The bias against Italian football
I have had some vacation in Sicily and on the west coast of Sweden (Bohus-Malmön), and when I saw my own last postings below the World Cup felt like ages ago. Anyway, a new football season is about to start, and today Liverpool plays a friendly against Kaiserslautern (possibly featuring Liverpool’s new signing, bad boy Jermaine Pennant).
And when I was going through my inbox, I found this picture, sent to me by one of my favorite bloggers Jon Worth. Sums up the aftermath of the World Cup, especially the debate in Italy about the bias against Italian football (why did Zidane get such a harmless punishment, compared to Materazzi, why was FIFA President Sepp Blatter absent during the prize-podium events when Italy had won, etc etc etc).
The Swedish-Italian author Marcus Birro has written two excellent articles [in Swedish] on the subject of the international bias against Italian football. Read the first one here (written before the World Cup started) and the second one here (written just after Italy's victory).
And when I was going through my inbox, I found this picture, sent to me by one of my favorite bloggers Jon Worth. Sums up the aftermath of the World Cup, especially the debate in Italy about the bias against Italian football (why did Zidane get such a harmless punishment, compared to Materazzi, why was FIFA President Sepp Blatter absent during the prize-podium events when Italy had won, etc etc etc).The Swedish-Italian author Marcus Birro has written two excellent articles [in Swedish] on the subject of the international bias against Italian football. Read the first one here (written before the World Cup started) and the second one here (written just after Italy's victory).
posted by Eric Sundström at 2:15 pm
4 Comments:
Eric! I think you are over-interpreting the Zidane cartoon - I saw it as being far more anti-Chirac than anything else.
I'm probably putting petrol on the fire by saying this on your blog, but Zidane somehow has a way of getting away with these things... The 1998 win for France was so wonderful, both in footballing terms and also because so many of the team came from disadvanatged backgrounds. He (and others in the France team) seem to have been living of that depth of goodwill ever since.
I don't think any Italian team since 1982 has really caught the imagination like that, although Toto Schillaci (no idea how you spell that) came close.
Jon,
If it is anti-Chirac as well, it only makes it better... :-)
On a more serious note I was very split before and during the final, I really really like France as well and I lived in France in 1998 and was in Paris for the final. Like many others I wrote excited articles about the symbolism of the integrated French team, and Zidane was the true hero in southern France where I lived in 1998-1999.
Anyway, this time around I am more surprised by the fact that most people love everything about Italy BUT their national football team. Isn't that strange?
IVE BEEN FOLLOWING SERIE A AND THE ITALIAN NATIONAL TEAM SINCE I WAS 7....WHY DOES SEPP BLATTER HAVE A HIDDEN AGENDA AGAINST ITALY...HE NEVER SUSPENDED DESAILLY FOR THE EURO FINAL ELBOW ON CANNAVARO..NEVER LOOKED INTO THE MYSTERIOUS SOUTH KOREA WINS AT THE 02 WORLD CUP..WHY DOES ITALY ALWAYS GET THE BOTTOM OF THE BARRELL
Birro, ge oss rocknroll fortfarande....
I dina tankar, texter
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