Breaking the habbit and writing about a different sport. Now, before you slam your tablet down in disgust, or unsubscribe while dry-heaving, or both (or neither), we’ve good reason to be doing so. It emphasises a point made long ago. And it starts with a Friday night proposition.
“Let’s go watch some Ice Hockey” Continue reading
My guide picked me up at the station and found the bus line needed. It’s one of those adorable post-communist buses with peeling paint and a conductor sat in a high-viz issuing tickets. As we approach Kiev’s Olympic Stadium, quite a sight to see, the vast amount of police becomes apparent.
“Can you ask what’s going on?”.
My guide walks up to a guy in knock-off sportswear and they talk.
“Okay so there is a Football game right now inside that Continue reading
The Zionskirche bells chime through the still Berlin sky. 3 workmen take note of the time and finish their coffee, pausing to allow a mid-30s woman pushing a pram past before leaving. The Milanese café owner takes his time to wipe down the table, as a squirrel races across the road opposite him. It’s 8 am in Prenzlauer Berg.
The former residential Bezirk for East Berlin labourers has had something of a makeover in 26 years. Football anthropologist Simon Kuper described Prenzlauer Berg, his former manor, in strong detail back in 1994. In his book “Football Against Continue reading
Teach the Texans. Let them know that they screwed up.
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Football fans in countries with nascent Football leagues are very interesting to observe. A lack of existing customs and traditions means that fans can basically develop their Football culture from scratch. The behaviour among fans and people involved in the sport at this point therefore can be very telling about their culture and what they value. The USA’s Major League Soccer is a prime example of such a nascent league.
On the other side of the pond, European Football fans resent the very commercial nature of American sport. The franchise model of ownership and subsequent potential for immediate Continue reading
From Boothferry To Germany 