Football culture is a descriptive term of the cultural aspects surrounding the game of association football. This article explores aspects surrounding the game itself, as well as that of the fans, the teams, the players, as well as on society itself.
In many countries, football has ingrained itself into the national culture, and many parts of life revolve around it. Many countries have daily 'football' newspapers, as well as football magazines. Football players, especially in the top levels of the game, have become role models and aspirational ideals for many people. The game itself has now become glamourised, with many children practicing the game and aspiring to the wealth shown off by the top footballers (it may be argued that for most footballers that this extravagant lifestyle is unrealistic).
The game
'Derbies'
Main article: Local derby
Derby matches, or matches between two neighbouring rival teams, are fiercely competitive and provide a spectacle in football, for the supporting fans as well as for interested onlookers. Sometimes there are underlying political and sectarian tensions.
The term applies to matches between two local teams, that is in the same city or region. However it is sometimes erroneously used to refer to matches between big clubs from the same country.
Famous football derbies include:
Food
In the United Kingdom, the attendance of football matches is also associated with consumption of what can be considered 'traditional football food'. Steak and mince pies and Bovril are a staple of food outlets in stadia. (It must be noted that some people consider football stadia the only place where people want to consume Bovril - and, bizarrely, London's exclusive Groucho Club).
Nowadays sales of food to fans raises a lot of income for clubs, and some clubs are now making an attempt to improve their service and diversify out of 'traditional' foods [1].
Match programmes
Match programmes (or souvenirs as they are sometimes called) are an integral part of football matches in the UK. The are sold inside and outside stadia before (and sometimes during) matches. In their most basic form, they provide basic information on the teams, players, and match officials. Larger clubs usually produce a multiple-page programme with a number of common features: comments from the manager and club captain, interviews with players, ex-players and backroom staff, information about ticketing arrangements for forthcoming matches, a detailed fixture list/review of the team's season so far, competitions, a page for the junior supporters' club, and/or a detailed feature on the opposition. Programmes from some matches are now collectable items, and can fetch a lot of money on auction.
"Fair Play"
"Fair Play" is the name of a FIFA Programme which aims to increase sportsmanship as well as prevent discrimination in the game of football. This also involves programmes to reduce racism in the game. The programme extends to outside of football, in trying to support charities and other organisations which improve conditions around the world.
The principles of the Fair Play programme can be summarised as follows:
- Play to win
- Play fair
- Observe the Laws of the Game
- Respect opponents, team-mates, referees, officials and spectators.
- Accept defeat with dignity.
- Promote the interests of football.
- Reject corruption, drugs, racism, violence and other dangers to our sport.
- Help others to resist corrupting pressures.
- Denounce those who attempt to discredit our sport.
- Honour those who defend football’s good reputation.
The full text of the Fair Play 'Code of Conduct' can be found on the FIFA website [2].
Both FIFA and UEFA have awards which they hand out to individuals or groups of people who have promoted what they see as the 'spirit' of Fair Play, both within and outside of football. An example of this was the Italian player Paolo di Canio who, while not given an award, was congratulated in many sections of the football world for a very generous display of "Fair Play" [3] [4].
Both FIFA [5] [6] and UEFA [7] also awarded collective Fair Play awards, to the fans of Celtic F.C. (Scotland) due to their good behaviour during the 2002/03 UEFA Cup final.
Fans
Football chants
Main article: Football chants
Football chants are chants generated by the crowd at matches to encourage the supporters' team, insult the opposition, or just make a noise. Teams tend to have their own 'anthems' which the crows can sing; some songs are even shared between clubs. While some chants are used to mock opposition players (e.g. "Who ate all the pies?"), other are more aggresive and of a personal nature against a player on the field. Some chanting in the crowds can be more than insulting, and may even be racist or sectarian in nature; chants like these tend to have been banned from football stadiums.
Violence
The level of passion with which football teams are supported has from time to time caused problems, and clashes between fans can result in violence. Some violence occurs by people deliberately aiming to cause trouble, often after a match takes place, a phenomenon known as hooliganism. This practice is said to have originated in England, and is sometimes known as the "English Disease " [8], after the disorder caused by English fans travelling abroad to support either their club or national team. However organised violence surrounding football has spread to other countries, most notbaly by the Ultras in Italy.
