Workers throne the Queen

By Papageorgiou Alexis

Researching for this article has been a revelation I admit. Cruising through the
search engine results, seeking similarities between ants and humans, I found myself
assimilating some pretty interesting facts and parallelisms between the two species,
worth sharing.
This conclusion is not derived by my masters in biochemistry and environmental
studies, so I will take my chances with simple facts, gaining confidence from the
significant possibility and plain desire, few will spot the palpable unreliable
information I might furnish in the lines to come.
People build societies. So do ants. They both provide shelter to their members, and
subsequently tend to their needs. Now it doesnt take a brainiac to photograph the
differentiation between people and ant needs. We are needy, we always were and
always will be, and as time progresses our descendants will be so needy, their
needs will probably need something.
An underground city of ants, provides work for the majority of its members, and in
most cases, a specific type of ant, is hired for a job, due to its natural aptness to
perform it more accurately than the rest of its kind. For instance, some ants are
scouts, a tiny yet irritating chunk of which I scouted at my own place. These ants
are the midgets of ant world, therefore better at stretching and crawling through
tight spaces, like my kitchen cupboards, in search for food. Other ants are better in
transportation and protection services of the food conveyed to the nest. Warrior
ants rage war on other colonies, and take prisoners that eventually become slaves,
or stick their heads in the nests entrances to block an incoming assault. All is fare
in love and war, even in the miniscule but vast world that lies underneath.
Piece de resistance they have a queen. From what I interpreted, this queen has
one job. Have sex with several male ants, and give birth to the newest members of
the colony, thus sustaining its perseverance and growth through time. Even though
this is not the worst way to go, male ants expenditure is apparently restricted to
having sex and die
Cutting to the chase and zooming in, a football team is actually a small society.
Rewinding to what van Gaal said after the Arsenal derby.
We are always evaluating ourselves and we cannot accept it. Not only I
cannot accept it, we cannot accept it. My members of staff and the
players. Its not only the players, its also the members of the staff and

also my cook Mike, because he has a big influence in the atmosphere in

the canteen.
Now I am not suggesting that Mike should have tackled Sanchez, or Maria the
cleaning lady, could have picked a better pass to Depay, but Man Uniteds manager
has a point. A team is not consisted only by a number of players and a manager.
Everything has value inside a football club and if Mike told a joke to Schneiderlin
that wasnt lame, or knew German and had a conversation with Schweinsteiger
they probably would have still lost the match.
But adding to Mike, George the pitch maintenance guy, Nick the electrician, the fans
and so on and so forth, van Gaals point becomes less complex. A team, as a
society, should be an upgrade to the one we common folks live in, since its compact
size makes guidance easier, under a righteous leader. And in a football society,
even a bijou act, contributes towards succeeding or failing the desired goal,
regardless the undisputed heavy truth that lies on the shoulders of players and
coach.
Alpha is simply the first letter of the alphabet.
Messi, Ronaldo & Ibra are typical examples of alpha males inside a team structure,
even if their personalities are alike, like ice and fire.
Their status inside and outside the team is rightfully bigger than their teammates,
but so is their expected contribution and criticism. And when that contribution fails
to reach the desired level or another member of their society starts pitching better
for a significant number of games, criticism emerges and eventually a new ace is
crowned, primarily in the fragile form of bubble rumors before finally public
celebration dawns the new era.
Oddly enough, not all is peachy in ant paradise likewise.
Workers protect their queen and do so unquestioning, for a long period of time.
Every ant conducts its part, as natures way of evolving advances. When the
number of Queens exceeds one, spicy episodes usually follow in the ant kingdom.
Presented with the opportunity to get lazy, Queens sometimes decide to serve their
own agenda, produce fewer workers, ergo preserving more energy and power.
Even though workers never attack a fertile, unselfish queen, they instantly sniff the
lazy one, the one who stopped contributing towards the colony goals.
Luke Holman, of the University of Copenhagens center for social evolution, told
LiveScience and I quote.
Execution of the most selfish ant Queens by workers would increase the
incentive for Queens to be team-players that work hard to help the colony.

This rudimentary legal system, could have helped ants to evolve their
highly advanced societies, just as in humans.
Bees implement the exact same murderous behavior towards their Queen, when
she can no longer produce, and a new, cuter, becomes available. A cluster of them
bees, balls the damned Queen, and eventually end her, by turning up the heat, a
phenomenon known as cuddle death.
At no point of my research have I read the adjective jealous, as a viable motive for
workers to replace the leader. Their goal always seems to be the greater good, and
even though some may argue the necessity of killing a flawed queen without giving
her the opportunity to step down voluntarily, its simply natures way of doing
things.
Also, a case of a flawed queen, conspiring with other busy little bees in the
shadows, building cliques inside the society, struggling to maintain her throne,
didnt appear in my engine results either, but the possibility of erroneous research
on my behalf is imaginable.
To conclude, a Queen or an Alpha male is vital, but only as long as he contributes to
the teams goals. The same applies for the workers, who have been
underappreciated hugely in the past, due to technological limitations and our
misguided perception of what football truly is, but have come to be the true heroes,
who unselfishly sacrifice themselves for the team, game after game. Match after
match, the electronic board denies them the simple thanks, but they should always
keep in mind, that fans appreciation ability, bests the machines.
I know full well that I must occupy the centre-backs in order to benefit my
teammates who play behind me, especially Neymar and Messi.
What Suarez is for Barcelona, the tireless worker that Makelele was for Real Madrid
or Kroos now is in this squad, Xavi & Xabi, Iniesta, Pirlo, Schweinsteiger, Vieira and
Arteta, Eriksen and many, many more, that may not always get the praise they
earned or still do with tons of sweat, but in the hearts of most football lovers, they
hold a special place, with permanent VIP status.