Kane’s triumph and Azeem’s trial tell a story of hope

IMAGINE one simple, round golden ball. Two brass plates welded together with a blowtorch, hand-engraved and coated with about five kilogrammes of 18-carat gold plating.

Footballers crave that object more than any other.

Yet it was not always so.

Sir Stanley Matthews, Alfredo di Stefano and Raymond Kopa saw it as recognition, nothing more.

No public relations campaign got them there.

That has changed. Today, the push for the Ballon d’Or often goes into overdrive, players openly clamour for it, and social media fans too amplify its prestige even more.

Lamine Yamal, only 18 and a three-time Kopa Award winner, wanted it badly. Cristiano Ronaldo once said he wanted to be the record-breaker, but Lionel Messi holds the record with eight to Ronaldo’s five.

Some players even have clauses with bonuses attached to it if they win it.

That is how much this ball matters. Which is why seeing Harry Kane win it this year felt poetic.

He was doubted at almost every turn. Some said he could never win it.

One man believed – Jose Mourinho, when Kane was at Tottenham Hotspur in 2019. Seven years later, Kane holds the title without much fuss. His story is one of perseverance, dedication, ability and adaptability.

Not everyone saw it coming. Kuala Lumpur centreback Giancarlo Gallifuoco, who was at Spurs from 2012 to 2014, watched him up close.

“I watched this guy when he was nothing. He just plugged away. In silence. That’s not easy,” said Gallifuoco.

Kane came through the lower divisions before hitting top gear in 2014 under Mauricio Pochettino, and still he was doubted.

The goals kept coming, but critics deemed him unworthy of the world-class label because he had won no trophy. He was even called a one-season wonder.

His move to Bayern Munich in 2023 brought more goals and a crowd that embraced him, yet still no silverware.

For any player, that would feel like a curse. Kane kept going, and the trophies finally came. At 33, when many expected a decline, he redefined his game.

He remained a striker with venomous finishing, but also became a quarterback of sorts, with deep-lying passes when dropping into midfield.

His tracking back has become a staple of highlight reels. Now he is the best in the world, and thoroughly deserving.

If Kane’s story shows what resilience can earn, sprinter Mohd Azeem Fahmi’s social media post after the Asian Games in Japan shows what athletes endure while they wait for the reward.

Azeem faced a wave of criticism after suffering an injury during his 100m final. Some claimed that he faked it and that he ran the mixed relay to be a hero or “for optics.”

His credibility, and his fitness to wear the national colours, were also questioned.

But Azeem’s account is very different. He said he felt pain in his groin before the 100m final, which is why he had worn tape since the first round.

Doctors and physiotherapists from the National Sports Institute (NSI) found a partial tear of his abductor muscle and advised him to withdraw from all remaining events.

He insisted on running at least one. After the men’s 4x100m team went out in the semi-finals, he chose the mixed 4x100m.

“I did not run to be a hero. I ran because it is my responsibility to lead the team and show the spirit I carry when I represent my country,” he wrote.

He added one can question an athlete’s form in the name of accountability, “but never speculate about our commitment to the nation.”

This is where we, as fans, as the media and as administrators, have a role to play. Questions are fair. Assumptions presented as fact are not.

We see the finish line, the time on the board and the empty podium.

We rarely see the strapped groin, the medical warnings or the athlete weighing the risk of a worse injury against the weight of the vest.

Kane was written off for years by people who saw only the missing trophy.

Azeem was written off in days by people who saw only a stopped race. Neither saw the full picture.

When the final whistle blows and the stadium falls quiet, the scoreboard tells us who won. It never tells us what it cost.

Behind every golden ball and every failed final is a mere man, and the least we can do is ask before we judge.

One shouldn’t be defined by the weight of their glory and it is time we see the heart of the person.