Stages of the Global:

It’s interesting that Rowe doesn’t really make any arguments about the game of Football and only talks about how racism is in soccer.  He brings this about talking about how sport and media are tied together and that now, “sport and media were once largely confined within a national framework, but their infra- structure and imagery are increasingly subjected to the pressures of globalization.”  (pg. 356)  He then describes the case of Zidane and the historical context of his nationality in the controversial case of the Final.  I find this quote fascinating, “thus, when over three years after the World Cup the Scottish writer A.A. Gill visited Algeria, he found Zidane’s violent act popularly celebrated as ‘authentically Algerian’ after his many years as a ‘brown Frenchman’ subjugated by a former colonial master:”  (pg. 364)  The Algerians celebrated what happened because he broke all rules against their colonial power and forced them to fail towards their accomplishments, which seems like they are exaggerating the importance of the event a little.

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Here is the article.

This article talks about the potential problems the Barcelona Football Club would have if Catalunya seceded from Spain.  They note the combination of the soccer team with the nationalist movement and question and I really like the quote from the chairman about what FC Barcelona would do if Catalunya seceded. He says:

“Sandro Rosell, the club chairman, may have joined the September 11th march in Barcelona that shot Catalan independence to the forefront of national debate, but he is clear about the club’s future. It must continue to play in the Spanish league, he says, even if Catalonia becomes independent.”

This would be because the Catalans would need to continue to prove their dominance and influence in Spain.  The football team appears like it would be the symbol for Catalunya in Spain and help defend the idea that Catalans could have their own country.  If I had to guess, it would also be an important income for the country, as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahTl_MI9bS4

This video shows Puyol and Xavi, two reknowned players for Spain, celebrating their victory of the World Cup with the senyera.  The senyera is the red and yellow flag and represents the nation of Catalunya, so it is really interesting to see it appear, while the players are celebrating a win for all of Spain.  It is really cool to see how politicized football has been over time in Spain.

Buffington does a great job of defining national culture and its construction and does a fascinating examination of the role of soccer in the US.  He describes national identity saying that:

“These assertions often evince the notion of national singularity through reference to two intertwined themes: internal homogeneity and external difference. The claim of internal homogeneity emphasizes collective similarities over domestic variation by highlighting what members of a national community share, such as common history, traditions, sense of place, and other mutual experiences (McClintock, 1997).” (pg. 136-7)

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Here is the article.

This article shows the strength of the Catalans in soccer if they were to become an actual squad.    They would be hard to beat, something that I’ve been trying to say with my commentary on the last couple of TIFOs. I like how this article also shows all the relevant player history.

Here’s the article.

I think the author does an interesting job of trying to show the similarities between Cataluña and Madrid, but I’m not sure if this actually is true.  The Catalans prove that they are not okay being under Madrid’s power by setting up movements using their large big money maker the article mentions, FC Barcelona.

This article show why I disagree with the other article.

The players that the article mention are pretty meaningful in terms of symbolism of soccer for Spain.  The Catalans have proved that they are equal, if not better, as seen through both articles talking about how many Catalans are on the national team.

A really interesting quote from the second article on the Spanish take on football from their national teams head coach:

“The Spain coach also looked ahead to the 2014 World Cup finals, admitting that even though Spain were defending champions, “The normal thing is for us not to win it and that is a good thing…” [and] “We need that insecurity against our rivals, who are all good (Spain will face Holland, Chile and eAustralia in the group stage). In the past nobody expected us to get past the quarter finals and now everyone expects us to win. We need to measure our optimism and that is not easy,” he said. 

Chapter 3:

It’s fascinating to see how the Fascist government used soccer to manipulate the people.  The article says, “The intro­duction of cup competitions was Fascism’s attempt to protect both big and small teams, while bringing the composite pieces of the puzzle closer towards an integrated national picture that would further develop the Italian game.” (Pg. 60)  It was used to galvanize the people and contribute positively to the Fascist Regime, which used the game to change the cultural identities of the people. The article continues “It was an argument often employed during the Fascist era, whereby the roots of football were attrib­uted to the ancient sport of calcio Fiorentino or calcio storico, a tradi­tional folk game of the Middle Ages, which was also restored to prominence by the regime.82 (Pg 66) This is an example of how they used soccer to build a new national identity, by creating the game as a past time with cultural values that they could build.  Then once they began having success with football and “as II Bargello was proud to proclaim in 1931: ‘even in sport, Fascism is teaching the old Europe and showing its greatest export.’ (pg. 72)  It’s really cool to see how the government built this and compare it to how Spain, thanks to Isabelle and Fernando, united their nation through Christianity and the newly reformed language of Castellano.

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Here is the article I’ve found.

I think it’s really cool to look at the perspectives at play in this article.  The people of Cataluña and the Basque country want these teams to represent and be the forefront for their nationalist movements, but at least the Catalan players continue the tradition of saying whatever the people want to hear.  Xavi’s quote is an example of this, how he says the likes to play for Cataluña but ultimately would play for Spain, not Cataluña.  This quote is classic, “The players do so carefully stressing their allegiance to Catalonia, while never publicly championing it ahead of their loyalty to a Spain they have all represented with distinction.” Why would these Catalan players try to change a system that they are extremely successful at?  The Catalans have always been known as “wheeler-dealers” and negotiators, so it’s really cool to watch this play out.

Who Really Invented Modern Football?

This article focuses on the development of soccer as we know it today.  A concise summary of this seems to be that Sheffield was the hub of a amateur, elite soccer scene, while Lancashire focused on the competition of sport.  Sheffield changed the rules and helped form soccer into what the game is today, like with the offside rule mentioned on page 1428.  It seems that Lancashire, with its sporting traditions of horse racing and pedestrianism, wanted good players and good competition.  They used what the reading calls “shamateur game” and “they [the players] were paid quite openly out of the gate money, the net sum remaining after those disbursements being entered in the books kept for inspection as gross amounts’.” (pg 1437) Ultimately the game continued to grow and become what it is today, but it is really interesting to see such different perspectives of a game work together to form a lasting sport.

A History of Football in Paris:

Capital and port areas were main places for soccer in the beginning, but this changed.  Compulsory military service helped spread the game across the country and the article seems to say that this happened across class lines.  Before soccer was a city or port area thing, but during the 1920’s this spread to the provinces around France, indicating that the game was spreading thanks to the compulsory military service, and these new teams were winning. “In redefining spheres of influence, this new institutional configuration once again brought into play the French regions’ mistrust of Parisian power in a country already defined by a long tradition of centralisation going back to the division of the country into departments following the French Revolution” (pg. 1133) This is really interesting, the once dominant power was stopped and made to be equal, which is way different from the “creation” story of Brazil.

The story of football in France also has “identity portals” like with the Italians in Brazil.  It is really interesting to see that immigrants used soccer to find to find their own “place” within the culture and to be accepted.

When were the rules hammered out again? How did they choose rules across country lines, when the rules changed as much as they did?