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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Apr '11
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Pilli
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. · 31 minutes ago
Soccer only allows for ties in certain conditions. No different than Hockey.
I get the strategy part of football (which I do like as a game, honestly) but I just dislike it when you get to the "victory" formation in any game. To me it seems like a matter of poor sportsmanship. Either the refs should call the game, or you have to try to advance the ball. Just taking a knee to re-line up three or four times seems silly.
Oct '10
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
"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..."
Yep, if you can replicate the spontaneous, you got it made, Roger. Next on your docket: faking sincerity.
As for soccer, it's a dreadful game - the offside rule alone is almost enough to discredit it, not to mention the substitution rule, the fact that only the ref (the ONLY on-field ref, to boot!) knows how much extra-time remains, and the coup de grace - the fact that their most important games are often decided by the equivalent of cutting-the-deck: PKs.
Any "sport" that has to resort to a gimmick to determine the winner of its games - and resorts to it often! - is a joke.
Edited on June 25, 2012 at 9:04pmOct '10
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
I disagree - I think it's 90 minutes of dinner and a movie. (Foreplay is awesome - don't denigrate it by equating with soccer, by gum!)
Oct '10
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Troy Senik, Ed.
I never appreciated hockey until I saw a game in person and I wonder if there's a similar dynamic in soccer.
There is - I never truly appreciated every other sport on the face of the planet until I saw a soccer game in person.
Oct '10
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Valiuth
Pilli
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. · 31 minutes ago
Soccer only allows for ties in certain conditions. No different than Hockey.
Football allows for ties, except in the playoffs. Soccer allows for ties, except in the playoffs. Not baseball. Not hockey. All hockey games tied at the end of regulation - even regular-season games - go to OT, and ties after OT go to a Shootout in order to award the extra point for the SO win. Hockey NEVER resorts to a gimmick like soccer's PKs to determine the winners of its most important games - playoff games. They play until someone wins. Soccer can't do that, because scoring is so rare that guys would die on the pitch (or was that just a dive??). Which is more proof that it's a lame sport, sorry, "sport."
Oct '10
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Troy Senik, Ed.
...
Any recommendations on sparking a neophyte's interest? · 43 minutes ago
1) Only watch the English Premier League. It's regularly on ESPN during the season. For pure speed, excitement, and passion it's the best and most watchable league in the world.
2) Cheer for Americans who play in Europe. For instance, I got into English soccer by cheering for Brian McBride, the best American Forward ever, playing for Fulham (a mediocre English team). Now Fulham has Clint Dempsey -- arguably the best active American player -- and he's dominant. Lots of Americans are becoming top players in Europe. Cheer for them, and adopt their teams.
Edited on June 25, 2012 at 9:25pmMar '11
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
International tournaments, like the Euro Cup, are the last vestige of patriotism left to most of the Western world. Don't tell Brussels or they'll put a stop to it pronto.
Jul '11
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Nothing exciting about soccer. Nothing whatsoever.
LULZ
http://youtu.be/wUTgoKNqxxo
May '12
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
You should thank God that level of tribalistic insanity hasn't reached the US. Soccer sucks for many reasons; players giving oscar worthy performances of injuries after having a breeze hit them, 90 minutes of play only to reach a tie, etc., but the biggest reason soccer sucks?
The fans.
While Danny Dyer is a awful actor, he did a eye-opening documentary on international soccer organized hooligan groups. Here are just a few portions of episodes that I highly recommend you look at before you marvel at the 'passion' of soccer fans.
The Real Football Factories-London; The Balkans; Argentina; Turkey; Italy, The Midlands.
Despite many attempts to squash hooliganism and racism in soccer, it's still there, lurking for a momentary lapse in discipline by the police for it to rear its head. I've been to quite a few of these games; West Ham v. Millwall, Rangers v. Celtic, Galatasaray v. Fenerbahce, and a whole bunch of Liverpool matches.
Anyone who heralds soccer needs to go to some matches to rethink that fandom.
Jun '10
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Valiuth
I get the strategy part of football (which I do like as a game, honestly) but I just dislike it when you get to the "victory" formation in any game. To me it seems like a matter of poor sportsmanship. Either the refs should call the game, or you have to try to advance the ball. Just taking a knee to re-line up three or four times seems silly. · 1 hour ago
But soccer teams do the same thing, when a team is ahead with a few minutes left they will:
Football at least has rules like when a player gets injured in the last 2 mins their team has to take a time out, to discourage faking it.
