Professional footballers may still be able to inspire us or brighten our days with their skill but are they heroic? Is it possible or even sensible to raise a footballer to hero status? When I was a young child I had a poster on my bedroom wall. It was of Kevin Keegan balancing a ball…
Political Footballers XI: Striker Didier Drogba
I first became aware of Didier Drogba in the spring of 2004. He was playing his one season for Olympique Marseille, and terrorising defenders in Ligue Un and the UEFA Cup. My team, Liverpool FC, were in the final throes of the Gerard Houllier era, his team was imploding on the back of a few…
Political Footballers XI: Centre-Forward Matthias Sindelar
‘He was endowed with such an unbelievable wealth of variations and ideas that one could never really be sure which manner of play was to be expected. He had no system, to say nothing of a set pattern. He just had…. genius.’ Friedrich Torberg (Wilson, 60:2008) Matthias Sindelar came from a family of Moravian immigrants. …
Political Footballers XI: Midfield Zvonomir Boban
Some of the leading Liberal International Relations theorists hold that wars are created by militaristic and undemocratic governments and rulers for their own gain. Kant famously wrote in, ‘Zum Ewigen Frieden’ that: ‘…under a nonrepublican constitution, where subjects are not citizens, the easiest thing in the world to do is to declare war. Here the ruler…
Political Footballers XI: Midfield Paolo Sollier
‘Triste come un Consiglio di fabbrica in un pomeriggio d’inverno tra un palleggio e un collettivo politico sogni dittature proletarie e coi gol richiami alla lotta di classe. Sotto le curve dei popolari, composto esulti e nelle domeniche di pioggia é più efficace il tuo pugno chiuso’ La solitudine dell’ala destra – Fernando Acitelli (quoted…
Political Footballers XI: Midfield Sócrates
When the news broke last week that Sócrates, the legendary Brazilian midfielder, had been rushed to hospital for an emergency operation, I feared the worst. O Doutor has been a committed fan of alcohol and cigarettes for many years, I assumed his illness was related to his lifestyle choices. But he has been released from…
Carlsbad Marathon
**Here’s the First Giving pages… the ASPCA, and Greenpeace ** You know that scene in Fight Club when they are driving the car, and Brad Pitt is trying to make Edward Norton say what he wishes he would do before he dies? This one…: Regardless of the macho nonsense and pseudo-philosophy in that clip, it’s something worth thinking…
Transfer Window Closes, Football Eats Itself
Wednesday was the final day that European football teams could buy and sell players in 2011. The transfer window closed, only to open again for some more trading in January 2012. Four months without buying anything in these consumerist times is enough to send the newspapers and Sky Sports into a frenzy. But why does…
A European Super League is inevitable
The major leagues of European football, with the exception of the striking Italians, have all got their season underway now. La Liga in Spain played its first round of games this weekend, and once again we saw the big two, Real Madrid and Barcelona, swatting their opponents aside with ease. Madrid put 6 past Real…
Political Footballers XI: Central Defence Lilian Thuram
In a recent Guardian article Jonathan Wilson writes about the possible longevity of Spain’s dominance of world football. That Spain have been able to produce skilful, intelligent players like Xavi, Iniesta and Silva, all who are 5 foot 7, has been attributed to a different focus in junior football. He says that perhaps the obsession…
Political Footballers XI: Right-back Javier Zanetti
Going in at right-back in the Political Footballers XI is Internazionale defender Javier Zanetti. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1973, Zanetti began his football career at Talleres de Remedios de Escalada. He played in the second division for one season before being sold to Banfield. He was recommended to Inter by scout and legendary…
Political Footballers XI: Left-back Paul Breitner
‘I can really identify myself with this [McDonald’s advertising] campaign, I was born for this commercial. I have travelled with my family since 1978 to America and have been a McDonald’s fan since then.’ This was Paul Breitner speaking to the ‘Sales and Advertising’ features section of Süddeutsche Zeitung in 2010. The same Paul Breitner…
In Sun and Shadow 