All language subtitles for 9962_2018_Infinite_Football_eng_blr

Infinite Football

This is where I played football
during the summer holidays.

Because my high school
closed the football field

my classmates and I
came here to play football.

- What year?
- 1986.

- 1986...
- In July.

The pitch and the fences
were the same.

With handball goals at both ends,
except we used to play football.

Now, they play tennis here in summer
and in winter they have an ice rink.

I was on the pitch with colleagues,
probably around 12 people,

and at a certain point, on this spot,
the players crowded together.

Both teams surrounded me.
I had the ball.

Somebody kicked my right leg,
trying to take the ball.

I felt an intense pain.
I had to stop the game.

I went home.

My leg became bruised and swollen.

My parents treated me with medicines
for ecchymosis, for bruises.

They kept me bandaged for two days.
But the pain didn't go away.

The bruise did,
but the leg remained swollen.

Realising it was far more serious
than we thought,

I was taken to hospital and told
I had a fractured right fibula,

on the inferior third segment.

I was put in a cast and sent home.

I had the cast for a month,
and when I took it off,

I noticed that my leg hurt
when I stepped on it.

I had an X-ray and they saw
the leg hadn't healed properly.

Instead of fastening together,
the two bone segments,

had attached laterally.

One segment partially attached
to the other.

- The blow was very powerful.
- Very powerful.

- And you had possession of the ball.
- Yes, I was protecting it

and the others gathered around me,
trying to take the ball from me.

I didn't realise it then,
but this was because...

the rules of football are wrong.

Wait a minute.
How were you keeping the ball?

I was holding it here.
I was in front of the wall.

I was trying to protect it.

Around me, where you are standing
now, were about 10 other people.

They were trying to get
possession of the ball.

One of those
who tried to kick the ball,

in order to take it from me,
kicked me in the leg.

- How come he kicked you so hard?
- He just did.

The next year I was going to apply
to the Forestry University.

One of the test was
to run 3000 metres.

I realised I couldn't do it.

Before the accident
I could have done it easily.

- You really wanted to get in?
- Yes, a lot.

What did you like about it?
You just stood in the forest and...

Yes, I found it fascinating!

I dreamed of being
in the middle of the forest

with the animals, the wood,
the trees...

Back then, at that age,
I read adventure books...

Robinson Crusoe who survived
alone on an island.

I really wanted it.
I was fascinated by it.

All my colleagues knew it.

I studied biology, maths, algebra...

Everything required for
the forestry exam.

- And what was here before?
- Here there were lathes.

Here, in this area,
there was a milling machine.

Either here or there.
I don't know exactly.

- There was something big here...
- Big, yes.

I think the milling machine
was there in the back.

It had a table
where the pieces were assembled.

The table was made of
thick steel, about this thick,

and was more than
one metre in diameter.

Ropes were attached to the table
and two steel bars

were attached to the ropes.
It took 8 people to lift the table.

Two and two, two and two.
Four people holding each bar.

If the table was here,
as I remember, in this area.

We had to move it.

We opened the door and carried it out
for an electric forklift to take it...

...somewhere.

We lifted it up.

Four people to lift a bar.
Two and two, two and two.

But the weight was not distributed...

- Evenly.
- Evenly.

And, at a certain point, when me
and my colleagues were lifting it

I felt something cutting into my leg,

where I had been
injured a year before.

I struggled, I carried that thing,
I did my job.

End of story.

It was the 31st of December 1987.

New Year's Eve, which was a very
important holiday during Communism.

It was the only winter holiday

and we had the 1st and
2nd of January off.

After work was over,
I went to change my clothes.

My colleagues,
who could walk normally,

and were fast on their feet
and got on the buses.

By the time I got to the bus station,
there were none left.

I was the last person to leave
the industrial park.

There were no busses,
no cars on the street,

not even a horse and cart.
No transport at all.

I had to walk home. I didn't know it,
but my leg had broken again.

- The fibula again?
- No, the tibia broke,

but back then I didn't know that.

The fibula fracture
had damaged the tibia

and the bone had decalcified.

The doctors explained it to me,
but I didn't understand much.

The fracture of the nearby fibula
damaged my tibia, which became weak

and broke because of the strain.

I closed the door,

I was the last one to leave,
I turned off the light.

And that's how I started to walk.

I was dragging my leg,
I couldn't step on it anymore.

I could hardly move.

I walked home at this pace.
For six kilometres.

When the pain was too great,
I'd stop a little. I was shaking.

Again. And again.

There was nobody around,
everybody had gone.

Nobody was left at the bus stop.
Nobody in the street.

