Critiquing the "beautiful game": A contradictory affair with me, I admit
For a minute there I was anticipating another "commercialized," "false consciousness," "opiate of the masses" kind of critique: Mike Black's "A Socialist Guide to the World Cup". Though warranted critiques of the beautiful game all, the dimensions to the reality of futbol in the lives of millions of people around the world is multi-layered and complex. The Guardian piece, written by an ex-footballer Torontonian, is an interesting alternative pseudo-critical view adding further dimensions to the "culture industry" critique, although his points remain too on-the-surface, methinks, hardly a "socialist" critique. While and interesting piece, it still says nothing about the coproratization of the game over the past 50 years.
Important to remember, I think, is that professional soccer, taking root in the 1930s in Europe and South America after being an amateur sport until then, doesn't hit the stratosphere of commercial hype until perhaps the early-80s with the signing of Maradona to Barcelona from Boca Juniors for the at-the-time astronomical figure of $5 million US in 1982. Actually, if my memory serves correctly, players got shit wages until the full-on commodification of players and the corporate take-over of the game by sponsors in the early-to-mid 80s. I don't recall, for example, there being corporate logos on club jerseys until '83 or '84 (remember Arsenal's JVC logo?). And, if you'll notice in the WC games, corporate logos are still taboo on national team jerseys (save the jersey makers' logos, i,e Nike, Puma, Adidas, etc), although there's no denying that corporations fund national teams up the ying-yang (check out their practice gear, Coca-Cola and co. are all over those jerseys).
Also, it's important to remember that in most of the world's professional leagues, futbol players are paid "average" incomes. In Canada, for eg, if pro-players make $10,000-30,000 a year as part of the APSL they're doing well. Another important point to think through from Black article: Many of the world's great players, at least in South America, Africa, and Asia, come from humble beginnings and playing football is in many cases their only way out of shantytowns and poverty (for males, of course). On the one hand, one can't deny that shantytowns in many cases foster great players because, I think, with the paucity of educational opportunities and with the deep structural barriers that enclose these communities, football is in many cases their only outlet for play and hope. On the other hand, one also can't deny the "usefulness" of these spaces for "producing" soccer greats and team "journeymen" that the big clubs feed on. This is something that professional teams in Brazil and Argentina, for example, know and capitalize on all too well. Shantytowns become cheap development factories for big teams' lusts for the next big name. It's not unheard of for three-piece suited officials from the great South American teams such as Nacional of Uruguay, Flamenco and Corinthians of Brazil, and River Plate and Boca Juniors of Argentina, to scout shantytowns looking for the future Peles, Ronaldinhos, and Maradonas amongst the 10-12 year olds playing in make-shift pitches often with rag balls, all the while doing nothing for the communities from which these players are "saved" from, save the fantasy and identitarian imaginary that being a "fan of Boca" fosters. In turn, the South American clubs further develop the players and they (the clubs) in turn become development factories for richer European clubs. In Spain and Italy right now, for eg, there are 500 Argentine players playing in each of their professional leagues! It's a sad state of affairs marring the beautiful game.
Ah, now I'm becoming that critical cynic. Apologies. Anyway, I hope I'm not ruining the WC for us. Having said all this, nobody can totally commodify the passion for the "beautiful game" felt by the fan or player who participates for the sheer joy of it: get a ball, an open patch of land, and at least four people, and you are part of the euphoria, contradictions and all. Or, just go to Cafe Diplomatico on College St. in Toronto and see folks from myriad backgrounds coming together and conversing over 22 lads on the screen pushing a leather ball back and forth. Sweetness!
Oh, and to add to the Black piece, we can't forget the famous "Football War" between Honduras and El Salvador in 1969: http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/sierra/soccer1969.htm .
Important to remember, I think, is that professional soccer, taking root in the 1930s in Europe and South America after being an amateur sport until then, doesn't hit the stratosphere of commercial hype until perhaps the early-80s with the signing of Maradona to Barcelona from Boca Juniors for the at-the-time astronomical figure of $5 million US in 1982. Actually, if my memory serves correctly, players got shit wages until the full-on commodification of players and the corporate take-over of the game by sponsors in the early-to-mid 80s. I don't recall, for example, there being corporate logos on club jerseys until '83 or '84 (remember Arsenal's JVC logo?). And, if you'll notice in the WC games, corporate logos are still taboo on national team jerseys (save the jersey makers' logos, i,e Nike, Puma, Adidas, etc), although there's no denying that corporations fund national teams up the ying-yang (check out their practice gear, Coca-Cola and co. are all over those jerseys).
Also, it's important to remember that in most of the world's professional leagues, futbol players are paid "average" incomes. In Canada, for eg, if pro-players make $10,000-30,000 a year as part of the APSL they're doing well. Another important point to think through from Black article: Many of the world's great players, at least in South America, Africa, and Asia, come from humble beginnings and playing football is in many cases their only way out of shantytowns and poverty (for males, of course). On the one hand, one can't deny that shantytowns in many cases foster great players because, I think, with the paucity of educational opportunities and with the deep structural barriers that enclose these communities, football is in many cases their only outlet for play and hope. On the other hand, one also can't deny the "usefulness" of these spaces for "producing" soccer greats and team "journeymen" that the big clubs feed on. This is something that professional teams in Brazil and Argentina, for example, know and capitalize on all too well. Shantytowns become cheap development factories for big teams' lusts for the next big name. It's not unheard of for three-piece suited officials from the great South American teams such as Nacional of Uruguay, Flamenco and Corinthians of Brazil, and River Plate and Boca Juniors of Argentina, to scout shantytowns looking for the future Peles, Ronaldinhos, and Maradonas amongst the 10-12 year olds playing in make-shift pitches often with rag balls, all the while doing nothing for the communities from which these players are "saved" from, save the fantasy and identitarian imaginary that being a "fan of Boca" fosters. In turn, the South American clubs further develop the players and they (the clubs) in turn become development factories for richer European clubs. In Spain and Italy right now, for eg, there are 500 Argentine players playing in each of their professional leagues! It's a sad state of affairs marring the beautiful game.
Ah, now I'm becoming that critical cynic. Apologies. Anyway, I hope I'm not ruining the WC for us. Having said all this, nobody can totally commodify the passion for the "beautiful game" felt by the fan or player who participates for the sheer joy of it: get a ball, an open patch of land, and at least four people, and you are part of the euphoria, contradictions and all. Or, just go to Cafe Diplomatico on College St. in Toronto and see folks from myriad backgrounds coming together and conversing over 22 lads on the screen pushing a leather ball back and forth. Sweetness!
Oh, and to add to the Black piece, we can't forget the famous "Football War" between Honduras and El Salvador in 1969: http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/sierra/soccer1969.htm .
posted by Marcelo Vieta at
12:47 PM
