GlobalGame

Global Game Site Updates, 19 July 2008

2008-07-19T18:43:54Z

E-mail distribution | 19 July 2008

Set piece

In Amish country, FC Indiana builds 'multicultural vision'
FC Indiana in four years has become a force in women's club soccer in the United States, winning two Women's Premier Soccer League titles and one U.S. Open Cup. But despite origins within a Midwest Amish agricultural enclave, its influence extends worldwide. It has been linked with such players as Marta Vieira da Silva of Brazil and boasts a global scouting network - with contacts in R ussia, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico and Nigeria - that would be the envy of many fully professional men's clubs.
POSTED IN Women's football | USA

The run of play

What's that echo? Gary Smith, on the Fugees
Long-form Sports Illustrated writer Gary Smith again has applied his odd epistemology to soccer ("Alive and Kicking," Jun 23). In 8,000 words, he writes passionately in his familiar mode of author-vacated all-knowing about the Fugees of Clarkston, Georgia - ground already well plowed by Warren St. John of the New York Times (see 25 Jan 07).
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In clothing to conceal, football becomes 'means of fighting'
Toward the end of a Jun 17 National Public Radio interview, Marlene Assmann of BSV Al-Dersimspor discloses that her multicultural Kreuzberg side from Berlin again will brave Islamic strictures for a second friendly match in Iran. The first match had been the subject of a documentary film, Football Under Cover (29 Sept 07), that has made its debut on North American festival screens.
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Other voices
Chemistry Ph.D. Ibrahim M. Ibrahim (left), who died Jul 13 at age 67, made his mark as Clemson coach for 28 seasons, recruiting from Africa and elsewhere so American fans could see the game "played properly." ... Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan, writing in the Wall Street Journal, invites Turkish counterpart Abdullah G�l to Yerevan for a Sept 6 World Cup qualifier in order to mark a "new symbolic start in our relations." ... David Beckham's fondness for the phrase "going forward," borrowed from managerial jargon, indicates the crossover between the lives of sportsmen and business moguls, writes Lucy Kellaway in the Financial Times. Most are conformists; football brooks no deviance. ... Character actor Michael Sheen (The Queen) has a faux tan brushed onto his legs so he can channel the imperious Brian Clough lording it over skeptical Leeds Utd charges during filming of David Peace's The Damned Utd, reports Time Out London. ... After a lifetime of watching boyfriends and husbands play, a group of migrant seamstresses from Guatemala has formed an L.A.-based football team, the Los Angeles Times reports. The first time in cleats she felt "like a cow in shoes," says Celestina Hernandez. ... The fencing-off and sanctioned destruction of London's East End, in advance of the 2012 Olympics, has sacrificed 11 football pitches "trampled by hard-swearing enthusiasts," writes psychogeographer Iain Sinclair in the London Review of Books.

Heard on the terraces

"The mourning today that we feel on the anniversary of the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War is mitigated by our joy over yesterday's victory by the Russian team" (Patriarch Alexei II on Russia's advance to the Euro 2008 semifinal, quoted in Lyubov Borusyak, "Football as a Catalyst for Patriotism," Open Democracy, Jul 10).

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The Global Game | Writers on Soccer
Available for preorder
The writings gathered in this volume reflect the universal and infinitely varied ways in which soccer connects with human experience. Poetry and prose from Ted Hughes, Charles Simic, Eduardo Galeano, G�nter Grass, Giovanna Pollarolo, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Elvis Costello - to name but a few - take us to a dizzying array of cultures and climes. From a patch of ground in Missoula, Montana, to a cleari ng in a Kosovo forest, from the stadiums of Burma and Iran to the northern lights over Greenland to remotest Sierra Leone, these writers show us soccer�s stars and fans, politics and rituals, as well as the game's power to encourage resistance, inspire faith, and build community.

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The Global Game covers the world of football and its intersection with daily life.

