Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
As longtime readers (and podcast listeners) know, my devotion to sports runs a close second to politics (and is usually infinitely less depressing). But a man's passions must have boundaries, and so I'll happily admit that soccer ranks just below synchronized swimming in my hierarchy of athletic interests (the latter edges the former for the simple reason that it's merciful enough to end more quickly).
Still, European football is no exception to the rule that sports can intermittently teach us something about the wider world, which is why this passage from the most recent issue of Sports Illustrated jumped out at me:
Few scenes in sports can match the emotional power of the one that Irish soccer fans produced at their Euro 2012 game against Spain in Gdansk, Poland, last week. In the final minute of a 4-0 loss to the defending champions, the Irish supporters, a majority in the stadium, could have booed and whistled at their own team or quietly filed out into the Polish night. Instead, the 25,000-strong Green Army sang a hauntingly beautiful rendition of the The Fields of Athenry, an Irish folk ballad that had witnesses agreeing afterward: There are no fans in the world more passionate, supportive and just plain fun than the Irish. Defender Gerard Pique said he'll remember Fields of Athenry as long as he lives -- and he plays for Spain.
... No less an authority than NFL commissioner Roger Goodell marveled at European soccer, telling [Sports Illustrated's] Peter King that he would love to replicate the spontaneous songs and chants that are as much a hallmark of the stadium experience as blaring music, Kiss cams and T-shirt cannons are part of the NFL and other artificially enhanced U.S. sports.
The piece then goes on to wring its hands about whether American football fans are even capable of mustering the raw esprit de corps of European soccer fans. To which, it seems to me, the obvious answer is no.
That's not to sell short devotees of the National Football League, of which your author is one. Professional football is the nation's greatest sports obsession and some of its most devoted fan bases (Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers) possess a sense of shared identity almost as strong as the European fans. But only almost.
The difference is one of depth. NFL teams are brands. And while, over time, those brands may become intertwined with childhood memories, regional identities, and any other number of factors that produce the tissue of lingering affection, they don't run as deep as national pride. At the beginning of every NFL game, fans of both teams have their hearts swell to the same national anthem. Not so intra-continental European soccer.
And therein lies the dilemma for the Eurocrats in Brussels who stubbornly refuse to admit that the real obstruction to their vision of a unified continent is neither political nor economic, but cultural. The 25,000 Irish who sang with one voice above the pitch in Gdansk, did so not because they loved soccer -- or at least not just because they loved soccer -- but because their team was inextricable from a sense of nationhood, from a sense of blood and soil that can't be legislated through any multi-national body. Can anyone picture a similar group, 15 years down the line, joining together in a hymn celebrating a collection of disparate nations who've devised a common agricultural policy?
No doubt, we're still in for many years of Brussels regarding its task as making straight the crooked timber of humanity. And, no doubt, that will end in failure. When future generations ask you where the Eurocrats' battle was lost, you can tell them: on the fields of Athenry.
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Aug '10
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
I hope it's not too sacrilegious to observe:
That guy in the photo looks like a portrait of the Blessed Virgin Mary with a beard. All he's missing is a halo.
Sep '10
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
I agree with your assesment of the culture and the euro but I think they chant and sing because there is nothing else to do. The sport is 90 minutes of foreplay with no climax and I played in high school and I have respect for them as atheletes - even though they act like whimps when they fake injury - but still...try singing that song at a "real" football game and something is going to happen before the second verse.
Feb '11
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Didn't know the song, here's Paddy Reilly's performance with words. Off to Australia.
The EU is an attempt at the negation of history. It shouldn't be too surprising history will win. Granted it is a bloody history, but that's only one way of looking at it. The other is that it is one of intense competition that propelled a civilization to be unequaled for a 500 year period.
Dec '10
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Troy - I agree completely with your conclusion regarding the attempts of the EU to destroy the concept of national pride.
I would suggest, however, that you picked the wrong US example for comparison. Don't use the NFL fan base - use the college football fan base. College teams are becoming brands (the charge being led by my alma mater & Nike), but the loyalty and passion of the college fan base is much deeper and less beer-fueled than the NFL's.
Jul '11
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Sounds like a same verse as someone who has never been to a European soccer match.
Soccer is one of the few places in Europe that national identity asserts itself so blatantly. Americans only get to experience that in the Olympics, generally. Who cares, except fans in Miami, that the Heat won the title?
Last night's England-Italy game, and the Greece-Germany match-up a few nights ago, were full of drama. You see nation's identities assert themselves through the play of their teams. The Irish fans were awesome, & some people with me got teary even though they weren't Irish fans.
May '12
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
I used to be in an Irish band here in Tuscaloosa called "Skullduggery" and we used to play "The Fields of Athenry." It was a crowd favorite and always brought down the house.
There are great Irish folk songs with great wisdom embedded in them, deep and old. For all the left's talk about "What it is to be human" I really don't think they actually get it.
Aug '10
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Deeper? Sure. Less beer-fueled?
Apr '11
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
How can you not like soccer! It is an awesome game. I must say the most exciting games of soccer are hard to match except by perhaps only hockey in feel and momentum. Football is riddled with rules and technicalities. No ref could just declare "let them play" the same goes for baseball.
At any point in a soccer game you can win or loose it. Unlike football where you can literally run out the clock by being lazy about actually playing the game. Oh! we have 4 tries and a a minute and thirty seconds left. Game over because we are up by 2 and can just take a knee. How lame is that? Not in soccer. In soccer you actually have to play the game for the full 90+ minutes.
