Blog
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For the two readings assigned for this week, one of the threads between the two readings that stuck out to me the most was the practice of sidelining the roles that women had filled in for when the men had gone to war which would later apply to women’s sports as well. One of the reasons that this occurred is mentioned in both of the readings as being the preservation of women’s “fragile bodies” and womanly qualities. Playing soccer as a professional for women was looked down upon by both England and the United States. As…
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Women’s soccer in the early 1900s started to grow in ways that were really shaped by major social changes happening at the time, as shown in Jean Williams’ The History of Women’s Football (Chapter 2) and Brian D. Bunk’s From Football to Soccer (Chapter 7). Early women’s matches in both the United States and Europe helped bring more attention to the sport and slowly challenged the idea that soccer was only for men. Even though women’s participation wasn’t always fully accepted, these early games showed that there was interest and talent, and in some cases women…
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After the 1893 soccer matches hosted in the United States, which only featured women, there started to be a bigger push for women to be allowed to compete in soccer at higher levels, more specifically, the collegiate and amateur levels. In some cases, women would even coach or act as administrators to the team. Soon after this first women’s soccer game, the United States and other countries like England would enter World War 1, where a majority of young men would go overseas to fight. This large number of men leaving to fight created some problems…
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By: Abraham Cruz-Hernandez In “Spain: Fury and Failure” it examines the collapse of the Democracy in Spain during the 1930’s. That emphasized the double forces of the intense social conflict “Fury” and the political breakdown “Failure”. Throughout the article we can see how it argues that the Spanish descent into Civil War was not caused specifically by one thing but the accumulations of a lot of tensions that many democratic institutions around Europe could not handle. The “Fury” that is mentioned in the article can be described as the violence and hostility that occurred throughout the…
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Our main reading piece for this week was “National Dissonance: The Copa del Ray Soccer Final as a Site of Political Influence” by Adam Winkel, and it covered how soccer is so integral to the regionalism felt throughout Spain and the effect it has on the fandoms of these regions. I am hoping to use this topic to find out more about how the interest in soccer and its processes have grown in the global youth and what it may look like in Spain. “Soccer fans enact their behavior as part of cultural performances, ‘occasions in…
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It’s easy to think of soccer as something that brings people together. Big matches, shared excitement, the overall collective feeling when something awesome happens. But the more you look at Spanish football, especially something like the Copa del Rey final, the harder it is to hold onto that idea. Because if anything, I believe it shows how divided people already are. What stands out most is how much meaning gets layered onto moments that on the surface have nothing to do with the game. The anthem before kickoff, for example, isn’t just a formality. It becomes…
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Both National Dissonance: The Copa del Rey Soccer Final as a Site of Political Performance and Fury and Failure in Spanish Football Stories of the 1960s by Adam Winkel provide tremendous commentary on the intersection on politics and fandom in Spanish Soccer. Admittingly this is a topic that is of particular interest to me this semester as my research topic focuses on the political power/role of soccer in Catalunya. The role of soccer as a unifying (or a separating) power – both nationally or subnationally, as described in National Dissonance, comments how the Copa Del Rey…
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Both “Fury and Failure in Spanish Football: Stories of the 1960s” and “National Dissonance: The Copa del Rey Soccer Final as a Site of Political Performance” show what football was like in Francoist Spain and how it functioned as a powerful social tool where national identity and resistance were constantly negotiated. A major theme connecting the two works is the use of football as a tool of the state. In “Fury and Failure”, Winkel shows how the Franco regime promoted football as a way to project strength and unity. Similarly, in “National Dissonance,” the Copa del…
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This week’s module has furthered my knowledge of football, as I have learned that football is a significant site of political meaning, not merely entertainment. The idea of a “fury and failure” narrative in Spanish football has helped me to realize how national identity is created through stories that portray national character as passionate and strong, and how failure is explained in terms of external factors (Winkel, 2023). This has helped me to challenge my preconceived ideas and has shown me that football represents a country’s understanding of itself, particularly in terms of success and failure.…
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Football has a way of exemplifying local identities. This is seen all over the world, and Spain is no different. Through competition like La Liga, and the Copa Del Rey, these local identities are shown off. The Copa Del Rey, especially the final, has been seen as a battle of local identities, and national identity. Currently, the Copa Del Rey has been used by teams and their fans for political expressions, mainly seen with FC Barcelona. Barcelona is located in the Catalonia region of Spain, which has been the subject of political tension for quite some…
