Laurent Dubois's Blog, page 64

From Tragedy to “Golden Chicharito”

Last week, Carlos Reyes Stoneham wrote a wonderful post detailing Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez’s unfortunate issues on Real Madrid, including his almost-permanent relegation to the bench, potential bumps he could face once his loan to Real Madrid expires, and his strained relationship with both Real and Manchester United.  However, a few days later, Hernandez scored the game-winning goal in Real’s 1-0 derbi madrileño victory over Atlético Madrid in the 88th minute, rapidly garnering praise, adulation, and nicknames such as “The Great Unexpected Hero” or, my favorite, “The Golden Chicharito” around Spain’s capital.  Carlos updated his post accordingly, but the goal is an absolute must-see, especially with a beautiful assist from Cristiano Ronaldo.  It can be found at the link below, since ESPNFC does not allow embeddable videos:

http://www.espnfc.us/uefa-champions-league/2/video/2413277

While watching the goal live, and having read Carlos’ post beforehand, I couldn’t help but feel even more invested in Hernandez’s tally than I usually feel while watching Real Madrid score.  Yes, I was happy my team was advancing to the semifinals of the Champions League, one step closer to their Undecima, but at the same time, I was even more happy because it was Hernandez who had gotten us there.  Not the injured Bale or Benzema; not the hot James; not even Cristiano, who, had he not been all-but trampled by Atlético defenders before reaching the net, had probably scored the goal himself.  As Hernandez said in his post game interview, although the game “was a team effort,” “it was my turn to score.”

But OF COURSE there was some backlash to Hernandez’s celebration, specifically by former Arsenal (and Barcelona) star Thierry Henry.  Admittedly, Hernandez did celebrate pretty intensely—a classic knee-dive into the pitch, arms out, taking in the crowd.  He felt pain in his right foot almost immediately afterwards, and cried tears of emotion as he was receiving treatment on the bench.  However, Henry criticized Hernandez for treating the goal “like he won the World Cup”:

“He had a couple of chances in the game before that but I can tell you he can thank Ronaldo tonight. I know he went on to celebrate alone and everything but he can thank Ronaldo. For me, he has to. That is, for me, Ronaldo’s goal. What I don’t like after is [he celebrated] like he won the World Cup. Turn around and celebrate with Ronaldo.”

It’s obvious that Henry didn’t read Carlos’ post, and realized how much Hernandez’s goal meant beyond the already enormous implications of breaking Real’s 3-game winless streak against Atlético to reach the Final Four of the Champion’s League.  For once, this moment wasn’t about Ronaldo: it was about a brilliant player who had finally gotten the chance to prove his worth under the brightest of lights in Santiago Bernebeu, and more than executed when the opportunity arose.  I guarantee that the first thought going through Hernandez’s head wasn’t “sweet goal WHERE’S RONALDO?”—just like how Henry’s first thought going through his head when he scored his 400th goal definitely wasn’t “cool now WHERE’S DAX MCCARTNY?”

…just like how Cristiano acted (a bit like “he won the World Cup”, if you will) against Atlético last year…

…which recevied so much attention that Cristiano now has his own “shirtless celebration” in FIFA 15…

…and is only one of his many trademark celebrations, so much so that he ended his Ballon d’Or acceptance speech with one of his signature yelps:

The point is, Hernandez deserved the 88th minute, charged with more emotion than Henry and many other pundits realized.  Despite his gorgeous assist, that moment wasn’t Ronaldo’s—he’s had plenty already.  The only one making a big deal and souring Hernandez’s moment was Henry himself, reaching for a controversial backstory to talk about as a commentator to garner attention.  But wasn’t Hernandez’s backstory, his transformation from “tragedy” to “golden” in mere days, enough?

Commercialization & Season Ticket Prices

It was announced that West Ham will offer a new reduced starting season ticket price. 2016-17 season tickets will be available for purchase for as low as £289. (See Table 1 for a list of club season ticket prices) The new price will represent a 55% decrease from the previous year’s beginning price.  

The drastic drop is due to two main factors. The first is West Ham’s new Olympic Stadium, which will seat 54, 016 people.  West Ham’s vice chairman Karen Brady is quoted as saying,

It was a chance to increase revenue, invest in the team and improve our performance on the pitch, but without putting an extra financial supporters who already come to watch every home match.

 

 

The second is a record-breaking broadcasting and rights deal between Sky and BT Sports, which is valued at more than £5. billion. Some would argue that this welfare benefit to consumers is a result of a commercialization “revolution” that occurred in the 1980s and 1990s.  (Alegi ) What has yet to be determined is to what extent this maneuver will place pressure on other leagues to lower their season ticket prices. Table 2  presents the responses of a couple of clubs that were surveyed regarding their pricing policy. Manchester City announced however that it would increase so of its season ticket packages by more than 100%, to cover its 6,000 seat stadium extension. The polar opposite methods by West Ham and Manchester City are financing construction projects demonstrates how crucial television and advertising revenue give clubs more flexibility.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/3...

