Re: [Marxism] World Cup Patriotism

["Yoshie Furuhashi" <critical.montages@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 6/17/06, FutbolRock&Revolucion <ectoren@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Comrades:
>
> I think one issue not brought up by posters on the WWC06 is the issue of
> what constitutes a nation and who can be its players. For a good while there
> was a debate whether FIFA should recognize a Palestinian national team?
> Should countries only be allowed to have players born in their respective
> country or should former colonizers be able to bring in players from the
> "former" colonies? France and Portugal are good examples of the latter.
> Mexico for example had heated debates on whether its coach, LaVolpe, should
> have allowed nationalized players, one a Brazilian and the other an
> Argetinian, on its team.

Iran's coach is a Croatian, three of its best players play for German
clubs, and the Iran-Mexico match was held in Nuremberg.  That's
unfortunate symbolically, as totally coincidental as it is.

> BTW, another issue dealing with soccer is how it is changing the sports
> landscape in US. How the Mexican and Latino community in the US has made it
> into a viable sport business in the United States. Where there were nothing
> but empy fields, now you have amateur leagues that on weekends are a focal
> point for our immigrant and not-so immigrant community.

I watched the Iran-Mexico match at a viewing party (big screens under
a tent outside the Columbus Crew Stadium) provided by the Columbus
Crew.  Mainly Iranians showed up, but there were also some Mexicans
and Somalis (two of the largest immigrant communities in Columbus,
Ohio) and Anglos, aside from me and a guy from Bangladesh.  During the
halftime break, some of them were playing football together!
--
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>

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