Introduction
Association football, sometimes called soccer to differentiate it from other leg sports, is the world’s most popular sport. The sport is frequently referred to as football by much of the English speaking world and has come a long way to become the most important sporting activity in the world. According to available scientific evidence, the earliest form of soccer was played at around the second or third centuries BC in China (Dunning, 1999).
The current rules and design of a football game were mainly developed in England. Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was formed in 1904 to oversee the organization of major international football events (Bridgewater, 2010). Today, football is played professionally by millions of people around the world.
Millions of people often flock to stadiums or sit in front of their TV sets to watch football. The popularity of the sport has facilitated its use as a political tool to foster both national and international agendas. This paper seeks to reflect on what has been studied in class to establish how governments and global processes influence football.
The development and growth of association football
As stated in the introductory part, association football was developed in England in the 18th and 19th centuries. The game was spread to the rest of the world through the movement of British nationals pursuing different interests. For instance, the game was introduced to South Americans by British workers, students and teachers.
In areas that were colonized by Britain such as Africa, Asia and the West Indies, football was introduced by missionaries and soldiers. This implies that various global processes, which will be discussed in next section, played a role in the growth of football.
Briefly, a football game is often played with a spherical ball between two teams of eleven players each (Dunning, 1999). Normally, football is played on a rectangular shaped grass field or a pitch fitted with a green artificial turf (Dunning, 1999).
Goal structures are typically located in the middle of the two opposite short ends, and are usually manned by a goalkeeper during a football match. The objective of each team is to score a ball in the opposing team’s goal in the cause of 90 minutes. Football has several rules that are observed by the referee and lines men.
Football’s popularity has something to do with its ability evoke great passions in the fans (Dunning, 1999). Different people identify with football teams from their regions, countries. Many other groups of fans identify with teams due to various reasons. For instance, the teams that play in the English premier league have fans from many parts of the world that identify with the teams through all sorts of reasons.
Such matches have audiences of millions of people with shared expectations (The Pilot, 2012). Losing a football match amounts to portraying a team as weaker than the one that wins. The effects of losing are felt harder by ardent fans and often generate division between the opposing sides. Research has shown that there are five areas that are show why domestic fans support their teams.
These areas include: team support- this includes attending matches and other activities that fans engage in when their teams are successful. Organizational values- these include the clubs management, governance and the role it plays in the community (Guttman, 1993).
History and symbols- Includes the clubs traditions, historic victories and the parent to child support inheritance. Entertainment- football offers entertainment to fans through Technological advancement and other global processes have played a major role in the growth of football as a sport.
FIFA is the internationally recognized governing body of football and other associated games such as beach soccer and futsal (Dunning, 1999). FIFA is based in Zurich and is associated with six confederations representing different continents. Individual countries have their national associations that run local football activities.
How governments influence football
Governments can be regarded as political institutions that are endowed with the power to make rules and enforce them in a particularly territory or collection of people. Football is a popular sport and therefore government involvement is inevitable.
The involvement of government in football activities basically seeks to: promote public order; maintain the health fitness through promotion of the sport; promote the prestige of a community or nation; create and promote a sense of identity and belonging and unity among citizens; reproduce values consistent with dominant ideology in the society; increase support for political leaders and the government; and to promote the economic and social development of the sport in the society (Moynagh & Worsley, 2008).
Safeguarding the public order
Football games are often characterized with several intense passions that have historically resulted into chaos. Potentially explosive are football encounters between rival communities. Additionally, there are certain safety requirements that are stipulated for players and match officials.
The government plays a major role in overseeing safety and order by providing the required football facilities, equipments, and creating the necessary mechanisms required to prevent the eruption chaos during domestic football competitions (Lasco, 2010). The government controlled football associations are therefore develop policies and rules that stipulate the safety requirements during football matches.
These include specific guidelines for team owners, promoters, sponsors, players and fans. Football is controlled by the different tiers of the government. Often the national government forms a football association that is represented at all levels of the government. Football associations or local governments provide the safety guidelines required for the use of football facilities within their areas of jurisdiction.
Maintaining health and fitness
Football is a very popular sport that is played by both genders. It therefore provides a very important avenue for governments to promote health and fitness among its citizens and citizens of other countries. Several governments have established funds to promote the development of football in their communities.
These include efforts to encourage youths to play football and make small teams to play in local tournaments. Thus playing football encourages active lifestyles that keep people health and thereby reducing the cost of healthcare. Schools are the best centers through which different governments promote football development t o keep the students healthy and fit, among other benefits.
Use of football to promote power and prestige of a nation or community
Governments often ride on the popularity of football to advance their quest for recognition and prestige (Colomer, 2003). This is often reflected at different levels which may include the local, national and global level (Held & McGrew, 2007). For instance, many governments provide intense training programs for their football teams so as to increase their chances of performing well during international tournaments.
Many countries also scramble for a chance to host an international football tournament so as to use the opportunity to showcase what they can offer to the world. For instance, the 2010 world cup held in South Africa was used to show the world that South Africa is an emerging economic power that provides different investment opportunities (Guttman, 1993).