It was around this time.

Around this time...

Around 4 pm.

The working day finished earlier
on the 31st of December.

The hour coincides, too.

It was dark when I got home.
It took me three hours.

I walked at around
two kilometres per hour.

At a certain point
I thought I wouldn't make it

because the pain
was tremendous and...

I kept thinking that
the accident hadn't been

the fault of those around me,
nor was it my fault.

It was the fault of imposed rules,
norms, which weren't the best.

I had the idea to keep searching
for something better.

The football field has
a rectangular shape

and these right angles

have a negative impact
on the speed of the game.

A vacuum has the tendency
to be filled up with something.

Once we include this corner
of the field in the game,

it has the tendency to be
filled up with something.

And, in football, that something
can only be the players, the ball,

or the ball and the players.

In college I studied
Oriental philosophies,

Chinese and Japanese culture,

and I saw the octagonal shape as
a very advantageous compromise

between something round,
oval, spherical

and something square,
rectangular, cubical,

to give you a
three-dimensional example.

I realised that a football field

with cut-off corners
would be much more advantageous.

Moreover, if you look from inside,

it offers a greater degree of
fluidity to the players.

An octagonal football field gives
the players greater mobility. Why?

Because the players instinctively
tend to follow the edges of the field

and when they get to a right angle,
their movement is blocked.

My first thought was...

to divide the two teams of players
in two subteams,

each one being assigned to
one half of the field.

Five in one half of the field

and five in the other one.

Of course,
in order to keep this division,

on the midfield line
a border should be set up,

which the players of the same team
can no longer cross.

There are 6 people in the defence
subteam, including goalkeeper.

A goalkeeper plus 5 players stay
on the left hand side of this line.

The attack subteam stay
on the right hand side.

Under no circumstance
can they cross the midfield line.

Then, I divided
the other team the same way.

I brought in the referee too,
the ball as well,

the two linesmen
and the goalkeeper of the red team.

In the worst case scenario,

the biggest possible crowd
of players is this one,

only 10 players,
plus the goalkeeper: 11.

This means I've halved
the biggest possible crowd.

But that wasn't enough.

I realised that I was still
blocked by the offside rule,

because the offside rule in football
applies from the midfield line

up to the goal line.

Practically,

let's apply this rule.

The players are no longer allowed
to cross the midfield line,

which means that if the players
of the defence subteam,

in this case the yellow team,
with the goalkeeper here,

place themselves all
near the midfield line,

all the red subteam players
are offside

when the ball is passed to them
by their own teammates.

Which would be inconceivable.

So I had to think of another place
to introduce the offside line.

So I drew these extra lines

starting from which the offside rule
applies towards the nearest goalpost.

At that moment
I thought what I'd done,

what I'd visualised, imagined,
was something exceptional.

So I started contacting different
entities, commercial companies,

sports clubs, sports lawyers,
federations...

At one point, I was in contact with
a couple of British sports lawyers.

They invited me to London and I went.

And in September-October 2010,
I went to London

and talked to them about the
possibility of them finding

people or institutions eager
and capable of investing in promoting

these rules I had discovered,
either under the form of

a change to football or of developing
a parallel or rival sport.

There were no eager, serious clients

and so I dropped the project
for a while.

For some time,
I was not longer involved in it.

This strategy is as old as the world.

It's well known to all inventors.

When something doesn't turn out
as planned,

take up something else and
give your unconscious mind the chance

to relax and come back later
with fresh energy.

That's exactly what happened
later on.

And, eventually, I thought that
an even better idea would be

to completely give up
the offside rule.

I was following
a clear philosophy of play,

that of leaving the ball
as free as possible.

For the ball to be
as free as possible,

the players have to be more static.

In order to increase the speed
of the game, its spectacularity,

I divided
the two subteams of each team

in two other sub-subteams.

I took advantage
of these offside lines

and I allotted: for the defence,
3 players plus the goalkeeper,

3 forwards in the attack
without the goalkeeper,

2 midfield players...
and the same here.

So, they only play here,
and these ones here?

Exactly. Nobody is allowed to cross
the 3 lines marking the field.

I was very pleased with it. At first,
it seemed an extraordinary idea,

after which, while analysing it,
I saw its flaws. The biggest was

that I couldn't find a practical
solution to move the ball.

I only found two alternatives
for the ball:

either it could go from
one section to the next,

which would have slowed it down
and restricted its freedom,

or it could be kicked from one
penalty area to the other

in which case, all the midfield
players become useless.

I quickly realised that this
was leading nowhere.

I was very upset, very intrigued.

