While reading chapter two of Bowman’s The World Cup as World History and chapter six of Campomar’s Golazo! I found a difference in their approaches to injury and violence as pertaining to the sport of soccer.
Injury and violence has been imbedded in the sport and it’s accompanying tournament since it’s early days. It isn’t something that should surprise anyone interested in this sport and it’s history. Yet, the way that Bowman and Campomar mention this topic differs.
Campomar seems to uses injury and violence almost as a sort of comedic break in between analysis of games. Here are some examples from chapter six:
“Fortunately for Brazil, the Red Star Belgrade striker, Rajko Mitic, cut his head on a steel beam in the as-yet-unfinished stadium and could not start the game.” (pg. 212)
“The Uruguayans now became swift and assured in attack, much to the astonishment of a crowd, whose attention had been momentarily diverted by a corpse being taken out of the stadium.” (pg. 217)
“Although Buchan’s approach, in comparing crowd etiquette [Latin America and Europe], was rather high-handed, not to say xenophobic: he had a point: English referees were not renowned for brandishing pistols during matches.” (pg. 224)
“Ellis would later recount in his memoir, ‘I haven’t been to Brazil for many years, I was told that if I dared to step into the country [Brazil]…I would be shot’” (pg. 229)
All the quoted material above, especially those from page 217 and 224 respectfully, stand out from the text surrounding them. They force the reader to pause and re-read to make sure they understood what they just read.
Campomar’s writing style, especially when discussing injury and violence, seems to reflect the target audience of his book: a more general public than that which Bowman targets. Bowman, targeting a more academic audience, refrains from as abrupt – seemingly snuck in – mentions of injury and violence. He, on the other hand, uses examples of injury and violence as ways of furthering discussion. This is evidenced in the following quote from Bowman:
“When asked about the on-the-ground situation in the World Cup host country, Berti Vogts, captain of the West German squad, re-plied: “Argentina is a country where order reigns. I haven’t seen any political prisoners.” At the time, executions were being carried out in Buenos Aires.” (pg. 62)
This quote was pulled from the end of a large paragraph discussing the political concerns of hosting the 1978 World Cup in a country under the control of a military junta. It serves to make a point in and of itself, unlike Campomar who uses examples of injury and violence as shock rather than to further discussion.
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