Table Of ContentThere is no sport that refl ects the place where sports and politics collide
quite like soccer. Athlete-activist Gabriel Kuhn has captured that by going to
a place where other sports writers fear to tread. Here is the book that will tell
you how soccer explains the world while off ering means to improve it.
—Dave Zirin, author of Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love
In an era when football appears captured by the forces of money and power,
straitjacketed by the needs of corporations and international bureaucracies,
Gabriel Kuhn’s Soccer vs. the State is a wondrous reminder of all the times
and ways and places where football has slipped its chains and off ers what
it always promised: new solidarities and identities, a site of resistance, a
celebration of spontaneity and play.
—David Goldblatt, author of The Ball Is Round: A Global History of Soccer
In 1971, my sister Meredith and I successfully disrupted the Australia
vs. South Africa rugby encounter at the Sydney Cricket Ground as anti-
apartheid activists. This demonstrated not only the intrinsic relationship
between sport and politics but also the signifi cance of sport as a vehicle
for political protest. Soccer vs. the State shows how activists and players
alike have made use of this in football, the world’s most popular and most
beautiful game—an encouraging and inspiring read!
—Verity Burgmann, professor of political science, Melbourne University
It is about time to document the rich and colorful world of football that exists
apart from broadsheet celebrities and glitzy stadiums. Soccer vs. the State
reminds everyone of the deep political implications of football culture and
of the potentials for political resistance that they entail.
—Ronny Galczynski, author of the FC St. Pauli Vereinsenzyklopädie
If David Goldblatt gave us the broader social context of football, Gabriel
Kuhn’s book takes a further step to show how political radicalism and
activism have also been integral parts of the game’s history. This is a
passionate book with an intriguing angle that adds importantly to the new
literature on the sociology of the game. A funny, extremely informative and
highly recommendable read!
—Aina Tollefsen, Institute for Social and Economic Geography, Umeå University
An indispensable, global guide to radical football and radical politics. At
a time when so much about the beautiful game has become ugly, Kuhn
provides us with a timely reminder that, indeed, football can be part of the
revolution. Read it and resist!
—Dale T. McKinley, co-founder of South Africa’s Anti-Privatisation Forum
Gabriel Kuhn has written the program notes for the most important match
of all, The People’s Game vs. Modern Football.
—Mark Perryman, co-founder of Philosophy Football
Soccer vs. the State
Tackling Football and Radical Politics
Gabriel Kuhn
Soccer vs. the State: Tackling Football and Radical Politics
Gabriel Kuhn
© PM Press 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be transmitted by any
means without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published by:
PM Press
PO Box 23912
Oakland, CA 94623
www.pmpress.org
Cover by John Yates/Stealworks
Interior design by briandesign
ISBN: 978-1-60486-053-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2010927830
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the USA on recycled paper
Contents
Foreword by Boff Whalley 7
Introduction 9
History: Truths and Myths about Football as a Working-Class Sport 13
Radical Debates on Football
Football and Politics 51
Football’s Role as an “Opiate of the Masses” 57
Nationalism and Sectarianism 59
Fan Violence 65
The Commercialization of the Game and
the “New Football Economy” 70
Bigotry in Football Culture 93
Radical Interventions in the Professional Game
A Stage for Protests 105
Social Justice Campaigns 108
Personalities 109
Teams 132
Supporters 143
Clubs as Cooperatives, Not as Corporations 177
Alternative Football Culture
Grassroots and Underground Football Culture 183
Football for Radicals 226
Conclusion 238
Appendix 239
Notes 251
Images 255
Articles, Essays, Interviews 258
Foreword
My fi rst football match, an FA Cup replay between my hometown Burnley
FC and visitors Chelsea, took place in 1970. Despite growing up playing
football, talking about football and wanting to be a footballer, the rush and
push of that game, as a 9-year-old, shocked me—on the pitch and on the
terraces, so potent, exciting and colourful! So much life and noise squashed
into such a small place.
