soccer as ersatz-war: the normal madness

June 14, 2008 · Filed Under normal madness

Spiegel online reported on the European Championship 2008

Europe is a continent shaped by migration. Nowhere can that be seen more clearly than on the football pitch. So far in this year’s tournament, almost 30 percent of the goals have been netted by foreign-born players. For the German team, the total is much higher.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,559493,00.html

It is all the more absurd to see the identification of millions of Germans with professional mercenary gladiators. Or perhaps not absurd at all.

If we accept the assumptions that

national football competitions psychologically speaking replace wars between nations carried out on a symbolic level
humans‘ normal social environment is the group (extended family, clan, small community: 7-10 people) and tribe (larger community, 25-50 people)
for the last 200 years the notion of “nation” has been implanted in the minds as a substitute for “tribe”
international sports are ersatz-wars (reporters consequently using the war-language: “beat” “won”, “lost” and “Italians”, Germans”. Polish paper Super Express printed a photo montage of Polish coach Leo Beenhakker holding the severed heads of German captain Michael Ballack and coach Joachim Löw under the headline “Leo, Bring us Their Heads!” see full report: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,557842,00.html

then this is not absurd at all: it’s just the normal madness.

Tags: community, Europe, national identity, soccer