And now for the quadrennial hullaballoo in re: hooliganism and poor behavior that inevitably attends the coverage of the World Cup: “Soccer fans are just a bunch of unemployed thugs who are only interested in the games as an excuse to get drunk and fight.” (That’s at least half wrong.) Isn’t this all just a bit cliched at this point? Sure, there are going to be some jerks who cause some trouble, but don’t they burn down Detroit every time one of their teams wins? Oh wait. They burn down Detroit every October 30th. My mistake.
The angle this year appears to the World Cup debut of, wait for it, Eastern European thugs, many of whom are getting their first big chance to fight with veteran hooligans from England, Holland, and Germany. (According to this dude we talked to at the Japan World Cup, the key to good fighting at the World Cup is being able to fight with up-for-it locals — who were in short supply in Nippon.) What, the nice Polish boys haven’t seen the ESPN commercials with the stopping the wars and the frolicking children and the women in burkas playing keepy-uppy (note: said image not actually true)? Don’t they know this is supposed to be fun?
On a positive note, I did find some pretty cool sites about hooligans. See below.
Eastern European thugs pose World Cup threat [Yahoo! Sports]
This Hooligan Site From The Czech Republic [Hooligans.cz]
Just a friendly reminder that the group stage of the 2006 Shirt Cup Presented By F.C. Camena ™ will be closing this evening at midnight, Eastern time. We have some exciting matchups that are likely to go into injury time — including a battle for second place in Group G between France and Switzerland and a three-way deadlock for the second spot in Group H (Spain, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia) that might need to be settled on goal differential.
Be sure to check it out and vote today; look for a knockout bracket and the Round of 16 tomorrow.
Group E: Italy, Ghana, USA, Czech Republic
Group F: Brazil, Croatia, Australia, Japan
Group G: France, Switzerland, Korea Republic, Togo
Group H: Spain, Ukraine, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia
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Copyright 2005-2006 F.C. Camena.
ca·me·na n. A tactical system of football/ soccer characterized by extreme fighting spirit, impassioned defense, opportunistic attacking, and a proclivity for profanity-laden orations regarding the competency and/ or partiality of match officials.
Dudes who are kind of crap at soccer but enjoy the TV shows, video games, and funny accents.
