Great article on "political football" by Veronique Bunting in 2002.
Football is more than sport. It a true mirror of our world. We say popular, universal, probably because it reflects the human soul. It is a compendium of solidarity, camaraderie, virtuosity, will, but also violence, aggression, fanaticism, cheating, nationalism ... It brings it divides at the same time. Politicians have understood.
Party of China, football is summarized before the second half of the nineteenth century to a ball game with meanings mythical warrior or play. Football appears in its modern form in England at the time of the birth of an era industrial capitalism. Soon the English factory owners understand the benefits that can give them football: stronger union between the workers and their business reputation. Thus were born prestigious clubs like West Ham or Arsenal. Subsequently, football will experience a rapid international development. He conquered the world first through the ports, through trade missions for British ships, and thanks to foreigners coming to study at British colleges. The railways and television, will complete its growth across Europe and Latin America, then Africa and Asia. Football is a symbol of modernity. It is linked to the ideology of free trade: bankers, brokers, international traders are behind the creation of clubs across Europe between 1890 and 1910. After the First World War, the era of cosmopolitanism football will turn into era of nationalism. National or regional styles (one plays the Danube or Italian) come out of the universal model English.
Reading geopolitical football
The spread of football globally Has nothing to do envy the great empires of history? Is not one of the finest achievements of all time? This is what Pascal Boniface defends in his book The earth is round like a ball. Geopolitics of football, reissued this year . Alongside the global strategic situation, the new world order of football is in flux: the World Cup in Asia confirm she end the supremacy of Brazil and the advent of France as a new superpower? This table geopolitical somewhat original because of the super object of admiration (which is far from being the case for the USA) and tends to make Sepp Blatter, FIFA's current president, better known as Kofi Annan. The personalities in the world of football do they not sometimes more famous than the heads of state themselves?
It is clear that international competitions certainly give a more egalitarian globalization by the presence of all the continents. But geopolitical events also have an impact on football. The twentieth century has witnessed the rise of a bunch of new nation states (decolonization and fall of empires). These newcomers are defined by a territory, a population, a government and a team ... National Football.
The FIFA membership is equivalent to that at the UN (FIFA has 204 members, is more than the UN). Football is obviously an element in solidifying a young nation. In 1990, after its declaration of independence, Lithuania has withdrawn its football team in the league Soviet regard to Georgia, she joined directly to FIFA. Franjo Trudjman has meanwhile asked the Dynamo Zagreb Croatia renaming itself, marking its national identity and especially his willingness to return to the Western world, Dynamo is too full of Bolshevism .
Showcase nationalism
If football can cement the national sentiment, it can also be used to anticipate diplomatic recognition. This is the case of Algeria. Before independence, the FLN (National Liberation Front) creates a team with players who deserted the Algerian and French clubs began a world tour in 1958. Also in Algeria, the Berber nationalism embodied in a football team: JSK, youth sports Kabyle. At the time of Franco's Spain, football has also played a catalytic role identities regional. Even now, Athletic Bilbao agree to transfer any players who can claim ancestry Basque.
Football proves to be an excellent laboratory of nationalism, a field of affirmation of collective identities and, on occasion, a crystal ball for future conflicts. Clashes between supporters of the Croatian Dinamo Zagreb and the Serbian Red Star Belgrade prefigured the tearing of the Balkans. Similarly, the Czechoslovakian divorce already read through violent clashes between the 80s and Sparta Prague club Slovan Bratislava. Through team national (or regional) is freely expressed the need for identification and national pride. Would it not be a substitute as legal and legitimate inter-state conflict: "Football, as a continuation of war by other means" , "the World Cup rather than the World War." These are not military terms missing in the vocabulary "football": attack, defense, strategy, national anthem, conquest, or declaration of war ! This is what happened in 1969 after a match between Honduras and El Salvador. This' War Football "will last four days. Of course football is never the cause of a war, but it can be a trigger, a pretext to launch hostilities. On the green grass of a football field read the warning signs of deterioration or improvement of ties between states.
Recovery policy
It's not just the people as expressed through football, politics as well. And these are our favorite stars transformed into toy soldiers serving the national cause. Mussolini's fascist Italy and Argentina Colonels were able to use the victories of their respective teams as a means of propaganda and international acceptance of their plan. In 1934, during the World Cup in Italy, two stages are meaningful names: Stadium of Fascist Party in Rome and Mussolini in Turin.
In 1978, the Committee for the boycott of the organization in Argentina to World Cup matches do not fail to inform authorities and population harm Videla's military junta. Nothing changes. Previously, Franco had already tried to exploit the football to ensure his grip on the whole of Spain. It should be withdrawn, precisely because the local nationalisms find in football clubs perfect field of expression.
Beyond nationalism, political positions can be found in international competition a sounding unexpected. During the elimination phase of World Cup 58, the countries of Africa-Asia refuse to play against Israel. In 1950, Eastern had refused to go to Brazil. In 1966, fifteen African countries likely to participate in the World Cup in England decided to withdraw because of the under-representation of their continent . Thirty years later, South Africa welcomes the first time the African Nations Cup football. Good opportunity to show its integration into the African community and its commitment to regional supremacy. Some regimes, cons, are wary of football. This is the case of Iran Imam Khomeini because in the anonymity of the crowd can shout their opposition. To keep control of the clubs, the "big powers" have always sought to link them to the police, army, government departments ... Scenarios well known in the former countries of Eastern Europe.
The business of football
Another way to see the close ties between politics and football: a closer look to referees and club managers. The arbitration first. This ability to see or not see the faults. In 1954, West Germany won the World Cup football to the detriment of a Hungarian team literally stolen by the referee. Some saw it as a maneuver to give a more positive image to the old enemy of Europe invited to attend the European Defence Community (EDC) needs of the Cold War force.
It also remembers the rigged game between Argentina and Peru in 1978, when the Peruvian goalkeeper let the ball go at the behest of politicians of both nations. Same story in Romania where the team of Steaua Bucharest, founded by Nicolae Ceausescu, was under the thumb of the dictator's son who enjoyed referees and opposing players put up by the Securitate . More recently, how Bernard Tapie and especially Silvio Berlusconi, (former) leaders Olympique Marseille and AC Milan, could they start their political careers without the media platform and voice that this windfall to represent a club football and its fans?
In May 2002, viewers were able to witness live out of the rostrum of Jacques Chirac, outraged by the whistles of supporters in Corsica La Marseillaise, the opening of the Cup finals in France. A fringe of people spoke and reacted policy, recognizing the power of football as a symbolic link to the nation. Football is more than sport, it is a social fact, an open window on our societies.2002 by Veronique Sparrow
0 comments:
Post a Comment