Violence by fans has had varying degrees of seriousness, ranging from scuffles between fans to tragedies (see Heysel Stadium disaster, Football War). There have been some incidents in fixtures abroad of fans being murdered, for example, two Leeds United supporters in Turkey in 2000[9].
As of 2004 this aspect of the game seems to have passed its peak though by no means disappeared completely. Specialist police units and information sharing between regional and international police forces has made it much harder for the hooligans to organize their displays of hatred. However there are still disruptions surrounding football matches, an example being the UEFA Champions League matches which were played on March 12 and March 13 2005 [10] [11] [12].
Violence by fans has also affected players, but this is extremely rare. For example a message to Christian Vieri apparently by a Inter Milan fan threathened to burn down his restaurant, criticising his attitude towards the team [13]. There is also the notorious incident where the Colombian international player Andrés Escobar was murdered shortly after returning home from the 1994 World Cup. This was reputedly for scoring the own goal which eliminated Colombia from the competition [14].
Football violence has also occurred among players during games. For examples, see:
Accidents and disasters
There have been many accidents and disasters in the history of football. Some of these, such as the Hillsborough and Ibrox disasters, were due to problems with crowd control. The Heysel Stadium disaster was a combination of hooliganism and poor crowd control. The Bradford City Disaster occurred due to poor fire safety in the stadium. Lessons learned from these disasters have led to better and safer football stadia.
There have also been deaths on the pitch. On 5 September 1931, the Celtic F.C. goalkeeper John Thomson suffered a skull fracture when he collided with the Rangers F.C. player Sam English during an Old Firm match. He was fatally injured and died later that day [15].
The Cameroon international player Marc-Vivien Foé also died on the pitch. He collapsed during a match of the Confederations Cup against Colombia in 2003. His death was attributed to heart problems. In 2004, the Hungarian international Miklós Fehér also died from a heart attack, while playing with SL Benfica against Vitoria Guimarães . Several players have also been struck by lightning while playing during sudden storms.
Women and football
This topic is covered in the main article Women's football (soccer).
Increasingly women have taken a role in football, both in playing the game as well as watching it. The FIFA Women's World Cup was started in 1991, and has drew worldwide television interest.
In the USA, the Women's United Soccer Association League was formed in 2001 due to the interest in Women's football in the country. Unfortunately the league collapsed in 2003, but grassroots football was not affected in the country.
In many countries there are Women's football leagues, however they are not as prominent as the equivalent Men's leagues.
Football matches now tend to have increased numbers of female supporters attending the stadium itself, as well as watching the matches at home or in pubs or bars.
Drinking and disorder
In many countries football has been associated with alcohol consumption. This can be before, during and after the game, with drinking occurring inside the stadium (sometimes illicitly) as well as in pubs and bars outside. However, the chaos caused by drinking has led to the banning of the sale of alcohol to general supporters in stadia across the United Kingdom. It must be noted that sales of alcohol still occur in executive lounges.
A lot of teams and countries have supporters clubs which have 'friendly' drinking reputations. However some countries are more associated with 'drunken hooliganism' (see Violence section above).
One interesting story is that of a Member of the Scottish Parliament being arrested for being 'drunk and disorderly' while on a trip to see Scotland playing England at Wembley Stadium [16].
Pitch invasions
Pitch invasions are occasions when supporters move from the stands onto the football pitch for the express reason of disrupting a match. This has to be distinguished from times when due to safety reasons fans are let onto the pitch. Pitch invasions in football tend to be rare as clubs are punished heavily for letting any unauthorised persons on the pitch.
Mass pitch invasions tend to be rare, but famous examples can be found. One is the 1923 "White Horse" FA Cup final between Bolton and West Ham at Wembley [17]. Due to the overwhelming numbers in the stadium the police had to bring order back to the stadium. Another example is the 1977 British Home Championship match between England and Scotland, again at Wembley. Here, after a Scottish 2-1 victory, the "Tartan Army" decided to invade the pitch and managed to break down the goalposts, as well as help themselves to some of Wembley's turf [18] [19] (RealVideo).
