions and arguments from the younger generations, about Pele, and his status and place in World Football, and even having the audacity of pronouncing Cristiano Ronaldo, and Lionel Messi as more deserving of the title GOAT, lies in the disconnect between the World we grew up in, and the one that they did. Two totally different worlds, which shape our worldview, and hence our perspective of what ought to constitute, and determine who the GOAT football player is. It can be summed up as a contest between ‘numbers’, and ‘impact’. I’ll illustrate.
First, back in our day, there was always ~ and only ~ one clear, known, confirmed and indisputable ‘King’ of anything. The ‘Greatest’ Boxer was Muhammad Ali, the King of Reggae was Bob Marley, King of Pop was Michael Jackson, Basketball had Michael Jordan, Rhumba had Franco Luambo Luanzo Makiadi, and so on. These days it is Cristaiano vs Messi, Faly Ipupa vs Ferre Gola, Federer vs Nadal, Hamilton vs Verstappen, and so on. The idea of a Pele who is an undisputed GOAT of football is therefore awkward and alien to the matrix that they are more accustomed to, where a ‘Pele vs Maradona’ contest ~ for instance ~ would have made more sense to them.
Secondly, back in our day, impressive numbers and stats were fine to have, but if that is all that you had, you weren’t anywhere near being ‘King’ of anything. Mohammed Ali was one hell of a Boxer. The greatest that ever swung punches, but his impact and power went well beyond the ropes of that Boxing ring. Let me quote Fred Ollows, to buttress that point:
Messi has the same problem LeBron James (Basketball), and all the Boxing, Rugby and Tennis stars etc have. They are not Pele, Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Jonah Lomu or Serena Williams. They do not transcend their sports. They can win a statistical battle in one game facet or another in their narrow sport but Pele, Jordan, Ali, Lomu, Serena? These ones fill the superhuman space in sport
Fred
There is so much more about Pele that even those of us born when he was still playing do not know, that would help greatly to illustrate the IMPACT ~ beyond just goals, assists and such NUMBERS ~ that he had on not just football, but the whole World. To state that never has the World ever ‘Worshipped’ a Sportsman in the manner that Pele was, would be accurate if the following 15 real, factual and verifiable historical events that I have picked from just 3 posts here on Facebook, that illustrate what a joke it is, for anyone to try and place this legend on the same pedestal as Messi and Ronaldo are any indicator.
1. Because Pele was barred by the government ~ by law ~ from playing for any other club outside Brazil he was given two concessions. One, the government made sure he was always the highest paid footballer in the country, and two, allowed him to travel around the world to play exhibition games.
2. In one exhibition game some rough play by opponents led to a melee which made the referee to send Pele off for his involvement. This action infuriated fans so much they started rioting because they had only come to see Pele. Match officials intervened by sending off the referee and restoring Pele to the game to cool down the fans and for the game to continue.
3. In the World Cup of 1970. Adidas and Puma had agreed to a “non-aggression” pact which was that neither one would sponsor Pelé during the World Cup. However, Puma broke the pact, and reached a deal with Pelé in the World Cup, in which he wore Puma boots, and the impact of that was that for a long time thereafter, Football boots and ‘Puma’ became interchangeable, as if they meant one and the same thing!
4. At the quarter final match of that World Cup edition, between Brazil and Peru, Pelé asked the referee for time to fasten his booties in front of the whole world, resulting in one of the best marketing plays in memory. Puma’s sales rose 30% after that action and Pelé received more than $ 100,000 at the time plus a sales percentage!
5. India, a Cricket mad nation that doesn’t know what a football pitch looks like, immortalized him with a Golden Statue of his signature scoring posture ~ the Bicycle kick ~ in the middle of one of its biggest cities. North Korea, a nation of despots with almost nothing good to say of anybody, especially foreigners, immortalized his name and image on their National postage stamps.
6. In 1967 as the Biafra war raged in Nigeria pitting the Igbo on one side ~ Biafra ~ against Nigeria, a miracle happened because of Pele. The two combatants in the brutal civil war agreed on a 48 hour ceasefire so as to welcome Pele and watch him play against Nigeria. And strangely, it is the two warring groups of Soldiers who jointly provided security at the match. After the match, they waited for Pele to leave the following day, then war began again. Never ever ~ before, and after that ~ have the guns gone silent because of the legs and talent of one man.
7. Three of my very own Catholic Church Popes, led by the closest we ever had to a Saint, Carol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II), invited Pele to the Holy See as a guest of the Papacy and the Vatican, the imposing Capital of the Universal Church, to thank him, bless him and give the holy Trinity sign to his face on behalf of God and the billion plus Catholics who walk this planet.
8. In the 1970 World Cup final pitting Brazil against Italy, Italian goalkeeper Garcisio Burgnich taunted Pele before the match saying, “l don’t fear him. Si he is just made of skin and bones like everybody else.” Pele would soon thereafter, tear him to pieces and lift the World Cup. After the match, looking lugubriously as people shed tears at the sight of Pele, World cup in hand, Garcisio, tongue tied, only uttered three words and vanished. “I was wrong.”
9. Six Emperors, 15 Kings and 72 heads of State played host to him just to revel in his presence.
10. He is the one who gave football its now enduring name, “Jogo Bonito”, the beautiful game.
11. When Pele was asked if his fame compared to that of Jesus Christ, he cheekily answered that, “there are parts of the world where Jesus Christ is not so well known.”
12. When Pele met the iconic US President Ronald Reagan, before the American people and millions watching all over the world, Reagan introduced himself. “I am Ronald Reagan, the President of the United States.” And turning to Pele he said, “Please don’t introduce yourself. Everybody knows Pele.”
13. Pele never played for big league, high paying clubs in Europe because President Janio Quadros passed a law through parliament declaring Pele a National Treasure thereby forbidding him from being transferable from Brazil to any other country. The Juventus Chairman even offered him shares in FIAT to lure him. It was never to be. He only played in the US after his retirement, and in the sunset of his footballing career.
14. The Shah of Iran, one of the consequential leaders of the 70s, once heard that Pele was passing through an airport. He waited for Pele for 3 hours, just to look at him with his own eyes, hold him, thank him and take a photo with him.
15. And the Queen is never left behind if she hears you are great. She gave him that thing she gave great men and women of her time. The Knighthood.
Those who watched him in his time say 90 minutes wasn’t enough to watch Pele. That whenever Pele played you wanted the sun to stand still. He was a joy to watch, a master dribbler, quick thinker, a daring runner on the pitch armed with supreme skill and talent! And nobody has ever forgotten the heavy shots on goal, delivered by both legs.