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© 2008 JZ Editing & Publishing

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Global Game Site Updates, 17 Jun 08

2008-06-17T08:24:06Z

E-mail distribution | 17 June 2008

Set piece

When Joyce joined Hungarians 'in the middle'
Why has a 1937 alignment of literary stars not featured in Vienna in the European Championship's cultural program? Vladimir Nabokov lectures in a Parisian literary salon and espies James Joyce "sitting, arms folded and glasses glinting, in the midst of the Hungarian football team."
POSTED IN Language & literature | Hungary

The run of play

Ukrainians unite!
At any given time, an uncountable number of football universes exist in parallel. Such was the case in late May when Ukraine United and Shakhtar FC faced each other in a friendly match, not in the motherland, but on an artificial pitch at the 25-acre Ontario Soccer Centre.
Permalink | Comment

Other voices
BBC, ITV and Sky have mounted garish, glowing sets for hosting Euro 08 coverage, writes StrangeHarvest. BBC, in particular, stands out for the pundits' desk, the geometrical outcome of "a fight between an oval and a triangle." ... Described in the Globe & Mail as a "serial non-fiction author," Alan Twigg has written about his Vancouver-based over-50 squad's negotiations with aging and its trip to Spain, where it did not lose 8-0. The title of the book is Full Time. ... In the New Statesman, Robin Stummer writes that the "shadows, secrets and whispers" characterizing WWII-era Vienna still pertain to Matthias Sindelar, the so-called Paper Man who died mysteriously at 35 without the "chocolate-box glorification" afforded other Austrian heroes. ... How strongly should one draw comparisons between Boca's Juan Roman Riquelme and the charismatic Eva Peron? They both have represented the people, and have suffered for it, but Riquelme never changes his haircut, says Clarin's Cronicas Argentinas. ... The Link TV series Latin Pulse/Pulso Latino examines the Latino passion for futbol across the Americas, including a conversation with filmmaker Mylene Moreno on her new project, Fanaticos, about Chivas USA supporters. ... The thralldom to Toronto FC - "like a sheltered small-town adolescent who has just discovered gangsta rap and hash," writes Leah McLaren in the Globe & Mail - and the flirtation with yob culture threaten Toronto dwellers' "bland politesse."

Heard on the terraces

"I can still recite the entire lineup of the 1959 Fenerbahce team like a poem. Of course, it has something to do with identifying with my father. We always sat in the main stands next to the VIPs, who looked like capitalists from a Bertolt Brecht play. Throughout the match they smoked cigars, a sign of great wealth at the time, and because a breeze from the Bosporus was constantly blowing into the stadium, the smoke made my eyes tear up." (Orhan Pamuk, "Football Is Faster Than Words," Spiegel Online, Jun 4).

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Wor(l)ds for Football Coffee Mugs
It has 'mugness'
To accompany the morning brew, a dose of language instruction: 32 variations on "football," from Japanese to Welsh to Hebrew ($11.99). Thank-you cards ($11.99 for 10, in glossy or matte finish) and organic cotton T-shirts ($21.99) in this design are also available.

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Global Game Site Updates, 1 Jun 08

2008-06-01T11:03:55Z

E-mail distribution | 1 June 2008

Set piece

The 'center pole' of Haitian sport
Sights, sounds and interviews from the official opening of the Emmanuel "Manno" Sanon Soccer Park in Little Haiti, Miami. The park - a FIFA-regulation, grass facility funded by Miami taxpayers - opened after 10 years of planning and negotiation with a community festival and three matches, including a side from L'Athletique d'Haiti in Port-au-Prince. (Flash video, 6:55)
POSTED IN Caribbean | Stadia & supporters

The run of play

Big day for little Haitians
Haiti past, present and future came together in early May on an urban oasis in La Petite Haiti. The all too rare inner-city, publicly funded, full-size soccer pitch opened on one-time industrial ground north of downtown. "This is what we do for a living," said Miami immigration attorney Andre Pierre. With multimedia and podcast.
Permalink | Comment

Assorted linkage
FIFA boss Sepp Blatter, in his battle for "the soul of soccer," on May 30 gained backing of the FIFA Congress for a quota system to limit the number of foreign players eligible to start in a club match. The plan "appears to be unworkable in the modern world," says Mike Collett of Reuters. ... Campaigners hoping to highlight, during Euro 08, the horrors of human trafficking charge censorship in Swiss host cities Basel and Geneva. ... Sectarianism appears to be behind the Iraqi government's recent disbanding of the national football association. Have Shia ministers miscalculated in an effort to rid Iraqi sport of Sunni influence? "People are tired of politics and war," says Ashraq Al-Awsat political editor Fayad Maad. "But the people are never tired of football." ... David Goldlbatt, writing in the June issue of Prospect Magazine, hangs with the far-right supporters of Beitar Jerusalem. "We must show them that we are Jewish," says La Familia leader Guy Israeli.