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/3...

http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foot...

African Nations Cup 2015 Stats

Here are some statistics from the African Nations Cup 2015 that was held between January 17 2015 and February 8 2015. The Ivory Coast national team took home the goal and table one shows just how the tournament played out.

Table 1

Table 2 shows some stats from the tournament.

Das Wunder von Bern

Der Film Das Wunder von Bern (2003) handelt vom Granatenschock. In den Film kommt ein Vater von dem Weltkrieg zurück. Er ist in Streit mit jede in seine Familie, seine Frau, Töchter und zwei Söhnen. Seinen am jüngsten Sohn hatte die meistens Probleme und dem am schlechtesten Verhältnis mit ihm. Der Film ist in das Jahr 1954, wann Deutschland den Weltcup siegte. Fußball hälftet den Vater und den am jüngsten Sohn die Verhältnis repariert. Fußball und Krieg sind sehr wichtigste Thema in Das Wunder von Bern. Fußball hilft dem Vater und die ganze deutsche Bevölkerung ihre Identität und eine Quelle von Freude zu finden. Die Mischung von dem Kunst, dem Film, Sport macht Das Wunder von Bern einen einzigartigen Film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0326429/

Soccer During the War-A Form of Propaganda

In 2014 I lived in Berlin for a couple of months and on a bright warm day I visited the Olympic Stadium. Architectural ingenuity and aesthetic splendor aside I couldn’t help but think about why the stadium was built.  It could have been because I was studying the WWII era of German history but I thought about Olympia and an architectural style referred to as Nazi architecture. Both the architectonic features and the Olympic Games of 1936 were components of the Nazi propaganda machine under Göbbels. Germany won 89 medals during the 1936 Summer Olympics, 33 of which were Gold. The size and material are extremely reminiscent of a roman coliseum.  According to Christopher Thomas Gaffney, author of Temples of the Earthbound Gods: Stadiums in the Cultural Landscapes of Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires (2008)

Stadiums matter to us because they are places where we share common emotions in a common place in a limited time frame…Stadiums are the sites of unforgettable human dramas and mundane realities.  Jesse Owen’s victories in the Berlin Olympic Stadium did not halt Nazi advances across Europe, but they did diminish the glories of self-styled Aryan race.

 

Commercialization Without Advertising

One of the greatest things about soccer is that it gives its fans two 45 minutes of uninterrupted play. Any other sport that is of the magnitude in popularity, cultural significance, influence and success earns a vast amount of its revenue from the sale of prime time advertising slots. The American football Super Bowl is a perhaps the best example. In soccer however viewers are more attentive and experience more of the game, becoming emotionally invested. In chapter six of, African Soccerscapes: How a Continent Changed the World’s Game (2010)  , Peter Alegi writes wbout the commercialization of soccer in the 1980s and 1990s. As he writes

In the 1990s individuals, clubs, national associations, and CAF increasingly prioritized financial profits. Western European clubs move[d] decisively toward maximizing revenues and turning themselves into brands. Stadium advertising expanded, corporate logos adorned team uniforms, and ticket prices rose dramatically. (104-107)

As you can see below soccer leagues are bringing in quite a few lump sums of money. The ten highest revenue-earning sports clubs brought in more than €3.4 billion in 2012 . The top five are as follows: Real Madrid €512.6, FC Barcelona €483, Manchester United €395.9, Bayern Munich €368.4 and Chelsea €322.6.   The Real Madrid crossed the €500 threshold for the first time but it has held the top position for 8 consecutive years. Real Madrid officials have been quoted identifying “commercial deals and increased TV income” as their primary source of income.

Soccer has been commercialized in the literal and technical sense of the word. Below you will find each team’s revenue b

Sources

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jan/24/football-money-league-how-much-top-teams-make

http://www.businessofsoccer.com/2014/02/18/how-do-soccer-clubs-make-money/

Soccer During the War-The Dick, Kerr Ladies Perspective

Sports and war have a complex relationship and even more complex history. We’ve talked about how even enemies on the battlefield sometimes find it difficult to resist a good game. Sports were also a method whereby the Cold War was waged. However in Gail Newsham’s In a League of Their Own: The Dick, Kerr Ladies 1917-1965 (2014) were are given another perspective of the what can happen when sports and war interact. (Another perspective of the relationship between war and sports can be found here)  Gail Newsham discusses how food rationing and travel restrictions caused the Dick, Kerr Ladies team to abruptly halt much of the things it had going on at the time. The uncertain length of the period of minimal operations could have easily caused the team to lose much of its momentum and thunder. The fact that Florrie Redford had returned to the team in 1938 leaving the edge she once played with somewhere in Canada left the Dick, Kerr Ladies without one of their stars. Moreover women from around the country wanted to join the prestigious team, while groups around the country desperately appealed to the ladies for help in raising money-one of which had been banned by the Welsh FA for reasons rooted in sexist ideology. Despite all of these obstacles, the Dick, Kerr Ladies returned to the world of women’s soccer in 1946 and destroyed the Lancashire County Ladies, 5-0.

