This TIFO shows one of the many commercials used in the ‘Stand Up, Speak Up’ campaign launched in 2005 by Footballer Thierry Henri and Nike. The campaign fights to bring attention to racism in professional soccer and calls upon fans to help fight against this increasingly growing trend.
In the definitions packet we received I noticed a link between two sections. Under Nation and Nationalism, on page 16 the author writes
“Among the Jews of the Old Testament and among the ancient Greeks we find the sence of belonging to a distinct people marked off from the rest of the world by special characteristics – an embryonic sense of national superiority”
Later on page 31 under Nationalism and Sport the author writes
“The desire, particularly on the part of fans, to express their national identity in the relm of sport is clearly linked to nationalism in the broadest sense or, at the very least, to patriotism”
Together these definitions explain fandom, especially on the national level. People feel that their nationality is superior and they look to sport to prove it.
In the 2nd article we read, a major point Ithought was interesting was the fact that the EPL has been on television in 211 nations. That is tremendous, I can’t think of any other thing that would be on so many televisions. It shows how important soccer is to so many people and how big of a market their is for the sport both in terms of fandom but also strictly business.
Something the essay doesn’t touch on to much is foreign investment in the EPL. While it does say many players come from outside England it doesn’t really dive deep into the surprising about of teams who are not owned by Brits. This is important to my topic of American’a making money in soccer.