Solo invasions are more common. In many cases these people are streakers, that is they try to invade the pitch while nude. Most of the time the other supporters view this as harmless fun, although the security personnel at the club do not agree with this view. A more recent pitch invasion was at the Euro 2004 championships, where in the final game between Portugal and Greece, a protestor ran onto the pitch to disrupt the game [20]. Another famous 'invasion' consisted of Karl Power, who managed to sneak into Manchester United's team photo before their Champions League game with Bayern Munich [21], his other 'jobs' have included the England national rugby union team and the British Grand Prix.
The teams and players
From the beginnings of football clubs and players have contributed greatly to the culture of society. Teams have moved from amateur status to (in some cases) big commercial concerns. Players have also managed to increase their earnings massively during this change.
Teams
Money
Nowadays football has become big business for the privileged few. While most grassroots clubs, and lower division league teams struggle, or make ends meet, the big clubs can make a lot of money. Manchester United F.C. is considered the richest club in the world, and has a global support base [22]. Chelsea F.C. has also undergone a transformation, buying up the services of many expensive football players, due to being bought by the billionaire Roman Abramovich.
The catalyst for this change was the arrival of satellite television. These companies paid massive sums for the rights to cover football matches, and in turn have recouped this investment from the many fans who are unable to catch the game in person. This benefits the 'hardcore' and 'casual' fan as they have more choice of which game they want to watch.
While some clubs do well out of the increased money in football, other clubs can get into trouble trying to keep up. Leeds United F.C. attempted to do this by spending a lot of money, and were successful for a few seasons. However the debts became unmanageable, and the successful players were sold off, and the team were eventually relegated from the FA Premier League to the English 1st Division.
Not all clubs do well out of television money. Clubs in lower leagues receive less money for matches and, if promoted to higher leagues, can have trouble matching the spending power of bigger clubs. This leaves them more likely to be relegated again.
Clubs from smaller countries also have problems with this issue. Due to their smaller population base they receive less money from television rights. This leaves them comparative paupers compared to clubs from the big countries, and can lead to debt problems if they try to match spending in trans-national competitions. Some clubs have managed to buck the trend by training players through their youth academies, as well as making wise investments. Examples of these clubs are FC Porto and Ajax Amsterdam, although it must be noted that when these teams become successful, as in Porto's case winning the 2003/04 Champions League, the team tends to get sold off due to financial pressures.
Football players
Football players, especially in the top levels of the game, have become role models and aspirational ideals for many people. The game itself has now become glamourised, with many children practicing the game and aspiring to the wealth shown off by the top footballers (it may be argued that for most footballers that this extravagant lifestyle is unrealistic). The top footballers also have "hangers-on", best compared to the groupies of rock stars. Such extravagance has recently been satirised in the UK TV show Footballer's Wives.
Bad behaviour
While many footballers can be argued to be "good role models", there have been many headlines in the news regarding bad behaviour by footballers. Such is the influence of footballers, their activities tend to be reported widely in the media and also bring condemnation from the government of the countries of which they play.
One famous player was Diego Maradona. While he had exceptional skill and was voted FIFA's Player of the Century (alongside Pelé), he also suffered problems with drug abuse. He was also sent home from the 1994 World Cup for doping offences. His cocaine abuse has led to his medical problems in recent times.
There have been several incidents in UK of players being accused of violence and misconduct off the pitch. Although on many occasions, players have been found not guilty, such cases are very controversial. In 2001, two Leeds United players, Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer appeared in court over the assault of a student outside a nightclub. Woodgate was found guilty of affray. In 2002, three players, two from Chelsea (John Terry and Jody Morris ) and one from Wimbledon appeared in court of charges of affray. All were acquitted of affray.
