Germany, with two wins and no losses, is looking like the team to beat in the Euro 2012 socc… er, football tournament now underway in host nations Poland and Ukraine. The Dutch team, with no wins, has been the surprising disappointment – so far. This ain’t over yet.
I admit I’m not a big fan of association football and I’m aided in that by the sports press in the US, which is a pale reflection of the intense interest expressed in the tournament around the world, even in nations outside Europe (although two-thirds of North America might be an exception to this).
I further admit my interest in the tournament is less athletic than cultural and political. I wonder if Euro 2012 might be to the 21st century what the 1936 Berlin Olympics were to the 20th.
On the plus side, both German goals against the Netherlands were scored by the adept German forward Mario Gomez. Yes, that’s right, Mario Gomez. Although his father, Pepe, is from Spain, his mother is German and Herr Gomez was born and raised in Upper Swabia region of Baden-Wuerttemberg (the same region my grandmother was from).
On the other side, happy tales of ethnic diversity are far too few in European football. The sport’s officials, owners and league leaders have struggled in recent years with some of the ugliest displays of racism seen in athletic competition since Hitler’s Olympics. Dark skinned players are constantly subjected to “monkey calls” from the stands, bananas are thrown onto the pitch and not a just a few but hundreds of fans at a time engage in racist chants and mass displays of the Nazi salute. As much as American sports fans can at times forget “it’s only a game,” I don’t think we have – yet – seen things sink to this despairing level.
How to deal with this? The easy solution is that if fans display inappropriate behavior toward a member of Team A, penalize Team B. This, of course, leads to fans heckling their own players, hoping to draw a penalty for the opposing team. (Again, bad as American fans can be, I have yet to see such levels of cynicism.)
So far in this tournament, the Dutch team has complained of monkey chants during practice session in Krakow, Poland and Italian forward Mario Balotelli said Spanish fans hurled racist curses in the 1-1 draw between the teams in the opening round.
Nor is this limited to southern Europe. Poles and Russians, fortified by centuries of enmity, marched then brawled in the streets before they too tied 1-1. (That’s another reason soccer is unpopular in the US, we don’t care if you have to play 17 innings or triple overtime: give us a clear winner and loser.)
On the political front, Germany, France and the UK have announced no official representatives of their nations will attend early-round matches in the Ukraine in protest of repressive policies by the government of President Viktor Yanukovych, including the jailing of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko for being… well, an opposition leader.
Nationalism, racism, politics. The only thing missing seems to be a Leni Riefenstahl documentary crew. Michel Platini, president of UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) hoped having Eastern Europeans nations host this year’s tournament would bring a greater sense of European unity to the event. It doesn’t look like it’s going to work out that way.
Politics By Other Means
Germany, with two wins and no losses, is looking like the team to beat in the Euro 2012 socc… er, football tournament now underway in host nations Poland and Ukraine. The Dutch team, with no wins, has been the surprising disappointment – so far. This ain’t over yet.
I admit I’m not a big fan of association football and I’m aided in that by the sports press in the US, which is a pale reflection of the intense interest expressed in the tournament around the world, even in nations outside Europe (although two-thirds of North America might be an exception to this).
I further admit my interest in the tournament is less athletic than cultural and political. I wonder if Euro 2012 might be to the 21st century what the 1936 Berlin Olympics were to the 20th.
On the plus side, both German goals against the Netherlands were scored by the adept German forward Mario Gomez. Yes, that’s right, Mario Gomez. Although his father, Pepe, is from Spain, his mother is German and Herr Gomez was born and raised in Upper Swabia region of Baden-Wuerttemberg (the same region my grandmother was from).
On the other side, happy tales of ethnic diversity are far too few in European football. The sport’s officials, owners and league leaders have struggled in recent years with some of the ugliest displays of racism seen in athletic competition since Hitler’s Olympics. Dark skinned players are constantly subjected to “monkey calls” from the stands, bananas are thrown onto the pitch and not a just a few but hundreds of fans at a time engage in racist chants and mass displays of the Nazi salute. As much as American sports fans can at times forget “it’s only a game,” I don’t think we have – yet – seen things sink to this despairing level.
How to deal with this? The easy solution is that if fans display inappropriate behavior toward a member of Team A, penalize Team B. This, of course, leads to fans heckling their own players, hoping to draw a penalty for the opposing team. (Again, bad as American fans can be, I have yet to see such levels of cynicism.)
So far in this tournament, the Dutch team has complained of monkey chants during practice session in Krakow, Poland and Italian forward Mario Balotelli said Spanish fans hurled racist curses in the 1-1 draw between the teams in the opening round.
Nor is this limited to southern Europe. Poles and Russians, fortified by centuries of enmity, marched then brawled in the streets before they too tied 1-1. (That’s another reason soccer is unpopular in the US, we don’t care if you have to play 17 innings or triple overtime: give us a clear winner and loser.)
On the political front, Germany, France and the UK have announced no official representatives of their nations will attend early-round matches in the Ukraine in protest of repressive policies by the government of President Viktor Yanukovych, including the jailing of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko for being… well, an opposition leader.
Nationalism, racism, politics. The only thing missing seems to be a Leni Riefenstahl documentary crew. Michel Platini, president of UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) hoped having Eastern Europeans nations host this year’s tournament would bring a greater sense of European unity to the event. It doesn’t look like it’s going to work out that way.
© Mark Floegel, 2012