David Rowe’s article on the media and the incident involving Zinedine Zidane’s head-butting of an Italian soccer player during the world cup examines the media’s treatment of suspected racism by the Italian player Materazzi in provoking the head-butt by possibly calling a terrorist and threatening sexual violence on Zidane’s family. The article describes the extensive focus by the media on the actual words used by Materazzi in determining if he did in fact express racism prior to being head-butted. This focus on the words rather then the context of who the players were, one a French born son of Algerian immigrants and the other an Italian whose country had colonies in northern Africa. The article describes how even if explicitly racial epithets were not used the threats of sexual violence against Zidane’s family could be a reflection of colonialist ideas of emasculating colonial male subjects by sexually controlling the women. Thus the conclusion of the investigation that said Materazzi did not express racism but only derogatory language to Zindane is not entirely accurate because of the lack of attention paid to broader context of the utterances.
“I didn’t mention anything about religion, politics or racism. I didn’t insult his mother. I lost my mother when I was 15 years old and still get emotional when I talk about it. Naturally, I didn’t know that his mother was in hospital but I wish her all the best”(363-364).
“The only area of agreement in the accounts, then, is that Materazzi made sexually suggestive comments about Zidane’s sister – an affront to his family and to his masculinity rather than racism per se. But this assessment conceals as much as it reveals, because it is difficult to see an insult to a family member of a person of Algerian descent by a southern European, whose country has its own recent history of North African military adventurism and imperialism, is not in some way a racially inflected practice. Connotatively, it can be read as an example of the ‘sexual racism’ that conventionally layers and articulates forms of oppression”(364).
Weedan’s article on youth player migration to the English premier academies demonstrates the lack of cultural integration of the migrants into the culture of the host country. The purpose of the academies is quite simple: to train young players into future professional players. In order to accomplish this the young players are trained extensively every day and then must rest. Not much emphasis is placed on any type of social life outside of soccer. The article explores how many migrants feel isolated and homesick in the beginning of their time at the academies especially if they do not know English. The only part of cultural integration that the academies are very intent on forcing the migrants to do is learn English. This allows the players to communicate with each other which is important in soccer. Not learning English quickly can lead to repercussions for migrants. Although the article shows how these academies are good at training migrants into professional players, the cultural isolation and lack of social integration experienced by migrants should be examined to see if it can be lessened.
“The thing is, you’re living the football lifestyle, you know, I’m not really surrounded with people that don’t play football, ’cause you become so close, every day with the boys [in the academy team], so you try to do everything with the boys as well. And me, being from a different country, I’m not a person that says ‘no’ because I’m from another country I don’t want to become friends with someone outside of football. But I’m always with the boys from football, so that’s why I don’t really know anything about how other people live” (208).
“…the acquisition of language was viewed as an essential requisite of acculturation which held direct implications for career development and social integration. These players were mocked, and in an extreme case one felt he was being punished, for ‘abnormal’ use of, or lack of, English language. Consequently, these players became involved in relationships of power in which they were subject to ‘minor deprivations and petty humiliations’ (Foucault, 1977: 178) by their acculturating group, until they achieved a status of normality by acquiring a strong enough command of English, and the ‘footballing vernacular’, to communicate on the pitch and integrate socially with teammates and host families” (212).
Questions
- If the Rowe believes even insults that are not explicitly racial epithets are forms of racial oppression, can any derogatory language exchanged between players of different races be free from racism or a racial component?
- How can the social isolation experiences by youth football player migrants be lessened while maintaining a devotion to high quality soccer?