Heard on the terraces

"In my 39 years of existence I don't know anything in Haitian culture or in Haiti that connects people together more than soccer. Soccer brings the Lavalas and the Convergence, the pro-Duvalier, against Duvalier, the poor, the rich. It brings everyone together. When they get together all they're doing is soccer. They don't talk about politics, we don't talk about how bad this person is, don't talk about how bad the country is. What they have done here ... bringing the park here, this is an amazing achievement for the Haitian community" (Andre Pierre, Miami immigration attorney, 3 May 08).

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Global Game Week in Review, 29 April 2008

2008-04-29T15:58:28Z

E-mail distribution | 29 April 2008

Set piece

Running the gamut of genres
The Global Game: Writers on Soccer is scheduled for November release - the product of some three years of compiling, winnowing and permissions seeking by myself and editors Thom Satterlee and Alon Raab, along with strong support and belief from the University of Nebraska P ress in Lincoln and heroic efforts from a network of translators, working in Spanish, French, Italian, Danish, Portuguese and Slovenian.
POSTED IN Language & literature | Teaching resources

The run of play

'On that Saturday ... there were soccer games in Pripyat'
Apr 29 | Twenty-two years ago, more than 1,000 buses commandeered from Kyiv rumbled northward toward Pripyat, Ukraine, to evacuate its 50,000 residents. By sunset on 27 Apr 1986, as Chernobyl reactor no. 4 burned, in one soldier's recollection, like a "beautiful blue fire," the town was empty. Left behind in the silence: a newly built football stadium sitting just to the north of a bright yellow Ferris wheel, a gift from Soviet authorities in commemoration of the upcoming May Day holiday.
Permalink | Comment

In 'Tiro libre,' walls of separation and misunderstanding
Apr 23 | A film conceived by Chileans about the aspirations of Palestine's national team has stirred a Chicago film festival - at least judging by an 11-page torrent of comments that debates which filmmaker deserves credit for the idea and which has the more credible connections to justice struggles (Ed M. Koziarski, "Social Justice, with Soccer," Chi cago Reader, Apr 3).
Permalink | Comment

Heard on the terraces

"He had internal torments. Previously, a word or glance was enough to assert his authority and explain what he wanted. Maybe it was typical of the Communist system, but now players have a greater freedom and an individuality. They become stars - like Beckham, what is Beckham? A pop star? - and so they do not put the team first" (Serhiy Polkhovskyi on Valeriy Lobanovskyi, quoted in Jonathan Wilson, Behind the Curtain: Travels in Eastern European Football [London: Orion, 2006], 22).

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Global Game Week in Review, 20 Apr 08

2008-04-20T16:57:33Z

E-mail distribution | 20 April 2008

Set piece

'You will only be nude for a short period of time'
It would be hard to conceive of a more potent demonstration of the differences between European and American sporting cultures than the upcoming "installation" by avant garde photographer Spencer Tunick at Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna, the site of the Euro 2008 final. If Janet Jackson at Super Bowl XXXVIII produced a salacious "wardrobe malfunction," what Tunick plans - with full backing of �sterreich am Ball (Austria Has the Ball), the group charged with developing a pre-tournament cultural program - is akin to an incendiary bra- and knickers-burning, enacted 2,008 times.
POSTED IN Cinema & visual arts

The run of play

The legacy of Paterson FC
Which was the first American association football team? The answer is difficult to pin down. Some evidence points to Oneida Football Club of Boston, honored with an obelisk in Boston Common as "the first organized football club in the United States." While Oneida played one of the football codes - perhaps a soccer-rugby hybrid - beginning in 1862, photographic evidence offered by a descendant of former Paterson FC captain Peter Wright suggests that the New Jersey side, formed in 1880, staked claim early to playing by the Football Association rules established in London in 1863 (see also Mar 30).
Permalink | Comment

