Football and Marxism
(Uh-oh, drunk mike's got internet connection at home)
THE most influential person in the first two millenniums – Karl Marx - never played the game, but I guess, Marxism is not limited to ideology and can be extended to the field.
Dialectics. One of Marxism’s strongest point is Dialectics. They don’t buy the usual cause and effect concept – the cause is sometimes the effect and the effect the cause.
In every game, every call by the referee is viewed differently -– it all depends on which team you are playing for or supporting.
“Stupid ref, I didn’t hit him, his knee hit my foot, or he headbutted my foot! Why’d you sent him off for, it was a dive? He’s play-acting! “(Medical staff comes in to retrieve player and dismembered foot and rushes him to emergency ward)
Conflicts. For the old Marxists, the inevitable conflict with the haves and the have nots will lead to only one action and solution -– a revolution resulting to a new status quo. A society which favors the rich will eventually be overthrown by the poor.
Ever seen a game hounded by inept or biased officiating? When the officials blatantly favor one team? When one striker goes down after receiving a hard tackle from behind (an automatic offense that carries a red card) and the player who got tackled gets called for a foul?
Believe me, a revolution is the least of that referee’s worry -– saving one’s skin will be. Laugh, but this happened in Cebu, and luckily, the referee is still alive to account for his ineptitude.
Alienation. Because of the production line and the specialization of labor, the worker is alienated from his product. When, then, it took one man a few weeks to build a car, now it takes hundreds to build one in a few minutes.
Though Henry Ford’s innovation may have been concentrated on the production line, it has also, accidentally given birth to another sociological theory, Fordism and Post Fordism.
Then, one man is involved in making the product, he can proudly say that that car is the fruit of my labor. Now, a man says to his friend, if you look down the chassis, at a 30-degree angle, look to the left and squint, I proudly drove that screw in.
Obviously, the end product in football is winning, a player is involved in everything -- defense and offense, but try “accidentally” scoring a goal on your own end, and you’ll know the meaning of alienation.
Branches. Marxism is a fractured bunch. There is the Old or Classical Marxism, Neo Marxism, Post Neo Marxism, Feminist Marxism and the like. Heck, there are even talks of the difference between Karl Marx the young and Karl Marx the old.
In football, there are the old guards and the young upstarts.
However, unlike Marxism where your identity is based in what you believe in, in football, the difference between Young and Old is based literally on how old and young you are.
Then there’s another aspect, football has branched into other variants. There is indoor football or futsal -- which one organizer played outdoors -- beach soccer, seven-a-side football and my favorite – mixed football. Contact sport with women with distinct guidelines, awards and penalties. (The other contact sport, unfortunately doesn’t have such, but it also involves scoring)
Ropes. Marxists believe that the greedy capitalists will eventually buy the materials for, weave and bid for the very rope with which they will hang their necks.
In football, the cheaters, the prima donnas who flaunt the rules and the people who think they are special, too special – will eventually hang their very own necks.
Most important of all, Marxists believe in empowering the powerless, and of playing fair, regardless of who and what your are.
So, let’s play fair shall we?
*The author is a former student of Marxism, (the marching kind of the streets, not the armed kind of the jungle) who has since forgotten the finer points of Marxism and the like. Any mistake in the interpretation of Marx’s theory should be considered as one –- a mistake and should not be misconstrued as a propaganda for the rejectionists (or the reaffirmists even, choose your side). (Come on, a story about football and Marxism and you’re taking it seriously)
THE most influential person in the first two millenniums – Karl Marx - never played the game, but I guess, Marxism is not limited to ideology and can be extended to the field.
Dialectics. One of Marxism’s strongest point is Dialectics. They don’t buy the usual cause and effect concept – the cause is sometimes the effect and the effect the cause.
In every game, every call by the referee is viewed differently -– it all depends on which team you are playing for or supporting.
“Stupid ref, I didn’t hit him, his knee hit my foot, or he headbutted my foot! Why’d you sent him off for, it was a dive? He’s play-acting! “(Medical staff comes in to retrieve player and dismembered foot and rushes him to emergency ward)
Conflicts. For the old Marxists, the inevitable conflict with the haves and the have nots will lead to only one action and solution -– a revolution resulting to a new status quo. A society which favors the rich will eventually be overthrown by the poor.
Ever seen a game hounded by inept or biased officiating? When the officials blatantly favor one team? When one striker goes down after receiving a hard tackle from behind (an automatic offense that carries a red card) and the player who got tackled gets called for a foul?
Believe me, a revolution is the least of that referee’s worry -– saving one’s skin will be. Laugh, but this happened in Cebu, and luckily, the referee is still alive to account for his ineptitude.
Alienation. Because of the production line and the specialization of labor, the worker is alienated from his product. When, then, it took one man a few weeks to build a car, now it takes hundreds to build one in a few minutes.
Though Henry Ford’s innovation may have been concentrated on the production line, it has also, accidentally given birth to another sociological theory, Fordism and Post Fordism.
Then, one man is involved in making the product, he can proudly say that that car is the fruit of my labor. Now, a man says to his friend, if you look down the chassis, at a 30-degree angle, look to the left and squint, I proudly drove that screw in.
Obviously, the end product in football is winning, a player is involved in everything -- defense and offense, but try “accidentally” scoring a goal on your own end, and you’ll know the meaning of alienation.
Branches. Marxism is a fractured bunch. There is the Old or Classical Marxism, Neo Marxism, Post Neo Marxism, Feminist Marxism and the like. Heck, there are even talks of the difference between Karl Marx the young and Karl Marx the old.
In football, there are the old guards and the young upstarts.
However, unlike Marxism where your identity is based in what you believe in, in football, the difference between Young and Old is based literally on how old and young you are.
Then there’s another aspect, football has branched into other variants. There is indoor football or futsal -- which one organizer played outdoors -- beach soccer, seven-a-side football and my favorite – mixed football. Contact sport with women with distinct guidelines, awards and penalties. (The other contact sport, unfortunately doesn’t have such, but it also involves scoring)
Ropes. Marxists believe that the greedy capitalists will eventually buy the materials for, weave and bid for the very rope with which they will hang their necks.
In football, the cheaters, the prima donnas who flaunt the rules and the people who think they are special, too special – will eventually hang their very own necks.
Most important of all, Marxists believe in empowering the powerless, and of playing fair, regardless of who and what your are.
So, let’s play fair shall we?
*The author is a former student of Marxism, (the marching kind of the streets, not the armed kind of the jungle) who has since forgotten the finer points of Marxism and the like. Any mistake in the interpretation of Marx’s theory should be considered as one –- a mistake and should not be misconstrued as a propaganda for the rejectionists (or the reaffirmists even, choose your side). (Come on, a story about football and Marxism and you’re taking it seriously)
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