Although brief, I thoroughly enjoyed  Gail’s Newsham’s chapter in her book on the state of the Dick, Kerr Ladies during the Second World War and how they countered hurdle after hurdle.

The 1954 World Cup in Soccer in Sun and Shadow

The 1954 World Cup between Germany and Hungary was historic for several reasons. It was Germany’s first (but certainly not its last) World Cup title and it was the first instance in postwar West Germany that Germans could feel proud of feeling proud of being German. As Eduardo Galeano mentions in his timeline-fashioned book, Soccer in Sun and Shadow (2003),  Hungary had been the favorite. (93)  The goal by Helmut Rahn that sealed Hungary’s fate and gave Germany it’s first lead of the game at 3-2 sent Germans and the world into a thunderous mob because Hungary had already defeated the German national team by more than 5 points in the beginning of the tournament. (92-94) A film that does a great job at providing and engaging perspective of the 1954 World Cup is Das Wunder von Bern. Much literature has also been written about the 1954 World Cup as a stellar moment in soccer history and German History. Soccer in Sun in Shadow does a great job of providing concise historical facts about soccer while recounting broader historical developments in technology, war and a plethora of other topics.

Carla Overbeck und Cindy Parlow

Im Februar sind Carla Overbeck und Cindy Parlow, die an dem USA Frauenfußballmanschaft waren, dem der Frauenfußballweltmeisterschaft in 1999 gewonnen haben, zu unserem Kurs gekommen. Es interessiert mich wie normal sie waren und wie leidenschaftlich sie waren über Fußball. Ihre Ereignisse waren ähnlich zum Buch In a League of Their Own, The Dick Kerr Ladies 1917-1965 von Gail Newsham. Gleiche Themen zwischen Carla Overbeck und Cindy Parlow und In a League of Their Own sind Ausbeutung und Hindernisse. (Ein Unterschiede ist die Kerr Ladies spielt für Große Britanen während des Zweiten Weltkriegs.) Carla und Cindy haben gesagt mehr über wie schwer Leben wie ein Fußballspielerin war in Vergleich mit den Männer. Zum Beispiel haben die zwei Fußballspielerin beschreibt wie sie wurden weniger als die Männer bezahlt. Sie sprachen auch über Leben wie eine Trainerin.

Bericht Über ein Buch

“Das Große Buch vom Frauen Fußball” von Christoph Bausenwein

Das Buch Das Große Buch vom Frauen Fußball ist einen allgemeinen Überblick von Frauenfußball. Es handelt von die Geschichte des Frauenfußballs, bemerkenswerte Spieler und Trainer und Frauenfußball im Gesellschaft. Obwohl Das Große Buch vom Frauen Fußball hat Information über Spieler, Trainer und Ereignisse von verschiedene Länder, handelt sich die Information, die in diesem Buch steht, ganz viel über Deutschland–aber es ist einem deutsches Buch.

Das Busch diskutiert Themen zum Beispiel das erste offentliche Frauen-Fußballspiel im Jahr 1895, der Gründung des ersten Frauenfußball-Klubs in Deutschland, die erster Deutsche Meisterschaft und Tor des Monats, und so viel mehr.

Vielleicht ist mein Lieblings Thema das Verbot des Frauenfußballs durch den DFB, weil wir in unserem Kurs über Probleme im Frauenfußball gelesen haben und sprechen haben. Ich denke das Verbot von Frauenfußball keinen wirklichen Grund haben. Das Buch sagte darüber, dass …

 

Im Juli 1955 verbot der DFB (Deutschen Fußball-Bund) seinen Vereinen, Frauenabteilungen zu gründen oder den Damenmannschaften Sportstätten zur Verfügung zu stellen. In der Begründung hieß es unter anderem, dass der Kampf um den Ball für Frauen nicht schicklich und außerdem gesundheitsschädlich sei.

Nach 15 Jahre erlaubte der DFB wieder Frauenfußball. Aber gab es neue Regeln. Zuerst konnten Frauenfußballspieler nicht im Winter spielen und mussten einen kleinen leichten Ball als der Männerfußballspieler nutzen.