The goalie as tragic, existential figure — a cliché. Literature from Nabokov to Camus, from Handke to Evelyn Waugh teaches us instead that keepers are seekers, constantly making choices, committing to gambles, wrestling with demons and conflicts, “polyvalent figures” who stand in liminal space, “at the threshold between two realities, goal or no goal, desolation or new life.” Like Dante’s journey from hell to paradise, the goalie stands apart but strives to transcend that isolation — to her teammates, her culture, even the divine. (John Turnbull/The Global Game)
(Image: Alan Knight, Portsmouth goalkeeper, depicted in graffiti at Fratton Park. Image credit: Ben Sutherland/Flickr through a Creative Commons license.)
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