June 15, 2004

Germany--Netherlands

Posted by Chris

Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting.

That’s always been pretty much my least favourite Orwell quote, but I couldn’t help thinking about it when contemplating tonight’s Netherlands-Germany match at Euro 2004. The Scotsman has a useful guide to the history of footballing enmity between the two countries and one of the protagonists of the last really nasty episode (scroll down to #6) — Rudi Voeller — is now the German coach. The football should be pretty good too … at least from the Dutch.

Posted on June 15, 2004 11:58 AM UTC
Comments

The Scotsman, he say:

The hatred within the stands and on the pitch from the Dutch had its roots firmly in Germany’s five-year occupation of the Low Country during the Second World War. Strange, then, that the same theme was not a major part of proceedings in July 1974.

Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Footbal is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand Dutch society through the prism of foopball (starting with the allegedly legendary 70’s teams) — even those (like me) who have little time for the tawdry game.

The relevant point is that the demonisation of the Germans really got started with the first generation to have grown up after the war, precisely because they were uncontaminated with any memories of the complexities of the occupation, which there certainly were.

Posted by des von bladet · June 15, 2004 12:15 PM

and thanks to the internet all kinds of new and improved ways to support your team in a sportive manner now exist:

Mep de mof (whack the kraut) and caravan shooting on the Ihr seid nicht lange dabei site.

Posted by Sander · June 15, 2004 12:15 PM

Cruyff didn’t go to the 1978 World Cup.
Rumour has it that the German Paper “Bild” spread a rumour (in its inimitable 48-point full-colour fashion) that the entire Dutch team had been free with their affections towards the local females in 1974. The notoriously fierce Mrs Cruyff forbade Johann from further opportunities..

Posted by dave heasman · June 15, 2004 02:20 PM

Well, if there’s one thing I’d like to remove from war it’s the shooting….

Posted by Matt Weiner · June 15, 2004 05:53 PM

It’s rather circular to define the sport most conducive to hatred and violence as the ‘serious’ one, and then conclude that serious sport is therefore hateful and violent.

Many people find football fandom absurdly unserious, if vehement.

Posted by sidereal · June 15, 2004 07:09 PM

That’s Orwell? I would’ve guessed Karl Malone.

Posted by jdw · June 15, 2004 07:13 PM

Rugby was fashioned as the sport to mould the warmaking classes. Football is the game of the rank and file. Indeed, a famous match was played between English and German soldiers one Christmas Day in the battlefields of World War 1. I can’t actually remember who won (probably the Germans, eh). But there is a lot of shooting in football, nicht wahr?

Posted by Dave F · June 17, 2004 12:56 PM

“A gentleman’s game played by ruffians.”

I can think of no other sport in which the rules are so consistently ignored at such a ‘high’ level. Do they teach classes in ‘advanced shirt tugging’ at (soccer)football academies? It seems that if you want to win you need to cheat.. a bit like war, really.

Posted by Mike Shoemark · June 17, 2004 01:45 PM
Followups

This discussion has been closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.