June 3, 2007
FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF REDUNDANCY:
The ugly game of soccer degenerates (Rob Hughes, June 3, 2007, International Herald Tribune)
In Copenhagen late Saturday night, a rousing European qualifying contest between Denmark and Sweden was abandoned with the score at 3-3 and with a minute to go when an irate fan charged on to the field and tried to assault the German referee. [...]In Zambia on Sunday, they were counting the dead following a comfortable 3-0 home victory over the Congo Brazzaville in an African Nations Cup qualifier.
The Associated Press reported that at least 12 people - nine men and three women - were killed in a stampede after the match, citing state media. The state-owned Sunday Times said five more fans were hospitalized after the tragedy at Konkola Stadium in the northern town of Chililabonbe in Zambia's Copperbelt province, The AP reported.
This is horrifyingly similar to other cases of mass death in stadiums.
The headline should really just read: Soccer. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 3, 2007 12:45 PM
It would help if they could learn their own game, but always look on the bright side of life
Posted by: h-man at June 3, 2007 2:13 PMOne explanation I've read is that soccer so often produces low scores and draws, so all the spectator's pent-up tension and excitement is more likely to erupt in violence. Imagine if the Superbowl regularly ended 1-0, or 1-1, or 0-0, and had to be decided by a penalty kick?
Posted by: PapayaSF at June 3, 2007 6:46 PMI doubt that hooiganism is inherent to the game. American Soccer fans are a rather sedate bunch.
Another explanation is that the Africans are learning how to be Soccer hooligans from the Europeans. A tragedy for the former, and a true Rassenschande for the latter.
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples,
Shall weigh your God and you.
There's a fine way to share "civilization": teach people to have sports riots.
Posted by: Lou Gots at June 4, 2007 5:12 AMSoccer has, as long as anyone can remember, served as a form of ritual combat onto which neighborhoods, tribes and even nations could project their most passionate enmities.
-ESSAY: Soccer's New Wars: How globalization of the game challenges the tribalism that helps make it the world's most popular sport (Tony Karon, July 15, 2004, TIME)
In the absence of anything intrinsically interesting about the game it is a mere vehicle for nationalist/ethnic hatreds.