I couldn't see another solution,
I thought it was all over.

During these moments,
I remembered my journey

when I had the second accident

and I thought I'd never make it home,

on the evening of the
31st of December 1987.

Nobody helped me,
nobody picked me up in his car,

nobody was by my side.

I didn't have a mobile phone
to call anyone.

I thought I wouldn't make it home,
but I did.

It motivated me to
find another solution.

What did I do?

I moved the 2 players from
the advanced defence to the defence

and gave all 5 defenders
from each team the ability

to cross this line, if they wanted.

However, the 2 players
I called the "supporting forwards",

who were on this side of the blue
line, were not allowed to cross it.

- 18, 166.
- Yes.

- 18, 164.
- Yes.

42, 87.

- Yeah.
- 60. This is upside down...

- 49, 809. Right?
- Yes.

- There are 3 left.
- Yes. 19...

- No, I see 15. From Tătărăni?
- Yes, 15. 15.

- So...
- 34.

- Yes.
- And 35.

Yes.

One for me, one for you.

- That one's for my colleague.
- For Mr Torini?

- Yes.
- I'll take it upstairs.

- For the Official Gazette.
- Right.

- Let's check...
- The certificate for Mr Cristi.

Yes. I'll take it.

One moment.

- Everything's OK.
- It's OK, right?

- All the best.
- All the best.

- What is this, the mail?
- The mail.

The postman comes every day
to bring mail for our institution.

And what's in it?
I mean, is the mail from...?

Citizens, the City Hall,
other institutions.

The Official Gazette,
for the legal department and...

And you distribute them?

I have to open all the envelopes

and check what they contain.

If there's something urgent,
I have to deliver it quickly.

If not, I will file it
and deliver it a bit later.

To different departments
of the Prefecture?

Yes, we have a mail circuit
that we follow.

It's a work norm, a procedure.

- And I also write the mail that...
- The replies.

...that we send to the citizens. Yes.
It's here inside a drawer.

Later on, I fill the envelopes.
It's a fairly boring job.

How long have you been working here?

I've been working here
since I graduated

from the Sociology University,
in August 1996.

During these 20 years,
did you ever think of leaving?

Yes, I made several attempts.

First, I tried my luck
at that farm in Reno, Nevada,

where I'd have taken care
of the irrigation system.

It didn't work out.

It's a dry area
and they collect the water

from the melting snows
of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

And that water had to be managed
and I'd also have taken care of

the electric fences which separate
the plots of land,

in order to keep the cattle
in certain areas.

That's where I got the idea

of dividing the football players
into two subteams.

I thought that...

this would make
the game much more efficient.

- This was a job offer...
- Yes I contacted...

the lady who owned the farm
and wanted to hire me.

She was supposed
to take care of all the formalities,

but at the last minute,
she told me that her father,

who gave her moral guidance,
and might have been the co-owner,

was against it.

He expressed his disapproval about me
coming and they gave up the idea.

- Then...
- I'm listening.

Then I tried again
and even reached an agreement

with an orange farm in Florida
to work there,

but just when the work visa
process was about the start

the terrorist attack
on the Twin Towers happened,

on the 9th of September 2001.

First of all, the farm
reviewed its employment policy,

because a period of great uncertainty
was coming.

Nobody knew what would come next.
Then, obviously, they introduced

greater restrictions
on entering America.

Yes!

Please!

- Do come in, Madam!
- Good morning. Please, excuse us.

Hello! I'm the person
who came before the elections.

You told me to come back on the 19th.
The lady is Mrs Donose...

You asked me to bring her along
today, if you remember.

- And here we are.
- What do you have there? A petition?

No, no petition. For now, we brought
the papers of her status.

Her file is open at City Hall.

We went to City Hall and they
said they sent the file here.

Under the name of Mrs Munteanu who...

- Passed away.
- Yes, she passed away.

As her sister, I'm left in charge.

I see. Can't you go
to the Land Registry?

Shall I call my colleagues
to take over and help?

Last time you didn't give me
any advice, any suggestions.

We're starting from here...

- We'll do what you tell us.
- Wait a second.

You said:
"Come after the elections."

And I said: Very well then.

Nobody's answering.

Take a seat.

At my age, to be out so much...

What can we do? They won't
give the documents based on...

Is there anyone at the Land Registry?
Are they in a meeting?

How old are you?

How old are you?

He's asking you to tell him,
if you want, how old you are.

- 92.
- To your good health!

Thank you.

My sister died at an old age, too,
at 103, a few months ago.

God rest her soul.

I wouldn't have come, but my
children should inherit it.