So how do you feel about hockey Troy? Do you find it boring as well? I just don't get it. I am of the opinion that if the US had better soccer people wouldn't be so down on it.
Good point about the EU though. One thought about that. Were the 13 colonies that close to begin with? I mean they could do it given time.
Jan '12
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Troy, You've clearly never felt the emotional tension which a game of soccer engenders. The interplay between different strategies, tactics, formations, emotions, skills and personalities. The beautiful game will continue to sweep the world and maybe with time you will learn why it is enjoyed by so many. The Irish never expected to win but they were at the contest to share a moment in time with fans from across the world - Americans included.
Each nation has a song and the Irish now have theirs, or at least since 1990 check out the wiki. This is normal as each soccer team such as Southampton, Manchester United, etc also have 'their' song and a variety of others. When you get a chance go to a game.
The notion that American teams are brands is not an example of American exceptionalism. The UK Premier League is made of big brands. The Premier League has just sold the TV rights for next year for $4.6bn. My team is owned by a Swiss German family who have around $4bn at their disposal.
I'm looking forward to the NFL season. I watch one game a week and of course Super Bowl.
Edited on June 25, 2012 at 7:59pmAug '10
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
There is some debate in Ireland about whether it is a good or a bad thing for fans to sing in defeat? My sense of it is that a substantial majority thinks (as I do) that the fans paid hard-earned money to support their team in Poland and the Ukraine and that it was their right to react to defeat as they saw fit. as long as no-one was hurt and no property damaged, which might not be such a sure thing with some other nations' supporters. Similarly, we tend not to look for a McDonalds to burn down when the economic going gets tough.And the 25,000 fans and those of us who stayed at home will remain united for a little while yet, in support of fellow-PIGS Italy, Spain and Portugal (aka "Anyone But Germany") in the remainder of the Tournament.
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Midget Faded Rattlesnake: I hope it's not too sacrilegious to observe:
That guy in the photo looks like a portrait of the Blessed Virgin Mary with a beard. All he's missing is a halo. · 56 minutes ago
That's one of those observations that's so perceptive that -- while I didn't see it at all before you noted it -- I can't see it any other way now.
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Of course, we've got our own problems with that trend on this side of the Atlantic too.
Jul '10
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Succintly well put. The vanity of those who created an anthem no one sings, a flag no one salutes, a bureaucracy to suck the last coins from people's pockets, and a currency that hangs by a thread, knows no bounds. Nigel Lefarge is but one of too few voices who truly understands the bigger picture.
May '11
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Agreed! Especially in the SEC. You will hear spontaneous chants all game long.
Less beer-fueled? Yes, because in most college stadiums you can't buy beer. But you CAN smuggle liquor; smaller package, more kick per ounce, only requires you to buy a soda.
Valiuth
"At any point in a soccer game you can win or loose it. Unlike football where you can literally run out the clock by being lazy about actually playing the game."
However, in a football game you can actually win or lose AFTER the clock has officially run out. (Tennessee looses to LSU 2 years ago.) And soccer allows for ties...never in football. You play until you win or lose. As for playing out the last few plays...strategy. You can still screw up and lose.
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
I chose the NFL specifically because of Commissioner Goodell's quote in the piece, but your point is well-taken. The loyalty that comes with being an alumnus of a school with a major football (or, in some cases, basketball) program is the closest approximation we have stateside. Still, for the reasons EstoniaKat cites in comment #5, it doesn't quite reach the same level as a sport where concepts of team loyalty and national loyalty are comingled.
Mar '11
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
I try not to follow the English soccer team - they always lose the penalty shootout. More depressing, even, than Mr Cameron's politics, or lack thereof.
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
I was hoping for this comment.
I am a huge -- huge -- hockey fan, but I came to the NHL late (I grew up with football, baseball, and basketball). Now it rivals football as my favorite sport. I never appreciated hockey until I saw a game in person and I wonder if there's a similar dynamic in soccer. Truth be told, I'd really like to get invested in the sport, but it's just never stuck. Any recommendations on sparking a neophyte's interest?
Apr '11
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Troy Senik, Ed.
I was hoping for this comment.
I am a huge -- huge -- hockey fan, but I came to the NHL late (I grew up with football, baseball, and basketball). Now it rivals football as my favorite sport. I never appreciated hockey until I saw a game in person and I wonder if there's a similar dynamic in soccer. Truth be told, I'd really like to get invested in the sport, but it's just never stuck. Any recommendations on sparking a neophyte's interest? · 6 minutes ago
Actually I find World Turnaments very exciting. I always watch the US games the problem though is that they only happen every 2 years. You can try watching team USA in the summer Olympics? That might be a good show though the Olympic soccer is not quite as intense as Euro Cup or World Cup. I find having a team to root for or against is good.
I personally will be cheering the Germans in the Euro Cup. Think of it as a fight between austerity and slovenly Southern European extravagance.
Oct '10
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Yes, you're absolutely right. No climax. No climax at all...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2onSRMLQ9Z0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kikUcHiSufw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbn3rOPmR9w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y58uEHWLXxg&feature=related
Jun '12
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Troy: ... "I never appreciated hockey until I saw a game in person and I wonder if there's a similar dynamic in soccer..."
You simply must see a professional soccer match close up and personal to get it. Watching the players chase down the ball is like watching a herd of mustangs race across a meadow, there's a visceral impact of feet on turf, breaths timed to the stride and strike, the soaring grace of a downfield pass hitting a teammate surrounded by adversaries. It fairly takes your breath away.