In 2004, the Leicester City trio of Paul Dickov, Frank Sinclair and Keith Gillespie who spent a week in jail after being accused of sexual assault while on a training break at the La Manga resort in Spain with their team [23]. However, the case was dropped after forensic evidence showed the accusations to be baseless [24]The scandal, although the players accused were ultimately innocent, led to a media outcry about footballers and their behaviour, especially with regard to children who look up to them.
Wayne Rooney was also attacked in the media for alleged visits to prostitutes in 2004, a claim he later admitted was true [25]. More recently, Adrian Mutu admitted cocaine use after failing a drugs test, and Graham Stack has been charged with raping a 21-year-old woman at her home.
Ethnicity and football
People of different races have sometimes not been accepted as players in European football. This is happily changing due to societal change as well as campaigning on the part of the football authorities in different countries. UEFA and the European Union support the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) project (http://www.farenet.org/) which aims to stop racism.
In many countries, black players did not used to be accepted; there are many stories of monkey chants at these players as well as bananas being thrown at them due to their origin. This is in spite of there being black players in Europe for a long time - Andrew Watson captained Scotland in 1881 [26] (although it took another 100 years for more black players to represent Scotland [27]). In England, Arthur Wharton was recognised as their first black footballer [28], although it wasn't until Vivian Anderson that black footballers started to become accepted into the England national football team [29].
Nowadays in the bigger leagues they have become part of football, and are supported. This was seen in the French football team which won the 1998 World Cup. The team was composed of white and black Frenchmen, plus a New Caledonian (Christian Karembeu); the whites also included an ethnic Armenian (Youri Djorkaeff), a Basque (Bixente Lizarazu), and an ethnic Berber (Zinedine Zidane). This composition was seen as an indicator of racial harmony.
Unfortunately, in countries that do not otherwise have many immigrants of different race (such as many Eastern European countries), prejudice against hiring e.g. black football players still remains an issue, especially in the smaller clubs. This can be particularly distasteful when combined with a lack of decency shown by some football fans when they chant against the opposing team.
Sometimes certain clubs are, often unfairly or unnecessarily, connected with religions, such as Spurs and Judaism, or the Old Firm Rangers and Celtic of Glasgow, who are seen to be Protestant and Catholic respectively. This has led to problems, but generally equates to little more than derogatory nicknames.
Incidents in 2004 have also shown this to be the case in some bigger leagues, where there are a visible number of players from a different ethnicity. Spanish fans were heard by the world media to be making "monkey chants" at some of the black players on the pitch [30], forcing the Spanish football authorities to apologise for their fans [31].
Players of Asian origin in European countries are also gaining acceptance, although they are not a visible presence on the field, an example being Zeshan Rehman at Fulham. This is more due to societal issues than any inherent racism.
Globalisation and players
Globalisation has benefited current and former players, coaches, teams and others involved in football. For the best players it means their services can be offered to clubs in various different countries, and for whatever the price they want. The top players can make salaries of millions in a year, plus whatever additional endorsements they receive.
Teams have also benefited from this by being able to find a wider support base outside their traditional local areas. They can also scout for talent from a wider area. However some European clubs have been accused of exploitation for doing this, as some African youngsters they have recruited for football teams have eventually been left with nothing after the team no longer requires their services.
Coaches are also becoming sought after expertise internationally. This extends to national team coaches, once being native to their country, being brought in from other countries. Examples include Sven-Göran Eriksson, a Swede who coaches England, as well as Berti Vogts, a German who until recently coached Scotland. Another German, Otto Rehhagel, is practically a national icon in Greece, especially after leading that country's national team to a shocking victory in Euro 2004, and shortly afterwards turning down an offer to coach the German national team to stay with Greece. Dutch coach Guus Hiddink has a similar iconic status in South Korea after coaching its national team to the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup—so much so that one of Korea's World Cup stadiums was renamed in his honor shortly after the competition.
Society
In many countries football has ingrained itself into the national culture, and many parts of life revolve around it. Many countries have daily 'football' newspapers, as well as football magazines.
