This week our readings surrounded how modern football came to be. From ancient “ball kicking” games around the world, English public schools & the codification of rules, to the use of sport in globalization, this weeks readings explored the topics of how the game we all know and love came to be.
The first thing that I thought was really interesting and important from this weeks reading was the importance of other ball kicking games from around the world. China had their game cuju that they played during the Han dynasty, Japan had kemari, The Olmecs, Mayans, and Aztecs also had their version of kicking ball games that stretched all over the continents that we know today as the Americas. Even the Popol Vuh has its own ball kicking game. Although soccer did not directly come from any of these sports, the similarities are an important factor as to why the sport was able to be loved across many different countries, languages, and cultures.
Soccer can be played anywhere with some open space and a ball. Thats what made it appealing when there were 40 of us playing at 7:30am before school in 7th grade – and why soldiers played in during the Christmas Truce of WWI. This simplicity is one of the driving factors as to why the game has grown in the ways that it has. The game was originally spread from England through laborers and the working class – similar to how cuju was spread along trade roots out of China.
Imperialism and globalization also has a big hand to play in the spread of football. When I think of imperialism and the culture that spreads, religion is the first thing that comes to mind. Football on the other hand was also spread this way, which is something I had never thought about. England and France are two countries that spread football through their imperialist endeavors. Additionally, it could be used to assert racial/social dominance and control over these populations, something that could however backfire.
Sport can imitate war. This is why we see areas in the Caribbean that are so good at baseball, if you cant beat on the Americans occupying your country (physically), beat on them at a sport. In terms of soccer this helped during the decolonization period post WWII. One prime example used in the text is Senegal beating France at the 2002 World Cup. I had never thought of Soccer as a politically/socially motivating axtivity in this way before.
Lastly, Argentina and Uruguay are the two most dominant nations in South America in Rugby, the former being a member of The Rugby Championship (southern hemisphere version of 6 nations). It has interested me why these two nations seem to have a leg up on the rest of the region – something that the first chapter of Golazo! made clear. These two sports grew out of one another with the difference during this period being more of a formality on the rules that two completely different sports that it is viewed now (association vs union/soccer vs rugby). Some of the clubs in Argentina, specifically those founded by Anglo populations, switched between association and union rules in their early years, I imagine this is why we see dominance from Argentina in the sport today.
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