If that's possible.
I can't walk around anymore.

My colleagues from the Land Registry
don't answer.

I don't know where they could be.

I'm bragging now, but I'm
a chess coach, a chess teacher.

I'm very analytical and very correct.

- Do you teach here?
- Yes, yes.

I teach chess at the special school.

Optionally, voluntarily and for free.

For the last nine, ten years.
Voluntarily and for free.

These are two different things.

Volunteering is one thing and
doing it for free is something else.

Do you have good pupils?
Do they play well?

Well, the children
have reached the stage...

We changed the name of the school.
It's not called "Aurora" anymore.

The special school
is the one behind the hospital.

Don't mistake it for the deaf-mute
school. We had this problem too.

So, it used to be called the
Special School. Now it's called...

"Elisabeta Polihroniade."

Right! It changed its name after our
grand master, a great chess champion.

I'm bragging, but she came
to Vaslui thanks to me.

We also did good things
for the chess camp here.

I did "Lobby".

That's the Western word.
For us it's "influence peddling".

I should have been charged
with influence peddling

for inviting her here,
going to meetings...

My colleagues are in a meeting. They
don't answer their phones.

Could you go and check?
Because the lady...

Yes. I want to help them
solve their problem.

I know he wants to help us...

Because I can read body language
without someone actually speaking.

If he didn't want to,
he wouldn't have let us in,

he wouldn't have made the calls.

He'd have thrown us out
immediately. End of story.

I had to bring the lady here
again. The holidays are coming...

Afterwards, well, you know...

- But what is this about?
- You haven't read it?

If you'd looked over it...
It's about a plot of land which...

- Is it a house or a plot of land?
- No. It's the clinic,

which is on the lady's land. And I
can't tell you the things they did.

It's been years, decades,
since the clinic,

a part of it,
has been on the lady's land.

They found different reasons

and legally dubious tricks
to keep delaying.

We past the City Hall stage.
We came to the Prefecture now,

afterwards we will go to Bucharest,
where it will continue for years.

That's how things are
here in Romania.

So, the lady's family owned land...

- Yes, that entire area was...
- He doesn't pick up either.

- Hello...
- She's the only person who hasn't...

Do you know that hole...?

It was given back...

Donose Virginia from Vaslui.

Does a file under this name
ring a bell?

What shall we do, the lady is here.
She's very old.

I see.

Disposition no. 509
of Vaslui City Hall, 10/03/2016.

I see. OK, thank you.

My colleague is out on the field,

he says your file was sent
to Bucharest for approval,

- At the agency...
- Do we skip the Prefecture stage?

- We can't solve it for you...
- The City Hall told us you can.

The files are collected at
the Prefecture and sent to Bucharest,

at the National Authority for
the Restitution of Properties.

- ANRP. The file is there, now.
- We thank you very much.

Madam, the papers about this land
were sent to Bucharest.

- Good.
- OK.

So, there's no need for us
to come back here...

- No.
- We're not coming back?

No. The people from Bucharest
will let you know.

- Leaving the house is hard for me.
- I can imagine.

- Very difficult.
- Shall we help you?

- Thank you. Happy Holidays!
- Happy Holidays!

Thank you very much.
It really was kind of you.

You had good reason to refuse us...

- That's how it usually goes.
- A working day?

Yes, we have to help people
solve their problems.

But still,
27 years after the Revolution,

and to still not have
her land back...

- It's an aberration.
- Probably.

27 years after,
and at such an old age...

OK. So, we were speaking about...

- about America.
- Yes.

- You were saying...
- That I almost got hired

at that organic orange farm
in Florida

when disaster hit
the World Trade Centre.

The first effect
was that I couldn't go there

as I wanted to,
during the winter of that year.

Citrus fruit ripens over winter.
Work with citrus fruit

mostly takes place in
autumn, winter and spring.

You were a seasonal worker?

- Yes, that's what I wanted.
- Did you want to stay?

I just wanted to try it.
My dream had been to see America.

Why?
What attracted you?

It looked like
the Land of Opportunity.

A country of freedom.

But after the tragedy of the
World Trade Centre in September 2001,

I realised that I no longer had
the chance to go to America

and opportunities appeared
within the European Union.

So, after 1999 when,

in December 1999,
at the European Council in Helsinki,

Romania was accepted to become
a member of the EU,

it was obvious that soon we'd get in.
And it really happened.

I got job assignments in the
field of European integration.

I was very enthusiastic.

I waited impatiently for 2007 to
come. We entered the EU

and this reinforced my conviction

that life here would change
for the better and...

