12/22/24
July 04, 2002
War minus the shooting: was Orwells description of serious sport. Tim Parks would seem to agree. This is a really good article on the passions aroused by local rivalries from the author of " A Season With Verona". Many articles culled from the book are available on the Guardian site if you search for "Tim Parks"
posted by Fat Buddha to football at 03:04 PM - 3 comments
I took 'a season with verona' with me to Italy this summer. The fact that he goes to every away game in the season helps show the masssive regional differences and rivalries over there. If you think of Italy as 1 country - you should read it. It also helped me to understand the Italian conspiracy theory-fuelled reaction to getting knocked out of the world cup. Serie a,b, c have a long history of corruption etc. I just wish they had gone out while I was over there - The RAI post-mortems would have made good viewing...
posted by shorster at 05:17 AM on July 05, 2002
Mamma mia, shorster, you still don't want to mention the words "Corea", "ref", "offsides" or "Ecuador" here. We're still a bit tetchy, according to RAI. ;-) The joke here is that a man's loyalty lies first with family & friends, then footie team, followed by region, country, and finally God. I disagree a bit with Parks as to the lack of enthusiasm for the Azzurri. Yes, you continue to hate the players from rival squads, but it seems that everyone manages to put it aside and root for the Azzurri. When they win, we're up. When they lose, we're depressed. It's the one time the nation is really united. (You could have cut the sadness in the air with a knife after Euro2000) Of course, _everyone_ thinks the line-up should be this way or that, so-and-so should get his head in the game, bla-bla is bloody fairy who dives when his hair gets mussed, etc. What Parks forgets to mention, though, is that when the rival teams (be they on the national or local level) scores a beautiful, skillful, graceful goal, it's admitted, admired, and commented on, albeit with a resigned, semi-fatalisitic tone. Same goes for when a player you hate scores one for your country (minus the fatalism and resignation, of course). As far as corruption, well, it's a part of everyday life here. If a friend of a friend of your dad can do you a favour, if giving someone a "gift" speeds things up or smooths things over, you do it. When a stupid law is passed, Italians don't picket their politians first, they find a way around it (then picket, and elect someone new into office approximately every 10 months) Of course, footie will be no exception, and suspicions of fixes are almost coded into Italian DNA. Hmm, I could ramble all day on Italian mentality and its roots, but I'm getting a bit off-topic. Can't wait for the start of Serie A, and to a lesser degree, B. *walks off in her Juventus jersey, singing Siamo noi/ siamo noi/ i campioni d' Italia siamo noi...* :P
posted by romakimmy at 09:57 AM on July 05, 2002
I already disagree with the guy, and I can't even get past the first sentence. The Olympics has absolutely nothing on the World Cup. Just our stinking American influence that makes it somehow un-PC to suggest that sum sawkuhr tuhrnamin might be more popular than the Olympics. Okay, I'll shaddup now and go back and read the rest of the story. Sorry...