Italy win the world cup - celebrations erupt in Dublin amongst the Italian community

by Socialist Mon Jul 10, 2006 11:35

The sportswear is manufactured in Third World sweatshops and the vast sums of money spent on the stadiums should have been given in aid to the starving. Multinational corporations such as Pepsi have made billions of dollars so that can continue to exploit the world.
The World Cup serves to reinforce racism and nationalist extremism and to create false consciousness among the brainwashed fans.
Notice how for a whole month the news has been dominated by football while the war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan

by Gary Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:57

There are times when the things I read on this site make me laugh. We use it as a relief from the stress in our job. As a working class man who played the game till my old knees gave out and my family involved in the game over 100 years its the first time I ever heard my sport, the sport of the streets described as a capitalist festival. If you look at the poor and the desperate of the world they play one game. To the people of Italy and the people of Togo its not who pays for it but who played in it. You spend too much time looking at the ads and not enough at the games . Mind you the matches were so bad the bud ads were more enjoyable.

by L Mon Jul 10, 2006 13:03

The French played more consistently during the match and put in a greater effort than the Italians did. The Italians were really hanging on from the second half onwards. Unfortunately, whatever was said to Zidane, it must have been really offensive. The Referee was a bit unfair during the match as he booked more French players with yellow cards than he did with the Italians. France were the better team who deserved to win the game. My sympathy goes out with Zidane.

by Gerri Mon Jul 10, 2006 13:19

yeah fair play to the Italians for winning, don't care if the world cup is a ploy of the capitalists for diverting attention away from the combined atrocities of the neo-imperialists Blair/Bush, its the best opportunity to look at fine looking men that comes around every four years!

by Niall Flaherty Mon Jul 10, 2006 14:27 flahertyniall at eircom dot net

I think we accept these privatised corporately sponsored pseudo-public events because as ordinary people we don't see alternatives. Music festivals are much like this too. I'll be going to a few over the Summer and will enjoy them despite the capitalist hard sell.

I'd love to see more alternatives for sport and music etc that eschewed these large sponsors, green energy this, guinness that, but these are powerful forces, and we all still want our music and sport, and we need to enjoy them communally or what's the point?

If any of the commenters know of good resourses, projects or links to sites that deal with this directly, drop me a line.

by Gary Mon Jul 10, 2006 15:28

"privatised corporately sponsored pseudo-public events", Pardon me. There, was the rest of the world calling it the Word Cup. It is a game of football pure and simple; trying to turn it into anything else defeats the purpose of the game. Round ball (hopefully), two goals and as many players that are around. Sometimes, I would be Billy Bremner, sometimes George Best. If you lot on this site think you argue, you never saw the rows in Elenfield Park, over what was a goal and what was not. Jumpers for goalposts and games that lasted hours, teams changed ( tea times vary ) and games finished due to floodlight failure( the Sun goes in ) As long as people who read this post remember who they wanted to be, and know what I am on about the game never changes. For the people who don’t have memories like these, GET OUT INTO THE SUNLIGHT AND LIVE.

by realist Mon Jul 10, 2006 16:27

You think the corporate sponsors are wasting their money?

by Gary Mon Jul 10, 2006 17:20

I worked in the football business. The sponsors were one of my main concerns. Sponsorship is overrated in the effect it has on the footballing public. More people are registered to play football in this country than any other sport and they don’t care who pays out.

It is just one of many ways to buy favours. Who is not impressed when they are invited to a big match or sporting event. It’s like the golf, tennis or rugby club used to be the place to do business.

In the new world where working class people have good jobs and power, big business has to try and give them what they want. Now while many a man will try and impress by joining the golf, tennis or rugby club the old football bug still has them.

I can go into how many Irish people travel each week to the UK to see matches but the point it’s not what’s on the shirt or the name of the stadium. It’s about watching your team. Be it Utd, Celtic or Kildare County, it’s your team the sponsors just help pay the bills.

by cristiano lu-ca-rel-li! - brigate autonome livornesi Tue Jul 11, 2006 14:39

Just to say that I went for a wander around Temple Bar immediately after the game and didn't have any sense of tension between italian and French fans. The only confrontation taking place sunday evening was a water fight outside of Bar Italia on the other side of the river, leaving many people soaked, all of them Italian (okay, there was the odd stray Irish(wo)man :)

The funny thing is that in Italy most people who go to the stadium each week couldn't care less about the national squad, it's much more about local identity, and the clashes that take place have never had an equivalent in terms of international matches, which often don't even sell out. Go see Livorno play Pisa, Rome against Lazio or Cosenza against Catanzaro and you'll see what it's all about!

The majority of those wandering around on sunday are the type of fair-weather fans success always brings, but why not, it's a good chance to enjoy being an emigrant for once. For the rest, fortunately Italian nationalism is limited to matters culinary and wine, and in this area the pride is, unarguably, well-founded :)

cya

BAL on tour, lazio merda!

by sceptical Tue Jul 11, 2006 15:31

Did anyone see them win? Can anyone put their hand on their hratd and say Sony corporation couldn't have mocked up that penalty shoot-out to showcase sim generated graphics?
Do you trust the western media now? Oh I suppose when it got reported on Al Jazeera the sleuths amongst you thought "well that's done & dusted - no more verification needed"
But what you need to do is find the source of the story. Trace the chinese whisper back using your sensory organs to the gnarled and twisted grapevine of rumour.

the facts :-
* Someone phoned Reuters and AP and told them Italy had won on a penalty shoot-out.
* Google news updates displayed a different final score for a crucial 7 hours.
* the largest online bookmakers suffered cyber attack origination in the pacific rim for hundreds of thousands of "zombie" computer boxes launching a sustained service demand on sites such as Paddy Power's.
* Large numbers of Italian & French people were seen in Temple Bar - Dublin. Oh but did they get as far as Ballina?

yiz are gullible.

by sliothar Wed Jul 12, 2006 21:03

"u r de son of n effink ter-ror-ism-ist"
"u ball-ix"
"ur mammy n' ur sister r sex workers"

stuff like that. Whatever you do, don't repeat these things to the European minority ghetto in Temple Bar. We have to keep a lid on it. (which is why I wrote them in ulster scots sms text dialect ) I suggest writing letters to the European Deputies (we never hear from) and ask them what their position on this is.
Would the result of the World Cup, an institution meant to show us the best in human nature and provide an opportunities for neighbouring states so different in every way (as France and Italy are) reach out - build bridges - savour the common piquant gusto of World Peace.


Where do our MEP's stand on bad language & sport?

Violence that shocked the World. Zizou Zidane tries to explain the source of the Temple Bar Italian / French riot of 9/7/06

by redjade Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:13

On German Indymedia.... 'But for those on the left who are ignorant of soccer’s rich political history and are greeting the onset of World Cup madness with a yawn, here’s a quick socialist’s guide to the big tournament. I hope it will pique your interest enough to watch a game or two....'

http://de.indymedia.org/2006/06/150615.shtml