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Werner Ulrich's Home Page: Picture of the Month Now "Ulrich's Bimonthly" |
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June 2006 |
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Football: a universal language? It is often said that the game of football (or soccer) embodies a universal language, one that unites people across all boundaries of culture and language and thereby contributes to mutual understanding and peace. The FIFA World Cup, which will take place in Germany form 9 June to 9 July 2006, hopefully will bring together people from many nations in a peaceful and happy celebration of fair play, among players as well as fans and spectators. The International Football Association (FIFA) has in the past few years undertaken efforts to impose strict rules of fair play among football players, not without some success. Unfortunately though, a contrary development appears to have taken place with respect to fair play among football fans, and this lack of fair play is more difficult to overcome. |
For a hyperlinked overview of all issues
of "Ulrich's Bimonthly" and the previous "Picture of the
Month" series,
see the site map
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Fanatism and nationalism ... Overt animosity and aggression faced the Swiss national football team from the moment they arrived in Istanbul for their play-off match in the World Cup qualification against Turkey, in November 2005. The harassment began with the customs check at the airport, where the team was held back for several hours; it persisted in the stadium, with tens of thousands of Turkish spectators whistling fanatically while the Swiss national anthem was played and during the entire match; and it culminated after the match with violent attacks against the Swiss team, both on the field and on the way to the locker rooms. Hooliganism ... After a decisive last-round match for the Swiss football championship of 2006, played in May 2006 in Basle between the football clubs of Basle and Zurich, hooligans stormed the field and attacked the players of the victorious Zurich team, preventing them from duly celebrating their victory of the championship. The battle continued outside the stadium, forcing thousands of spectators to flee back into the stadium in search of protection. Racism ... In a match between Messina and Inter Milan in Sicily in November 2005, Inter fans were harassing a black Messina player from Ivory Coast with so-called "monkey chants" and other forms of racist abuse – a form of "supporting" one's team now common in Italy and Spain – until the player decided he had enough and walked off the pitch, asking the arbiter to suspend the match due to racism. Racism is now a major concern (along with hooliganism) for the organizers of the World Cup. The International Football Association (FIFA) recently found it necessary to dedicate a special FIFA Conference to the problem of racism in football. In Germany, a public debate has been going on shortly before the 2006 World Cup as to whether and where dark-skinned tourists can feel safe during the World Cup. Threats of terrorism ... A similar debate is currently taking place in Germany regarding the threat of terrorist attacks to public places where matches will be shown on large screens (so-called public viewing areas), for those many visitors and locals who were unable to get tickets. The issue is whether these public transmissions should be suppressed. Football machismo ... Male football chauvinism is widespread. The FIFA World Cup, while bringing together people of many nations and cultures, risks driving apart innumerable couples and families – yet another aspect of the World Cup that is not particularly peaceful, although it is not a public topic like the previously mentioned forms of lacking fair play. These days an email message has been widely circulated in Latin America that illustrates the point. It is meant to be humorous, but its humour draws on a blatant machismo. Even so, it has something valid to tell us: football is wonderful, but not so important that we should make a sacrifice of our marriages and friendships! For this reason, I have decided to reproduce it below in a slightly abridged and edited English translation (I am not aware that any translation exists). I trust the reader will read it with a sound portion of humor – as an unintentionally self-revealing testimony of the prevalent football machismo – and will thus understand it the way I intend it, namely, as an appeal to fair play during the World Cup not only among football fans and spectators but also among partners and family members, whether they care about football or don't. Enjoy the Word Cup! |
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12 tips for maintaining marital bliss during the FIFA World Cup |
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This month's picture: technical data Digital photograph taken on 27 May 2006, shutter speed 1/13 seconds, aperture f/4.9, ISO 50, focal length 23.41 mm (equivalent to 105 mm with a conventional 35 mm camera). Original resolution 1600 x 1200 pixels; current resolution 641 x 500 pixels, compressed to 139 KB. |
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June, 2006 |
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"Replays of the goals are very important !" |
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„Football is a universal language” (João Havelange, former President of the International Football Association FIFA) |
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Notepad for capturing personal thoughts » |
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Last
updated 28 May 2014 (ayout) and 19 Sep 2006 (text, first published 6 June 2006) |
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