Soccer passions

And German police detained 430 people ahead of June 14’s Germany-Poland match at Dortmund.

Soccer is said to be a harbinger of peace. A major telecaster has roped in U2 rock star Bono to promulgate conflict-reducing qualities citing examples of strife torn nations like Ivory Coast or Angola.

But does the World Cup really put a stop to war? Evidence is mixed — evidence of football soothing the beast of a war, although temporarily. During Pele’s peak of popularity, the combatants in the Biafran war in Nigeria declared a two-day truce so they could watch him play.

We also have episodes where football has been the trigger for war. In June 1969 immigration and border disputes between El Salvador and Honduras had reached a boiling point. A three-match elimination between the two nations was taking place. Rioting during the second game led the two countries break diplomatic relations. Two weeks later, the 100-hour Soccer War took place, with 2,000 dead.

Social scientists, however, rubbish soccer as a case of overblown rhetoric. “Sports per se cannot foment or resolve conflicts. It all depends whether the competing nations are involved in prior conflict. If they are, then there is a possibility that sports can aggravate the situation. Vice-versa, if two countries are on good terms — sports can engender harmony,” Professor Vijay Mehta, a social scientist from the Delhi School of Economics, who has done extensive research on the psychology of violence, told The Indian Express.

Football has also provided a vent for war grievances. For generations after World War II, the conflict resonated in soccer ties between the Netherlands and Germany. Franklin Foer, in his book How Soccer Explains the World, has argued that the Dutch did not fully recover from the war until Dutchman Frank Rijkaard spit on Rudi Voller’s mullet during a 1990 World Cup match.

Losing can have strong impacts. Violence and racism have always been the scars.

Ramchandra Guha, a prominent historian and writer, says: “The sporting arena provides a platform for people to vent their feelings. That can take different shapes, violence is one of them. Losing can dampen morals which can very well force the frustrated youth to resort to extreme measures.” One such example is that of Colombian defender Andres Escobar, responsible for an own goal in a 1994 World Cup loss to the United States, was killed upon returning to his hometown of Medellin by the mafia. Of course, in this there was talk of huge losses in a betting ring.

Then there are the English Hooligans, the Scottish Tartan Army, or Italian Ultras. “Such armies are fallouts of a nation’s psyche. Some promoters of the game deliberately orchestrate such passions. One can say that they are not mutually exclusive but not completely conjoined either. It’s in the very nature of the game,” Guha added.

The amazing thing is that despite all this, the game not only survives but flourishes.