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Soccer as National Idea

23 March, 00:00

In his excellent book Nations and Nationalism Since 1780 E. J. Hobsbaum recalls his youth in prewar Austria, a country whose citizens he describes as having little in common except that most wanted to become part of Germany. Then the Austrian national soccer team played Great Britain, and suddenly he realized that he had become Britain in the eyes of his companions, who had immediately been overcome with pride in a nation they scarcely thought of otherwise. The good Englishman remains convinced to this day that had the match not ended in a draw his erstwhile Austrian friends would have beaten the stuffing out of him. Starting from this, Prof. Hobsbaum spends several pages discussing the importance of sports in defining national consciousness. He was right.

Like interbellum Austria, Ukraine is a country with a great many problems, not least of which is a weak sense of what it is or wants to be. Yet, when Kyiv Dynamo plays, the most indifferent citizen of this country, who might not be able to put three words together in Ukrainian, becomes a jingo patriot, and he feels the fate of his beloved team as a personal matter of life or death. When Valery Lobanovsky's beloved boys beat Madrid Real all Ukraine heaved a sigh of relief followed by a pride they feel far too seldom. Now that is a national idea for you. Thanks, coach! You have done more for Ukraine than all those pantywaist politicians put together. Maybe you ought to think about running for president...

Newspaper output №:

№11, (1999)

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Day After Day