- And very quickly.
- Yes, in a very short period.

And?

Yes, there was a good start,

then things carried on

- but at a slower pace.
- Slower...

Meanwhile, I travelled too,
several times.

Within the EU and Switzerland.

I even lived in people's homes
there and understood their lives.

I realised that...

in the very long run, the European
project will face great difficulties.

Especially because
of the lack of identity.

- They didn't promote it very much.
- The European identity?

Exactly. I'll give you
a very simple example:

Europe Day, the 9th of May,
is not a holiday in EU countries.

And it's not celebrated in any
special way. By the people, I mean.

While the national days of the member
states are celebrated with pomp.

After I realised things about the EU,

I decided that
it was better for me to stay here.

And I decided it would be good
for me to continue

with the sport I wanted to improve,
especially the offside rule.

So you came back to the sport
after you failed to get to the US?

Yes, in a way.

Coming back to the form
of the sport I'm now presenting,

I think that limiting the players'
movement increases the ball's speed.

The fact that I was restricted
and couldn't go to the US

made me accelerate the process
of developing the sport.

Sometimes, when people are limited
by something in their life,

they find the energy
to do something else.

- You know those cases when...
- But what is it for you? I mean...

You obsessively repeat this thing
about "the ball being free".

- The ball is just an object.
- But it's the star of any sport.

- No. The players are the stars.
- But the camera follows the ball.

You can be the biggest star,
but if you don't have the ball,

you'll just be the star
of shampoo commercials.

No. The star is the one
with the skills, the one

- a person identifies with.
- Yes, but the star status...

But star status is gained when
you prove it by playing the ball.

Yes. But it seems that your
entire obsession is with the ball:

"the ball has to be free..."

Are you more interested in the way
this game is watched?

I mean, do you think
of the way it will be filmed?

Do you think of how it will look
from the outside?

- Do you think of it as a spectator?
- Yes, as a spectator, firstly.

And secondly, I think of it
as a player, as a possible player.

Practically, the arrangement that I
suggested for players on the field

- reduces their physical effort.
- As a sport for...

- ...a version of football for you?
- Not necessarily.

This sport could be played
by older people.

Footballers retire
at relatively young ages.

If they played this sport,

they could probably prolong
their career by a few years,

because this sport is no longer
so demanding physically.

- But... Good afternoon!
- Good afternoon!

It's OK, we'll talk later.

- How much longer will it take?
- Not much.

Don't forget we have to take the
ballots. Someone should stay there...

- OK?
- When?

- At one o'clock...
- Five minutes.

- No problem.
- Thanks.

- Only five minutes?
- Because you have to go.

- At one o'clock. It's 11:55.
- You want us to stay longer?

Yes. We stay until
the very last moment.

- What do you have to do?
- I have to be somewhere.

How do you see yourself
in ten years' time?

That's a job interview question,
right?

You'll get hired after
they see the film!

Sometimes I have a strange feeling.
Look, now that you came to my office

and...

I was thinking that somehow
this setup looks like

what happens in those
superhero movies.

Many of these superheroes,
Superman, Spider-Man,

lead double lives.

They are the heroes saving humanity,
saving the city, the people,

but in real life
they have insignificant jobs.

Clark Kent, for instance:
a mediocre journalist,

not to say a loser,
working for the "Daily Planet".

He was in love with Lois Lane,
the colleague he couldn't seduce.

And since he was Superman,
he never took a photo of Superman

and he was criticised by his bosses.

Spider-Man's situation was
even more difficult:

his name was Peter Parker
and he delivered pizza.

He would crash into cars on his bike.
He was a total catastrophe.

Their extremely boring lives,
professionally speaking,

strongly contrasted
with their superhero activities.

The harder it was for you
to imagine that

the boy delivering pizza
was Spider-Man,

the more powerful the effect
when you saw what he was doing.

Moreover, I noticed this one thing,
that both Superman and Spider-Man

had first and last names
starting with the same letter,

to sound even more mundane:
Peter Parker,

- Clark Kent.
- But they were undercover.

Exactly. I feel a bit like those
heroes. I'm here, filing documents,

but in my double life,
I revolutionise sport.

Where you born on Krypton
and we don't know it?

Even I don't know that,
but I probably was.

- Tell us...
- I can fly.

We'll have a match
with the rules slightly changed.

You can all hear me?

It's played exactly like
indoor football.

The players will be divided:
each team into two subteams.

A defensive one, with 4 players:
a goalkeeper and 3 outfield players.

You choose 3 defenders
and the goalkeeper.

and there will be 3 forwards too.

