Abstract

CLAUSSEN, Detlev. On foolishness in football . Anál. Social [online]. 2006, n.179, pp.583-592. ISSN 0003-2573.

Football has only acquired its current status because people have reported on it. Without spectatorship, there would not be an art of reporting. Yet there is hardly a topic as difficult to write about as football - with the possible exception of music. This may also be due to the matter itself: as a famous German football quote goes, «the ball is round» (Sepp Herberger). Handling it - whether with feet or with words - is the tricky part. This essay will examine the most outrageous instances of foolishness, inanity, ignorance and brutishness that tend to evolve around the ball - starting with the notion that football constitutes a mirror reflection of society. That kind of kitchen-sink truism legitimates numerous myths and clichés; yet in actual fact, it is social perceptions that are being projected onto football: commercialisation and globalisation are the ruin of football; what was once a worker’s game is now a privilege for the rich; there are either too many foreigners here or too many of us abroad; then there are perceptions specific to nationality or even to race…

Keywords : Futebol; Portugal.

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