Jul '11
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Jim Ixtian
Anyone who heralds soccer needs to go to some matches to rethink that fandom. · 14 minutes ago
As if the NFL, NBA, baseball, college football and basketball don't have some of the same issues. Youtube the video of the women getting kicked out of the Detroit Lions game last season. It's hilarious on one hand, scary on another.
Fact is, a lot of European countries are still homogenous, so exposure to different races is an issue more than in the "melting pot".
I went to uni in the States, and got used to it. But a decade later, I see a black woman or gentleman in Estonia, and I take a second look, trying to figure out who they are.
But if you are going to slag a sport because of fan behavior, I think we should start with the NBA, which tends to send L.A. into riots and fire every time they win it.
That's a self-defeating yardstick.
Jun '10
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Blake
1) Only watch the English Premier League. It's regularly on ESPN during the season. For pure speed, excitement, and passion it's the best and most watchable league in the world.
That's the stumbling block for me. I agree with the posts above that to get into a sport you have to attend in person. I went to a San Jose Earthquakes game, and it was a lot of fun. But it's hard to get really excited about Major League Soccer because it feels like a minor league, and no one seems to take it very seriously.
But on the other hand I can't get excited about EPL because I don't feel any connection to any of the teams. I have to have a rooting interest in a particular team to really get passionate about a sport.
May '12
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Respectfully disagree Kat. The violence and hatred that occurs at soccer games, especially at the club level is an order of magnitude worse than anything in the US. Exactly how did the Russian fans sneak a massive banner reading 'This is Russia' into a supposedly secure stadium in Poland? Needless to say that there was plenty of running violence between the Russian and Polish fans this past month.
You can find any number of examples of violence and hatred at American sporting events, but by and large they are exceptions not the rule. Nor is it a result of organized groups like we see coming from the firms.
Jan '12
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Of course I want you to follow Southampton (nicknamed the Saints) but there are 19 other Premiership teams. If you really want to get involved you can follow them by going to their website and registering for their recorded offerings at e.g. SaintsPlayer. These will not be live games but you will see highlights, interviews and sometimes the whole game but after the event.
You will also learn about strategies, tactics and personalities.
This is the Home page for Southampton FC.
The SaintsPlayer can be found here and costs £35.99 (about $55) per year
If anyone knows of a similar offering for NFL I'd really like to know.
Joseph Stanko
But on the other hand I can't get excited about EPL because I don't feel any connection to any of the teams. I have to have a rooting interest in a particular team to really get passionate about a sport. · 26 minutes ago
Oct '10
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Joseph Stanko
Blake
1) Only watch the English Premier League... For pure speed, excitement, and passion it's the best and most watchable league in the world.
...
I can't get excited about EPL because I don't feel any connection to any of the teams. I have to have a rooting interest in a particular team to really get passionate about a sport. · 46 minutes ago
I totally understand. That's why I advise following teams with American players. It gives you a natural rooting interest.
I'll always support Fulham because they've historically been so welcoming to Americans (in fact, a little too welcoming). But other teams like Everton, Tottenham, and Aston Villa also regularly feature U.S. players, and are usually pretty good.
There's also a possibility that Clint Dempsey will make a big-money move to a bigger team -- maybe Arsenal or Liverpool -- and that would cause a lot of Americans (myself included) to jump on that bandwagon.
Apr '11
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
I just like the fact that if Germany goes on to win this thing - and they very well might - they'll likely have dispatched Greece, Italy and Spain along the way. The perfect metaphor!
Nov '10
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
Any sport in which a 0-0 tie is considered an acceptable outcome is worthy of all the mockery one can muster.
Jan '12
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
The thing I don't understand about American football is the incessant committee meetings. Every 15 seconds everyone stops and has a committee meeting for 30 seconds and then they go and run a play for another 5 to 15 seconds. If it were just the players on the committees, that would be one thing, but they have all sorts of advisors and messengers too. Quite the production. I'm not real sure of these things, but I don't think that it is metaphor for my country that I find pleasing.
Jun '12
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
I think the committees attempt to quell the anxiety caused amongst the members because the ball is not round. You never know what it's going to do when it hits the ground. It's like group therapy, only without the folding chairs. Those are used in wrestling.
Aug '10
Re: Soccer and the Inevitable Failure of the European Project
EstoniaKat
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. · 12 hours ago
Well said. It's one of the reasons I love the game, and love watching the US Soccer team (either the men's or women's teams). Neither baseball, basketball, or football can claim to represent the country in a team.
To watch on ESPN the footage of thousands of Germans gathering in outdoor venues in Berlin to support their country's team and the joy expressed when they win is moving.