The Political Football XI
On the Channel 4 website, Simon Kuper is putting together his “Political Football first XI”. It makes for interesting reading so far, with eight players picked and they each get a dedicated article (follow the links below).
- Liberia’s George Weah: “Weah was that rare Liberian, a millionaire who made his money honestly and who sent money to the country instead of taking it out.”
- Austrian Matthias Sindelar: “Matthias Sindelar’s death at 35, months after the Nazi takeover of Austria, remains a mystery to this day. His fate has become an allegory for twentieth-century Austria.”
- Croatia’s Zvonomir Boban: “The Croatian nationalist may be the only footballer ever credited with kicking off a civil war. He was in at the beginning of the division of Yugoslavia in 1990.”
- Northern Ireland’s Neil Lennon: “Just before Neil Lennon could captain Northern Ireland for the first time, somebody phoned the BBC and threatened to kill him. The midfielder, who had had death threats before, withdrew from the match. He never played for his country again. It was one of the last episodes in the Troubles, the Protestant-Catholic conflict that tore apart Northern Ireland for over 30 years.”
- Britain’s Walter Tull: “Tull was not merely the first British-born black army officer. He also marked football, as Britain’s – and possibly the world’s – first black professional outfield player.”
- The captain, Argentina’s Diego Maradona: “Maradona captains our political footballers’ eleven, because few other great athletes are so political. Think, by contrast, of the human advertising billboards Pele or Michael Jordan.”
- Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer and Paul Breitner: “As a left-back, Breitner fit perfectly into the brilliant Bayern team. As a leftie, he could not have chosen a worse club. The dominant figure at Bayern was the libero Franz Beckenbauer. Like Breitner, Beckenbauer thought about life beyond football, but came to the opposite conclusions. When Breitner saw Germans in power, he wanted to rebel. Beckenbauer wanted to join them.”
What do you think of the selections? Who else would you pick?
[Thanks to PPV for the tip.]
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Cristiano Lucarelli and Paulo di Canio?
Socrates, for “Corinthians Democracy”.
Lucarelli would have been a shoo-in before he went to Dontesk and still may make it. DiCanio has always denied being political; that’s his story and he’s sticking to it.
Dude, are you kidding? Boban for president of EVERYTHING!
Also, clutching my face in horror a little at the exercise itself. Diego — yeah, right, because a man who thinks the Chavez government is a viable substitute for *anything* is going to make such a fabulous politician.
How’s Gianni Rivera doing in his anti-Berlu parlimentarian role these days? I know the government’s fallen/fallng, but — anyone? Ursus?
Rivera is now a MEP in Brussels, but continues to be a very atypical Italian politician: reasonable, pragmatic, seeming to have little time for the partronage and partisanship battles that define political life here. He periodically turns up to say something rather sensible about issues like collective television contracts, security in stadia, or football finances, and is then ignored given the general lack of interest in sensible statements as opposed to the extreme and alarmist. My sense is also that he is seriously tired of people constantly asking him about how he got one with Sandro Mazzola, as if he had done nothing since Mexico ’70.
You obviously don’t get to see him, Roswitha, but I find Boban to be a rather jaded pundit. In addition to tending to think that the Milan teams he played on were the ne plus ultra of football as art (which is a defensible position, but severely limiting when it is applied as the only yardstick by which to judge current players), he very much sees the world through Rossonero glasses, which is not particularly appreciated in the ursus household.
And agreed, Diego as a captain is a joke. Socrates is the man here, with “our” man Lilian Thuram as number two.
Kuper is going to have to add a Dutchman isn’t he? My guess is that the choice will be Cruyff, but if he does do that it can only be in the most selfish sense of the “personal is political”. Even Cruyff’s support for the Elefant Blau bloc that brought Laporta to power at Barca was motivated at least as much for what he thought was good for him as it was by any sense of the greater good of the club.
I read someone describe Rivera as the del Piero of his time, an absolute legend for his club but mediocre at best at all the big tournaments; knowing next to nothing about the football of the time I find this easy enough to believe in terms of his success as a player, but I can’t believe that a man who a) shouted down the entire San Siro to re-instate a cancelled match after a riot and b) resigned a club vice-presidency over differences with Berlusconi can be anything short of heroic, which is not a word I would employ to describe Alex. It’s great to hear that he’s one of the good guys in real life, as well.
As for Boban, I’m fully willing to believe that he’s no longer very entertaining – romanticism gets old very fast. But I remember that Croatia team of ’98 was the second football team I ever loved (the first being Italy, at the same tournament — no, I have no excuse.) and he remains a beacon in my hazy, semi-conscious memories of the time, much like Davor Suker.
The Dutch candidate – I speak with limited knowledge, and possibly through red-and-black tinted glasses, but I’ve always thought Clarence Seedorf to be an intelligent, well-spoken, politically aware sort of man. He does a good deal of developmental work for Surinamese football and footballers, too, from what I know. Thin credentials, but surely one to watch for the future? Oh, or: what about Ruud Gullit? Although he appears to have come a long way from his Mandela-idolising days.
Agree fully about Socrates and Thuram – if they aren’t in the political football XI the only thing to do will be to get up a team of our own, make them leaders, and watch them walk all over Kuper’s team, Diego or no Diego.
Is this the right time to nominate Seedorf for president of everything, or is that too lowbrow for the discussion? No, wait — Maradona is captain, the mere mention of Seedorf raises the level of discourse!
Well Paolo Di Canio must absolutely feature in this selection. Can you really get more political than THIS?
http://www.adelaideinstitute.org/images/photos2/di_canio.jpg
Martha, Martha, Martha.
Surely the only current Serie A player worthy of a nomination for president of everything is Javier Zanetti.
Given the rest of the list, I will be shocked if Kuper picks Seedorf (though a case can be made).
There’s a case to be made for Zanetti, certainly, he shares Seedorf’s passion for improving the lives of others, as well as his apparent dignity and intelligence. But — and I know this is sacrilege to say, given my alliegences — Seedorf seems to instinctively think much more broadly, and be willing to (at least intellectually) tackle virtually any issue. Which, now that I think about it, might significantly over-qualify him for a run at World presidency.
Well, the world would be a much better place if we were always choosing between the likes of Seedorf and Zanetti, but in the three years I’ve been in Milano, I’ve heard the latter on the subjects of street children in Latin America, the plight of the Palestinians and the situation in Chiapas. Whereas what I’ve seen of Seedorf off the pitch has primarily revolved around his sponsorship of a 125 cc racing team in Moto GP and the fact that his villa has been repeatedly burgled (though I have to admit he was extremely gracious in regard to the latter).
That is without question the selective experience of a single individual, and I definitely read more about Inter than about Milan (and still harbour a grudge for Ambrosini et al acting like idiots when they paraded the cup around down, especially because some of the worst stuff took place within sight of our flat). One thing this exchange has definitely done is to make me more likely to look out for Seedorf stories in the future. He’s always been a bit of an enigma to me (and I say that as an Oranje supporter for more than 30 years, more than as an Inter simpatizzante).
We once had a thread on One Touch Football about “real football heroes” (meaning guys one respected even more as people than as players), and I think my nominations were Zanetti, Thuram and Socrates. Given what I know about you, I’d be willing to give Seedorf a serious look just on the basis of your support, and the entire subject would be an interesting one for future discussions here.