So, in each half of the field
there will be 7 players,

3 from the attacking team and
4 from the defensive one, right?

Each team should choose its subteams,
and decide

who will stay in defence
and who will attack.

And this is the midfield line
that you won't cross.

You'll play by the same rules but you
won't cross this yellow line.

The purpose is the following:

we increase the ball's speed
by decreasing the players' speed.

In normal football,
the players follow the ball

from one half of the field
to the other. Look at my hands.

While in this version, the players
are in separate halves of the field,

and the ball goes easily
from one half to the other.

To counter-attack, you have
to pass the ball to your forwards

who are already in front of the goal.

Any questions?
Everything all right?

Everyone into formation, let's go.

Here we go!
The referee! Do we have a referee?

Coach, I officially designate you
to arbitrate this match.

Any questions?
So, you from the white team decide

who attacks in the enemy half of
the field. You 3? Cross the line.

Cross the river.
OK.

And the ball will start from a goal.

- From our goal
- Right.

These are training exercises
and they are used by the big teams.

It doesn't surprise me,
as a player, or as a coach.

I was assistant coach
in the first division.

Mulescu, for example,
used this method.

The player has to respect his area.
This is how it's done...

- Through such exercises.
- Through such exercises, of course.

This is a training exercise.

You think we could apply it
to bigger pitches?

In my opinion,
on a big pitch it wouldn't...

- Why?
- FIFA wouldn't agree.

Not even our
Romanian Football Federation...

- That's certain.
- That's my opinion.

But a parallel sport
could be developed.

Yes, that's correct!

What's certain is that
players on these small pitches,

arranged as they are now,
meaning 3 and 3,

always engage in one-to-one play.

You see they're marked.
Each one of them is being marked.

The fact that these guys attack
while the others rest

gives the players time to think.

I can see they're not
suited to this style of play.

For instance, a goal was just scored.

Because the players in white,

when they had the ball in their
half of the field, defending it,

instead of sending it
to the opposing half,

to their forwards,
they preferred to

weave a series of passes
which quickly vanished.

- Yes...
- They made an obvious mistake

and now they are going
to cede another goal. 2-0.

They're also exhausted.
Exactly like I said:

they need to mark well.

Everyone has to mark his man,

to see to his responsibility.

You see they're not marking anyone?

They're also very tired.

Of course they are.
They had other matches earlier.

Yes...

But you know, if they were
professional players,

you wouldn't see any passes.

The other half hasn't seen
play for 20 minutes.

Maybe we could also have
a passing rule. Have a timer...

No, I can't see it. You
can't have a passing rule.

What is the beauty of football?
As I see it...

It's about beautiful dribbling,
beautiful passes...

So what? There's only a few players.
If it were 11 vs 11...

The hardest game is a simple game.

We can't set up a net
between two teams. Clearly.

But other sports use a net.

- Then it isn't football anymore.
- The speed of the ball is very high.

- I see.
- Very high. Tennis...

Table tennis, lawn tennis.
Volleyball.

- Find another name for it.
- That's the idea.

- Our aim is to create a new sport.
- A new sport, yes.

It's clear FIFA
won't accept anything like this.

Absolutely not.

- So this is half of the field.
- We've got 5 players here.

There are 5:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

They can move freely.

As long as they are not blocked.

It's their choice.
They could also remain in defence.

For instance, when the goalkeeper
has the ball, he has two choices.

Either he will kick it to
these players, who are freer.

They'll play here, midfield.
Eventually, these will also come.

But they'll never stay free
because this one will advance...

But he'll leave
these 3 against other 3.

He'll never be allowed to get
the ball. You can bet on it.

These 2 from here will never
be able to cross this line.

- These 2.
- So you're left with 3 forwards.

To give the defence a chance.
Otherwise, if they could cross it,

the goalkeeper would
send the ball to the opposite goal,

and it'd be 5 against 5,
plus the goalkeeper.

Who tries to score and who centres
the ball? They are 3 against 5?

From those 5, 2 will remain
sweepers and double the...

If not, the only chance is to bring
them all here and

set up an offside line, like they
used in the US from '72 to '84.

He wants to get rid of the offside.

I think you're confusing things.

- Wasn't the bookcase bigger?
- There's one in the living room too.

- Wasn't there a bigger one here?
- No, we never had a bigger bookcase.

But there were books up
there, too. We gave some away,

some disappeared...

Some become out of date.

I have a ruler,
but I will draw it by hand

in order to work faster.

Here, let me show you.
This is the field.

I placed this circle here,
a bit further away.

It'll look different on camera.

This is the field...

from the previous version
of the game.