By the time of my fi rst music concert, by a local punk band in a town
centre youth club seven years later, I’d been told I wasn’t going to make it
as a footballer and had taken instead to playing music, talking about music
and wanting to be a musician. Still, that fi rst concert was, like my fi rst foot-
ball match, potent, exciting and colourful; a place of life and noise.
These two events, as if in a secret pact, joined together and combined
to energise, delight and frustrate me from that day to this. As with music,
having football in my life wasn’t a choice. Once bitten, the bug wouldn’t
leave. I did realise, though, that I had the power to interpret and organ-
ise this obsession; I could choose how to dress up my infatuation with this
simple game. In short, I could complicate it. Learn its weaknesses and
strengths, put it in context, criticise and praise, adorn and strip away. None
of this prodding diminished my love for the game; if anything, my passion
for the underdog—politically, socially, culturally—has given meaning to an
increasingly distant top-layer of football. (In pubs and on terraces around
the world I’ve gladly supported any number of teams in the hope of them
beating Man Utd/Real Madrid/Bayern Munich).
Football is a complicated game. This book—veering between love aff air
and put-down, between pro- and anti-, between football’s potential and
football’s ignorance—sets out to prod and poke its fi ngers into that big,
messy personal passion we have for the game. It’s a remarkable collection.
It displays both football’s traditional masculinity, conservatism, racism,
homophobia and nationalism alongside the game’s saviours, the activists
and autonomous organisations who are gradually changing the way foot-
ball is played, watched and regulated.
It also contrasts the revolting corporate colossus of the most ‘successful’
clubs with the honest, inspiring and groundbreaking work done by grass-
8 SOCCER vs. THE STATE
roots alliances and fan clubs. What the book reminds us of is that despite
the damage done to the game by the billionaire owners and TV franchises,
the heart of football is still defi antly where it was at the game’s inception:
22 players kicking a ball around a fi eld and an audience of several thousand
mainly working class supporters celebrating their communal solidarity. The
book’s conclusion is worth the price of admission (through the turnstiles, of
course) alone.
The fi rst time I heard our song ‘Tubthumping’ being played at Turf
Moor (home of Burnley FC) I was in the toilets behind the main stand
having a piss. And believe it or not, the synthesis of a lifelong love of the
culture and context of both music and football came together right there
in that smelly urinal. It didn’t matter then that I didn’t think it was particu-
larly representative of the band, or that people had little idea of the song’s
meaning—all that mattered was that we’d somehow (briefl y) become part
of the fabric of a working class popular culture, football culture. Never mind
the years of writing slyly anarchist rallying-calls: that’s my team, running
out onto the pitch to my song while I’m down here zipping up my fl ies! I’ve
never fi nished a piss so fast in my life.
I love football. I hate football too, sometimes—but never for long
enough to dent that complicated passion. If you’re like me, this book will
prod and poke at you, instruct you, and remind you of your initial introduc-
tion to football’s excitement and potency. How could anyone read Zapatista
Subcomandante Marcos’ mischievous letter to the President of Inter Milan
without laughing along? Or fail to agree with the 1917 Argentinian anarchist
journal La Protesta’s denunciation of the “pernicious idiotization caused
by the constant running after a round object”? So much life and noise…
squashed into such a small book.
Boff Whalley, Chumbawamba
November 2010
Introduction
A few months ago I was tabling at a media fair in Germany. Early in the
second day, the fl ow of visitors was rather slow and I started chatting with
an Argentinean friend who had a stall nearby. In a swift thirty minutes, we
covered a number of issues: anarchism vs. communism, the German auton-
omous movement, the overall crisis of the left, the future of radical pub-
lishing, etc. Then we started talking football—three hours later, we were
still at the same topic. We had discussed the 2010 Men’s World Cup in
South Africa, corrupt football associations, fan cultures in South America
and Europe, the origins of our favorite clubs, and many pressing issues like
the biggest upsets, the most beautiful goals, and the worst referee’s calls
in the history of the game. Eventually, we had to relieve the folks who had
attended to our stalls although we were long from fi nished.