The mood of regions and countries has been seen to be connected to football. Victory in a major tournament can bring happiness to the local community or country. Conversely defeat can lower spirits, and has been seen to be connected to mortality in the population [32]. Withdrawal symptoms when the football season finished have also been reported [33]. The economy can also be seen to be connected to major football tournaments [34], although the precise association is disputed [35].
Arts, Literature & Film
The popularity of football has been reflected in the arts, books and films in many countries. Many books have been written dealing with the culture, such as violence, surrounding football, as well as detailed histories of events or rivalries.
Many consider that British football's image of a nasty working-class pursuit was changed into something far more respectable after Fever Pitch, a novel (later adapted very loosely into a movie) by Nick Hornby about his life as an Arsenal fan was published. The novel also provided Hornby's big break.
Films have been made ranging from the celebrated "Bend It Like Beckham", to more serious film "The Football Factory", dealing with hooliganism.
One film that has a historical basis is "Escape To Victory" (known as "Victory" in the USA) [36]. This was based on the true World War II story where a Dynamo Kiev team, which defeated a German Luftwaffe team, was subsequently persecuted, and some team members executed. The story has also been recounted in the book "Dynamo" by Andy Dougan.
Many clubs have one or more fanzines, one example being TOOFIF.
Football and celebrities
Ronaldo is a football idol in brazil
Such is the popularity of football, that some players become better known for their 'off-the-pitch' activities. The celebrity status is such that advertisers and sports goods manufacturers hire them to sponsor their products.
The Brazilian footballer Pelé is such a player; he was so admired as a player during his time, that he went on to become a UNICEF ambasssador, as well as being a spokesman in advertisements for many different companies (most famously advertising Viagra). He also spent some time in politics in Brazil.
Another (current) football celebrity is the English footballer David Beckham. While he is very talented on the football pitch, he is also admired off it. He is a trend-setter in England, with his frequent hairstyle changes triggering copycat looks in the country. He is also married to the Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, and his relationship difficulties were widely reported in the UK press in 2004. Beckham has even had statues made of him, notably at a Buddhist temple [37] as well as made out of chocolate [38].
Many other players have also become celebrities, and are treated as heroes in the cities or countries that they have player for. Retired players, such as Gary Lineker, have also become celebrities in their own right by working on television or radio.
Even non-footballers who are connected to football have become famous through their association alone. After the 2002 World Cup head of the South Korean Football Association decided to run for president of the country [39].
Football as a religion?
It has been said that in some countries football has become the new religion [40] (although this is a contentious issue). Many people tend to avoid their traditional places of worship, and are now regular attenders at football matches. Their devotion includes celebrating their footballing heroes, and it has been seen that people take time off to go and catch a glimpse of their idols.
Other beliefs are also in common use throughout football. Many players are quite religious and can be seen to cross themselves before a game. In Africa, traditional belief rituals are used to help teams win important games [41].
Famous sayings
- "Someone said 'football is more important than life and death to you' and I said 'Listen, it's more important than that'." — Bill Shankly 1981 on 'Live from Two', a Granada Television chat-show hosted by Shelley Rohde.
- This is frequently mis-quoted usually along the lines of "Football isn't a matter of life or death, it's much more important than that".
- "In Latin America the border between soccer and politics is vague. There is a long list of governments that have fallen or been overthrown after the defeat of the national team." — Luis Suarez
- To say that these men paid their shillings to watch twenty-two hirelings kick a ball is merely to say that a violin is wood and catgut, that Hamlet is so much paper and ink. — J. B. Priestley, The Good Companions, 1928
- "If God had meant us to play football in the sky, he'd have put grass up there." — Brian Clough, 1991, manager of Nottingham Forest, bemoaning the method of football known as the 'long ball game'.
- "The ball is round and there are two goals." (Piłka jest okrągła, a bramki są dwie.) — Kazimierz Górski
- "Football is war." — Rinus Michels, former Dutch national coach, known as the General
- "Football is a game of four halves." — (Gary Lineker again?), referring to the Home and Away legs of cup competitions.
- "The ball is round, the game lasts ninety minutes, and everything else is just theory." Sepp Herberger, German coach.
External links
Last updated: 08-22-2005 00:03:14
