vineri, 28 septembrie 2007

What do football and politics have in common?

What do football and politics have in common?

As the World Cup comes to Europe for the 10th time in its history - we decided to have a little fun and ask MEPs from the 10 EU countries who qualified whether they think football and politics have anything in common. Does the sport contain lessons applicable to politics or is it just 22 people chasing a ball round a field? So, what do football and politics have in common? Here's what the MEPs thought - in World Cup group order A-H.

German teamwork: Silvana Koch-Mehrin believes that "football and politics - it is all about having a good team with an excellent strategy playing a courageous game."
Polish pragmatism: Urszula Krupa noted that "while football's influence on politics might be amusing, politics should not influence football."
English irony: Christopher Heaton-Harris, a referee since 1983, paraphrased Gary Lineker (top scorer at Mexico in 1986) when he said; "In politics there are always two sides to every debate, in football there are always two great teams, but in both, at the end of the day, the Germans always win."
Swedish openness: Carl Schlyter believes that "teams from other parts of the world can interest Europeans in cultures and countries outside the EU. We have much to learn about our fellow humans. Many of them are only allowed into Europe to play football, not to work or trade - that needs to change."
Dutch fair play: Max van den Berg; "They should have in common: fair play, no game without good and transparent rules, team play and people enjoying it. Integration instead of segregation. Unfortunately both politics and football sometimes move into the opposite direction if commercial or group interests prevail."
Portuguese passion: Maria da Assunção Esteves put the relationship as one of; "competition and passion!"
Czech inscrutability: Daniel Strož - "they have in common two things: gamesomeness and incalculability."
Italian emotion: Salvatore Tatarella put it like this, "football and politics: the competition, the team spirit, the joy and the pain, the emotions they can arise in the crowds."
French noblesse: Anne Laperrouze sees the relation as follows; "Football and politics, in the noble sense of the term, make sense only through collective play."
Spanish sensibility: EP President Josep Borrell; "The link is not obvious but in Latin America, only the countries without football as national sport experienced revolutions..."
Who will win?
Of the 10, 4 have previously won the competition (France, Germany, Italy, England) while 3 have been finalists - the Netherlands, the Czech Republic (as part of Czechoslovakia) and Sweden. Parliament recently held a public hearing on the role of football in society - see link below.

Sursa: www.europarl.europa.eu - sport 9.06.2006

vineri, 21 septembrie 2007

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