Breaking the Cycle and Breaking a Sweat

The Lasso Way

Illustration: Keira Sainsbury

DISCLAIMER: This article mentions abuse and physical harm. This article also contains spoilers for the TV show “Ted Lasso”.   

In a cesspool of half-baked TV series filtered into mainstream media, it can be hard to come by a show with some real soul. Luckily for us, Apple TV’s hit comedy Ted Lasso serves up exactly that. The show’s titular character, Ted, is a cheery American football coach from Kansas, who decides to take a job coaching soccer in London, England for the (fictional) Premier League team AFC Richmond. Culture shock as it is, Ted’s journey through his new life is a testament to many real-life situations close to home for many. 

The apparentness of Ted’s effect is first shown on the character of Roy Kent, who is AFC Richmond’s resident grouch, the oldest player on the team, and the captain at the time of Ted’s arrival. Roy begins as this dark and scary player whose response to everything is a grunt or a growl, having solidified his name by playing for top English teams such as Chelsea FC and even the national team. Roy also has a particular distaste for the team’s young, slightly - okay, super-cocky star, Jamie Tartt. Determined to break through to him, Ted grows closer to Roy and teaches him his much calmer and rational ways, whether Roy notices it or not. Viewers have the pleasure of watching Roy stay his grumpy and grunty self but instead start directing those grunts more positively and productively. It is later revealed that Roy was raised by his grandfather, who died while Roy was away at football training in Sunderland at the age of 9. From his wisdom and unrelenting forgiveness, Ted becomes a new and positive father figure for Roy, thus changing his angry demeanour. By the show’s untimely end in season 3, Roy Kent is an unrecognizable man from his pilot episode, very much for the better.

By felling the first domino of the impenetrable Roy Kent, Ted allowed the rest of the team to follow suit and open up so as to play better as a team, and as people. Each player is shown to have unique situations in their home or personal life, each finding comfort in Ted’s ways of life. This contrast is perfectly shown in the characters of Sam Obisanya and Jamie Tartt. Both young and talented players on the team, seasons 1 and 2 showed Sam and Jamie butting heads - albeit, mostly imparting to Jamie’s initial arrogance of his skills and general sense of self. However, it is later shown that Sam and Jamie have contrasting home environments that contribute to the way they act and the way they play. Sam hails from Nigeria and is very close with his parents despite how little he sees them while playing in England. Jamie is an England national from the up-north city of Manchester, with an abusive, alcoholic father who puts great stress on Jamie for success. The extent to which Jamie’s father berates him is shown a few times in the show, each one as poignant and heart-wrenching as the other. The stark contrast between the boys’ dynamics with their fathers is then again shown when Sam goes through a hard period of his life in the public eye, and his father shows up to comfort him. And still, through the tactics of Ted’s mindset and true beliefs in these boys as people, they come to accept their differences and become friends despite the contrasting environments in which they come from and the rocky start they began with.

As much as it pains me to say, Jamie’s father is hardly far removed from the reality of so many English football fans. For many years since the inception of Premier League football in England, the abuse and hatred spread throughout fan bases within teams has worsened. It’s not hard to see that football culture in the UK is saturated with toxic masculinity. More famously, at the height of David Beckham’s career during England’s campaign at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, dear old Becks was sent off with a red card for kicking Argentina player Diego Simeone in the calf. A stupid mistake by David, but perhaps an overly harsh punishment in return. England’s only shining hope at a World Cup title was sent off the field. Sad, but oh well, right? Unfortunately not. The abuse from the British public came at an all-time high for Beckham after the competition, with the most notable offence being a paper mache replica of the player being hung from a noose outside of a pub window. This has not been the only time this has happened. Recent memory recalls the fateful final match of the 2021 European Championship Final, in which England lost the title to Italy. Players Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford, and Jadon Sancho missed their penalty shots on goal, causing England to lose the match in a shootout. Saka was only 20 years old at the time, yet their reception upon returning home was met with hateful, racist abuse from English football fans across the nation, spreading from angry comments on social media to vandalizing billboards with their faces on them. The culture surrounding premier league football in England as shown in Ted Lasso is no exaggeration, especially the way players are treated by the British public and press. Ah, yes, the British press, you may remember them from when they destroyed Princess Diana’s life one tabloid at a time. In the case of footballers, one magic goal from the half line declares them a national treasure one second, and one penalty miss makes them a national disgrace the next - and let it be noted that the harm done is always worse if the players are people of colour. 

With all of this in mind, I hope you can now see how Ted Lasso is seeking to radically change an industry and a mindset. Outward displays of positive masculinity as a tool for breaking a cycle of abuse within the community is only one aspect of the show that hits the nail on the head. Complex female characters in Keeley and Rebecca deserve their own article entirely, and there is something to be said about Jason Sudeikis’s comedic writing genius woven into episodes. Still, this topic is not talked about enough not just within the football sphere, but within everything in the media, which is why a show like Ted Lasso is so important. In the hopes that I’ve convinced you to watch this show if you haven’t already, I leave you with my favourite quote in the entirety of the show, something that just really resonated with me:

“FUCK!”

- Roy Kent