'The queen of the South will rise up'
"All our dreams are viable," ventures songwriter Chris Belford, launching into the refrain of the Queen of the South anthem. "We're the only team in the Bible." The strength of the connection to Jesus' prophecy about the "queen of the South" rising at judgment day (Matthew 12:42) is dubious, but Doonhamers' supporters, following the side's first berth in a Scottish Cup final, are convinced about the re st: "Something greater than Solomon is here!"
Permalink | Comment

Zimbabwean allegory: Destroyers v. Rebuilders
According to an extended allegorical match account mailed to the Zimbabwe Standard ("Matchless Match," Apr 12), the Destroyers - meaning the state apparatus of entrenched president Robert Mugabe - hold a 10-2 edge over political opponents, the Rebuilders. As Morgan Tsvangirai and his opposition Movement for Democratic Change demand that the government release election results of Mar 29, it seems appropriate to see the confrontation in football terms. Since 1999, the MDC has issued its supporters red cards to flash at stadium rallies to demand Mugabe's sending off (see Mar 28).
Permalink | Comment

Heard on the terraces

"There are no apprenticeships any more, no one learning anything off the back of someone who knows something. Footballers get paid more than surgeons. Everyone wants to fast track into celebrity, publicity, whether it's actually, you know, true, or, well, not. ... No one minds, no one's getting fired up, no one's not buying the magazines, no one's refusing to keep watching people living their life like an open wound" (Ricky Gervais, quoted in Euan Ferguson, "An Audience with Ricky," The Observer, Apr 20).

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GlobalGame Message

2008-04-10T21:49:30Z

E-mail distribution | 10 April 2008

Set piece

Scars and stripes
In our most recent podcast we interview journalist Ruthie Ackerman, who as part of a visit to Monrovia, Liberia, encountered the Amputee All Stars and told a different story to that of earlier chroniclers of amputee football (see also her reporting in The Nation, 28 Jan 08). We learn that many players must beg on the streets for their daily bread and that, while football does provide structured activity and glimpses of a wider world, it is no panacea. (A full version of the story appeared earlier this week, but a database collapse purged it from memory. Should anyone have a text version of the original article, please be in touch!)
POSTED IN Africa | Podcast

The run of play

While we were away ...
We have had technical problems with newsletter distribution since Feb 20, so we are now distributing these e-mails directly from WordPress. If you wish to change your subscription settings, please visit our new subscription page.

Since the last e-mail distribution, we have featured a range of arcana, some actually involving football. These posts include material on Trinidad & Tobago editor and blogger Nicholas Laughlin (Feb 25); author Haruki Murakami (Mar 1); Dnipro Dnipropetrovs'k v. Dynamo Kyiv (Mar 1); Alan Sillitoe, author of "The Match" (Mar 4); contretemps on Chinese football blogs (Mar 5); museum exhibitions featuring Mesoamerican ball games (Mar 6); 18th-century Irish football poetry (Mar 13); goalkeepers and cigs (Mar 19); curious field markings at women's football matches in Malawi (Mar 19); football and mental health (Mar 25); and the 11mm Fussballfilmfestival in Berlin (Apr 5).

In enterprise reporting pieces, we have featured an exhibition of football fandom in Barcelona (Feb 20); discourse on Hawaiian soccer culture, especially the Islands' connection with Japan (Feb 29); a podcast with Hugh Hornby (left) and a review of his book Uppies and Downies: The Extraordinary Football Games of Britain (Mar 12); commentary on the use of the red card in Zimbabwean political life (Mar 28); and an immigrant soccer history of New Jersey (Mar 30).

Even if you should not receive e-mails, be assured that the site is continually being updated, offering new videos on the home page plus fresh musings and features. To ensure that you are up to date, please take advantage of the RSS feed and see our Facebook page.

Heard on the terraces

"The far, blurred sounds, a cry, a whistle, the thud of a kick, all that was perfectly unimportant and had no connection with me. I was less the keeper of a soccer goal than the keeper of a secret" (Vladimir Nabokov, Conclusive Evidence, 1951).

Available at the interval

The Global Game covers the world of football and its intersection with daily life.

Learn more about our teaching resources.

© 2008 JZ Editing & Publishing

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