Promotion of identity and unity
Often football has the power to evoke passion in its lovers. When a national team is playing in a major tournament, all the citizens of the given country often rally behind the team, regardless of their race, tribe, religion or social status (Colomer, 2003).
The emotional sense created fosters unit and enables the citizens of a nation to identify with its traditions. Football matches have also been used to defuse tensions between warring communities. However, this is not always the case as football matches between rival communities can result into tribalism and further division.
Use of football to reproduce values dominant with political ideology
Football success is not always based on the economic performance of a region or country and therefore it provides a good platform for governments to encourage citizens to remain disciplined and hardworking even if the face of hardships. For instance, the Croatian football team performed well in the 1998 world cup in spite of an ongoing civil war at home.
Promoting economic development
The professionalization of football has provided economic opportunities to many youth. For instance, any good player can play for an elite club in Europe and be paid a huge salary in return. Most governments are encouraging football talent development in order to provide citizens with an alternative source of income.
How global processes influence football
Globalization is a process that involves the creation of linkages or connections between countries (Held & McGrew, 2007). Usually, globalization entails the removal of cultural, political, economic and physical barriers that separate different nations.
Globalization stimulates the exchange of goods, services, people and money. Football has now developed to be a global sport, some analysts regard football as the most globalized profession. There are several factors that have contributed to the globalization of football. Each of the different factors will be discussed separately under this section.
Development of football into a global business
As noted earlier, among the advantages of globalization are the removal of economic barriers and the facilitation of free movement of people, goods and services. Throughout the years football has developed to become a multibillion global business. For instance, the annual total income of the five largest European football leagues surpasses $20 billion, with the English premier league accounting for the largest percentage.
Premier league football is attractive because it’s usually played by best players recruited from all over the world. Today, any good football player can play for any club that can afford him. For instance, all of the clubs that play in the European league have many foreign based players.
This in turn helps the clubs to draw support from their players’ home countries, further globalizing the sport. Football clubs and players have developed into unique brands as portrayed by the media, analysts and researchers.
Fans who buy tickets to watch football matches are considered to be the customers. The rapid technological advancement, particularly in regard to the internet and satellite TV has enabled fans to watch live football matches that are being played thousands of miles away.
International competitions
There are various international football tournaments that play an important role in the globalization of football. The most important international football tournament is the world cup. The world cup is played by best teams from different regions of the world. Each of the national teams represented at the world cup usually create a tribal sense of nationalism amongst their domestic supporters (Hughes, 2008).
Its common see fans wearing the football shirts and flying their national flags to express pride. Countries that are not represented in the international tournaments often support another team for various reasons. In most cases fans from such countries will support a regional representative or any of the top favorites that have a higher chance of winning the tournament.
For instance, in 2010, during the World cup held in South Africa, the local fans were dressed in team colors of a range of international teams, in addition to their own. Tournaments such as the FIFA world cup, the African Cup of Nations and the UEFA champions’ league are usually characterized by intense support from fans around the around the world, further contributing to the globalization of the sport (Kaufman & patterson, 2005).
Hosting an international competition enables countries to showcase different products that they can offer. Major tournaments such as the world cup benefit the locals through infrastructure development. Some tournaments result into loses as the countries fail to recoup the money that was used to build stadiums and other facilities required to host the tournament.
For instance, the 1994 US world cup resulted into a lose amounting to $9 billion. However, hosting a major tournament can be used to foster regional peace or advance a political agenda. For instance, when a country hosts the world cup it becomes the center of attention for an entire month.
The role of technology
Technological advancement has contributed a lot to the globalization of football. There are several aspects of the football that have been impacted by technological development. However, this section is more concerned with the technological developments that have impacted on the globalization of the sport.
Broadcasting of live matches is by far the largest technological aspect that is contributing to the globalization of football as it has done away with the need to be physically present in order to watch a football game. Major international tournaments such as the world cup and the UEFA champions’ league are often watched by millions of fans around the world, thanks to the development of satellite/cable TV.
Live broadcasting of football matches is benefits football clubs or associations, broadcasters and the fans (Dunning, 1999). Football clubs and associations benefit through the sale of broadcasting rights, broadcasters benefit through increased popularity while fans benefit through being able to watch their favorite matches at the comfort of their homes or in social places. The broadcasting writes are sold to broadcasters around the world to enable them televise the matches in their respective regions or countries.
Technology has also facilitated the development of state of the art football stadiums that are fitted with artificial turf, flood lights, cameras among other equipments (Hughes, 2008).
Conclusion
This paper sought to determine how governments and global processes influence football. It has been established that, as the world’s most popular and professionalized sport, football is greatly influenced by different global processes and governments. The global processes mainly relate to international competition, technology and the economic potential of the sport.
Governments mainly use football to promote public order; maintain the health fitness through promotion of the sport; promote the prestige of a community or nation; create and promote a sense of identity and belonging and unity among citizens; reproduce values consistent with dominant ideology in the society; increase support for political leaders and the government; and to promote the economic and social development of the sport in the society (The Pilot, 2012).
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