Werner Ulrich's Home Page: Picture of the Month
Now "Ulrich's Bimonthly"
9
June - 9 July,
2006
FIFA World Cup
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 players, not without some success. Unfortunately, however, a contrary development has taken place with respect to fair play among football fans, and this lack of fair play is more difficult to overcome.
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The
Picture of the Month is gone, long live Ulrich's Bimonthly! I
have replaced the "Picture of the Month" series
by a new bimonthly series. What you see here is the
last "Picture of the Month," of June 2006;
since July 2006, the URL of the current last contribution
to the series has changed to Please
adapt your bookmark. For a hyperlinked overview of all issues
of "Ulrich's Bimonthly" and the previous "Picture of the
Month" series,
see as always the site map |
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, 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!
12 tips for maintaining marital bliss during the FIFA World Cup
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Rules for preserving marriages and friendships (by an unknown author) Partners and family members may wish to observe these rules during the FIFA World Cup. ;-) It is recommended to print them out and post them in a well-visible place in your home, preferably on your refrigerator. 1. - From June 9 to July 9, I will be extremely busy. Before trying to have a discussion with me, please make sure you have read the sports section of the newspaper, so that we don't talk at cross-purposes; otherwise, don't be surprised if I don't seem to take notice of you. You'll know why... 2. - During the World Cup, the TV set is reserved for me: at any time, without exception. Don't look for the remote control, surely not before the match is finished and only if my team won. 3. - If during a match you need to pass in front of the television set, it's OK as long as you crawl and don't distract my attention. But please don't do that during an important move! 4. - During the matches I am deaf, mute, and blind, except that I may yell "goal," be all ears for the TV commentator, and fix my eyes on the TV screen. For the rest, don't expect me to hear you, to open the door or to respond to the phone. 5. - It would be very good of you to have plenty of beer in the refrigerator, as well as lots of snacks and some smiles for my pals who may come to see the matches. In appreciation of all your efforts, I will let you see TV from midnight to 6 o'clock in the morning, as long as there are no replays of interesting matches. 6. - When you see me depressed because my team is losing, don't tell me "it's not so bad" or "they'll surely win the next one." This would only make me feel worse. Better shut up! 7. - You are welcome to join me in watching a match and to tell me some brief things at half-time, provided there are commercials on TV rather than comments on the game, to be sure 8. - Replays of the goals are very important. It does not matter whether I have already seen them or not; I want to see them many times, until I know them by heart. 9. - It's not a good idea for any family members or friends during the World Cup to christen a child or to have a first communion, a wedding, or some similar event. In such a case, you are certain that (a) I will not go; (b) I will not go; (c) I will not go!! 10. - But of course, if a friend invites us to watch a match at his place, that would be great! We'll certainly accept and have a good time. 11. - The daily late-night résumés of the matches are as important as the matches themselves. So please do not tell me "but we have already seen this, why don't you change the channel?" 12. - Finally, don't keep telling me "How good the World Cup only takes place every four years!" I'll be immune against such comments. Anyway, after the World Cup there will be the Champions League, the Copa America, the UEFA Cup, the Spanish football league, the Italian league, and so on. TO BE OBSERVED STRICTLY, THOUGH NOT TO BE TAKEN DEADLY SERIOUSLY |
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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.
June, 2006
"Replays of the goals are very important !"
„Football is a universal language”
(João Havelange, former President of the International Football Association FIFA)
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Last
updated 19 Sep 2006 (first published 6 June 2006)
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last modified 18 April 2009