This book is for two kinds of people: those who have similar discussions
all the time; and those who have always wondered how politically inclined
folks can enjoy them. The intention is to provide an overview of the connec-
tions between football and radical politics, i.e., politics that pursue funda-
mental social change in order to create egalitarian communities comprised
of free individuals. The focus will be on three main aspects: 1) manifesta-
tions of radical politics in the professional game; 2) radical soccer fan cul-
ture; 3) the radical soccer underground that has spread across the world.
On a personal level, the motivation was simple. For a long time, I have
been trying to reconcile a deeply rooted passion for soccer with my politi-
cal convictions.
In 1987, at the age of fi fteen, I was on the roster of FC Kufstein, a semi-
professional second-league team in Austria. That very season, the club cel-
ebrated its biggest success in history. I was a substitute when a 2-1 win over
FC Salzburg secured a birth in the play-off tournament for promotion to
the country’s top division. After losses against the later Champions League
contenders Sturm Graz and Austria Salzburg we failed, but those were excit-
ing weeks.
Although I enjoyed the status I gained as a semi-professional soccer
player among my peers, the travels around the country, the Italian training
camps, and the days off school, I decided to quit soccer only two years later,
10 SOCCER vs. THE STATE
after graduating high school. At that point, radical politics had become my
new number-one passion and many of my beliefs clashed with the world of
soccer as I knew it: the competitiveness, the sexism, racism, and homopho-
bia, the close contact with authoritarian managers, greedy sponsors, cor-
rupt presidents, and despicable politicians. I returned to soccer only half a
year later, when I realized that it was still more fun to earn money as a stu-
dent playing football than waiting tables.
I started regularly for the FC Kufstein as an eighteen-year-old, hoping
that I would attract the attention of a fi rst division club—after all, the child-
hood dream of becoming a professional player had not evaporated just
because I was now fascinated by armed guerrilla struggle, squatting, and
anarchist theory. The next season, we had a new manager, and things
changed, as they often do in these cases. I returned late from my summer
vacation, was benched for “lacking the right attitude,” resented the new
coaching staff , and instead of fi ghting for my spot on the team I showed up
for practice just to collect the paycheck. In the summer of 1992, after much
ado about contracts, transfer fees, and club ownership rights, I quit semi-
professional soccer for good. I played two more years in minor leagues to
have fun and get some exercise, and in 1994 I moved to the U.S. and mainly
played basketball.
In the decade that followed, I did a lot of traveling and joined pick-up
games from Vanuatu to South Africa. I watched football in corrugated-iron
shacks in Burkina Faso, in uninspiring motels in China, and in activists’
homes in New Zealand. I hardly ever talked about my years as an aspiring
football professional. It seemed like this period of my life was long gone,
something I needed to justify rather than to be proud of, and of no relevance
whatsoever for my existence as a mature grown-up.
The truth, though, is that my footballing years have had a profound
impact on my personality, my relationships with others, and my view of
the world. The famous remark by Albert Camus, “what I know most surely
about morality and the duty of man I owe to [football],”1 deeply resonates
with me. Outside of personal matters—family, friends, love—the strongest
emotions of my life are tied to the game: pleasure and joy as well as disap-
pointment, embarrassment, and feelings of deceit and betrayal. Football
unraveled many myths, as I played with and against Austrian national
team players, revered heroes of mine. Football taught me how to work
with people to achieve a mutual goal even if you have little in common.
Football demonstrated how folks turn into liars and cheaters when blinded
by money and fame. Football sharpened my class politics, as I came from
an artists’ home while my teammates were predominantly working-class.
Football taught me about labor relations, as I left my dirty gear at every
practice for underpaid staff to clean. Football shaped my sense of home
as I played for the youth teams of the province I grew up in, the Tyrol. And