This is about 32 metres away

from the goal line.

After I gave up the version
with two subteams,

I told myself that
the best option would be

to keep these two lines,

and the forwards should not
be able to cross this 32m line,

unless they take the ball
over the line

or remain exactly
on the line, above it.

Thinking about this,
I realised it would be better

to introduce one more line. And then
I considered extending

the penalty area line
right to the end.

Now the entire football field
has been divided

into six halves. Not halves, parts.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

These two could be considered
a unitary whole.

Let's say there would be
five parts of the field.

The game becomes very horizontal,

because if you have a single player
on a line like this one,

he will be very well marked.

There are 4 more players
in this situation.

Maybe not all the lines are
like this and there are more men.

If you have one player on a line,
at least 2 opponents will mark him.

It will be hard for him to play.

You'll be forced to bring
another player to that line,

who will also be marked.

In order to reach the opposite goal,

you have to cross these two lines.

It's a rule from rugby.

You're only allowed
to pass the ball backwards.

And when you cross...

- Football was like that too.
- But it didn't work.

It became what it is today.

You're returning to rules
which didn't work properly.

They weren't like this...

No, they were introduced separately,
the 32m line and the 16m line.

And the back pass dates
from the beginnings of football.

But it didn't work.

- This isn't about the back pass.
- No, but you force them.

On the rest of the field,
the players can play.

You're forcing them.

Of course you force them,
any rule forces you to do something.

You're forcing them
to pass the ball backwards.

It's not backwards.

It could be a lateral pass.

A lateral pass to a player,
making the game more horizontal.

But it doesn't bring anything new.

It doesn't bring something
real to the sport

and it doesn't make
it a different sport.

It is a different sport.
With different rules.

Honestly, I don't...

I can't see it.
But I might be wrong.

Maybe look at it like this,
you'll see it better.

I could have imagined your
previous version. Not this.

Why can't you imagine it?

Because I don't see its...

- What don't you see?
- I don't see its utility.

Its utility is very simple.

I don't see such a big difference
with classical football either.

I mean, there are some imposed
rules and barriers...

In football there's an imposed
barrier as well. The offside line.

But that one is mobile.

Yes, but being mobile
brings many disadvantages.

The offside trap is gone now.

It's too much for me.

So you don't want to come to my house

to let me convince you
by showing you the flipchart?

- Regarding this sport?
- Yes.

You're expressing a point of view

about what you believe can be
done at the current time

with this new type of football.

Maybe tomorrow you'll
change your opinion?

Maybe. I don't know.

It's also possible that you'll change
your sport again tomorrow.

That's possible, too.

As I said, this is
football version 2.0.

Let's leave room for
football 2.1 or even 2.9...

Infinite football.

Or even further,
the football 3.0, 4.0 and so on.

Why not?

I have an obsession, too:
which book was I looking for?

It disappeared, right?

Some books have disappeared
others have been moved.

I'd come to visit your brother,
I was looking for something...

- "Gulliver's Travels."
- No.

I was in high school.
I wasn't looking for that.

Of course you weren't
looking for that. It's newer.

You've moved some to the
bookcase in the hallway.

And there's one
in your father's room.

We lacked many things,
but we never lacked books.

- When you were a child?
- Yes.

We never lacked books.

Sometimes there was no food,
there was little heat,

but we had plenty of books.

I know I came here once to...

- What is this?
- "Ethics and Psychoanalysis".

One of my father's.

- This is your father's?
- Yes, and this one, too.

"Pathmarks", Martin Heidegger.

I don't know if you can recognize
my wife in this picture.

- The one in the white wedding gown.
- I was wondering!

Yes.

My mother is on the far left.

My father is behind the camera.

Behind Nicoleta, my wife,
there's Florin, my brother,

Corneliu's friend.

To his left, his wife.

To her left is Lenua,
my cousin from Galai.

Her husband is behind.

In the left hand corner,
there's a friend of mine,

a college roommate.

On the top row, the fourth person
on the left is my wife's sister.

She's in Belgium now.

And the person in red,
on the right hand side?

That's the official
wedding photographer.

We were actually posing for him

and my father, who was standing
in front of my mother,

on the steps of the City Hall,

came out and decided
to take his own picture of us.

There's something interesting
about this picture.

The people weren't posing. They were
getting ready for the picture.

The wedding was in 2008.

The City Hall's new location
had just been inaugurated.

Just a month before.

If you notice, I've got the
marriage certificate in my hand.

It's inside the family record book.

It's glued to the...

But the photo was initially
taken by Florin.

- This one.
- This isn't a photo taken by me.

- No?
- I didn't take this picture.

Florin or...?

I didn't take this one.
I just received the photo.

I wasn't here when it was taken,
I got it from Florin, I think.

And I liked the image,
with the flowers, very informal.

It was a beautiful celebration
and... how can I put it?

An intimate moment,
but a universal one.

If a stranger looks at the picture,
what does he see? A wedding.

Listen, this picture tells him:
"It's a wedding."

Well, that's what I'm interested in,
to capture the phenomenon,

not the person.

There's a difference.
For instance, I have a friend,

a textile worker, who's never
done a thing in his life,

He never got married,
never did a thing,

and when he celebrated
his 60th birthday, we went to Chioc,

and we celebrated his 60th birthday.

Another friend of mine
who died, loan Mititelu,

wrote an epigram for him.
But trust me, it's an awful one!

"Those who truly value life,
reap houses, cars, perhaps a wife,"

"But he, who worked among his peers
reaped nothing more than 60 years."

This is not acceptable! Meaning
he was a good for nothing.

He had only gathered years.

If you haven't accomplished anything,
if you don't have any benchmarks

to guide you,
which can guide others too,

that is not a life.

Coming back to this photo,

was it because you knew I was coming?
Or you had it already?

It was given to me.

No, but when you enlarged it
on this canvas,

was it because I was coming,
or did you have it already?

- No, I made it.
- A long time ago.

- It was made long ago?
- Yes.

I printed it on canvas
because I like it.

I mean, I didn't make it for...

Thanks a lot.

My wife will like it, too.

It's beautiful
because it conveys something.

My photos always convey something.

Look, the best way of conveying
a message is this, not my photos.

This is a fantastic way
of communicating.

Look, this young woman,
she's on the seashore.

- Right?
- Yes.

She leaves some traces behind.

But in front of her,
nature is in a total mess.

She wants to put nature in order
with her weapon,

her song, Mr Porumboiu.

The most beautiful weapon of all.

Look what's left behind her.
Everything is left in order.

Her traces will be
swept away by the waves.

But do you know
where these traces will remain?

Inside of me, the one who
looked at them. And I wonder:

What traces will I leave in life?

I was 19, in my prime,

and I'd suffered
a number of accidents,

which affected me.

I started to ask myself
why these things happened.

I'd been given divine punishment
for mistakes in the past?

I started to scrutinise my past,
wondering what mistake

could have deserved
this kind of punishment.

There's a section of the Bible,
Revelations 3.19, where God says:

Those whom I love,
I rebuke and punish.

It seems a total contradiction.

So the people God loves,
he rebukes, and punishes.

Where's the sense in it?

When I was a student, I found an
original Greek version of the Bible,

and for the word "punishment", they
used a term connected to "paideia".

In philosophy, studying
the Plato's Cave Allegory,

I'd learned that the word "paideia"
was used to mean "knowledge".

Under the influence of knowledge,
man should be enlightened,

and Plato's book "Republic" depicts
man as living inside a dark cave,

and he must be brought to the light
by "paideia", but gradually.

If you leave the cave and go straight
into the light, you'll go blind.

But here I'd found the word "paideia"
used to mean simply "punishment".

Then I discovered the same thing
regarding the word "metanoia".

"Metanoia", "metanoeo"
and other related words

are now translated in the
New Testament as "repentance".

The present-day Bible translates
Jesus as saying: Repent!

But considering the original sense of
the word "metanoia", which was used,

this should be translated as:
Change!

I had a kind of revelation,
and I went to

my former Ancient Greek professor,
Mihaela Paraschiv,

who explained that these words
first had non-violent connotations:

"paideia" meant
"non-violent education",

"metanoia" meant "transformation".

But because of the feudalization
of the Christian church,

they gave these words
violent connotations,

which were useful to give
a spiritual justification

for all kinds of abuses,
and to answer peoples questions.

It was easier to say
that if you're sick,

it's a sign of divine punishment for
something you or your ancestors did.

I started to realise that from
a moral and spiritual perspective,

violence isn't good.

That attempting to justify violence
using certain words from the Bible

isn't coherent.

If you're looking for support
for these aspects of violence,

you'll find out that
there's no justification for them.

Then I realised that
if you start from the idea

that you can always find rules, norms

and a general framework
in which people can be less violent,

it's possible for people
to live in greater harmony.

And this also applies to sport.

Your sport is a kind of
political utopia.

- No.
- It's a utopia.

No. It's an authentic solution.
That's what I want to say.

It only seems a utopia to those
who refuse to give themselves

a certain freedom.