Then there was the player from Ghana who pulled out an Israeli flag after his team scored- what was that about :rolleyes:
I backpacked around Europe around '97 or so and bumped into one of these. Holy crap was I surprised!
I thought I imagined that (best game I’ve seen so far). But, no.
There are Spanish rockabilly groups that sell out shows for a niche that’s way into old-school Southern rock and culture. Hence, they might really just like Elvis a lot. The connection to the soccer game sounds dubious, though, as rockabilly really has nothing to do with Germany or Tunisia or, for that matter, sports. Particularly a sport dominated by Europeans.
Maybe he’s Jewish, and/or protesting the fact that FIFA doesn’t recognize Israel but instead calls it “Palestine”. I’ll be damned if I can find a link to it, but if you go to the FIFA website and click on the spinny globe thing that says “Interactive Map of World Football”, then go to the Asia region and hunt for Israel–you won’t find it, just “Palestine”. I know for a fact that Israel has club teams and they’re very popular there, so I don’t know if FIFA refuses to recognize Israel to make the Arabic soccer countries happy–smells of pansyism or worse to me, and I hope there’s an alternate explanation.
…Or I guess, reading the responses, that he plays for the Tel Aviv club. Still, though, I wonder about that whole “Palestine” thing.
What?!? Here is FIFA’s world rankings, Israel is tied for 47th.
Huh. I must’ve been reactionary based on that world map thing. I guess they are. In terms of qualification, just out of ancestral interest, how well did they do? Were they close?
I think something like only the top 32 teams make it to the World Cup, out of the hundred plus out there, so they were in like the top third, close but not quite.
I thought it was (to put it politely) bothersome that team management felt it had to apologize for him
Yes there is. Israel competes in the European region.
Very close. They tied in points with Switzerland in their qualification group but missed on goal differential.
NONONONONONO!
It’s not the fachas, promise…
it’s, uh…
Elvis fans.
As in Presley.
Duckbill pompadours and so forth. Rock-a-billy, Elvis-the-King, stuff like that. Promise.
Not a chance. Not in somewhere as aware of such symbolism as Spanish football.
Don’t assume that offensive or insulting behaviour, even on this level, equates to hooliganism, even among many of the Ultras - even though it’s true that some Italian clubs have long-standing fascist (not Nazi) associations. The situation you describe is little different than chants of “have you room for any more?” directed at Liverpool.
I wrote my previous post right before leaving for work and didn’t have time to Do The Linkin’. Apologies.
This is what we’re talking about. I gave you:
Stray Cats (sorry, they’re not kitten pics)
Loquillo Loquillo’s original logo was a picture of Woody Woodpecker (Pájaro Loco in Spanish) over a background that was the Confederate flag with crossbones instead of the cross. They haven’t used it for a while because the lawyers get pissy.
These people are called “rockers” (short for Rockabilly), “rebeldes” (because they go for the kind of look Brando had in “Rebelde”, Spanish name for “The Wild One”) or “indians” (Mano Negra, Manu Chao’s old group, has a song called “Indios de Barcelona” which is a reference to these people) because they are the oldest “urban tribe” in Spain. Many of them are also bikers, which is another place you’re likely to run into Rebs (as the Confederate flag is known hereabouts).
A urban tribe is not an organized group. It’s people who like a certain kind of music and who may or may not wear specific clothing. No inductions, no nothing… if you go to a Rocker concert looking like you just stepped out of a Britney Spears cover, they’ll look at you funny but an “easy guys, I’m rocker” will get you accepted as part of the family. Back when I was a student in Barcelona, my clothes were definitely mainstream (no “Grease outfits”), but I got in right fast when the guys found out I could actually understand Elvis’ lyrics and translate them. Many of them can decipher them with a dictionary, but being able to understand a song as it’s sung is a different animal. The people with whom I went to concerts were from several provinces around, we never saw each other outside of concerts. Some of them came from parts of town where they were “the wrong tribe” (everybody else was flamenco, or heavy, or punk… whichever was normal for that part of town) but nobody gave them any heat for it, they just got the occasional conmiserative look and “boy, must suck going to concerts alone!”
My cousins, who live in Spain, say that the country is spilt about half and half in their attitude towards the racist coach of the Spain team, Aragones. Some think he’s the wisest of wise old owls, while many younger, better-educated people think it’s a disgrace that he’s in charge of the national team. For those who don’t know, he’s the person who called the Arsenal soccer star Thierry Henry (who’s black) a black shit.
Wow. The Capirote outfit is one of the most powerfully intimidating designs I’ve ever seen. Even if there were never such thing as a KKK those guys would still look completely evil.
The nuttiest inter-fan rivallry has to be that between Boca (team of the poorer classes) and River Plate (rich and fashionable) in Buenos Aries. Boca fans bring live chickens to matches and cut their throats as the game progresses - the blood on the chicken’s feathers symbolises the white with red sash jersies of the River side. It must be said that, despite this odd ritual, relationships between the two camps of fans are generally pretty good-natured!
mm
sigh
I don’t give a shit (black or otherwise colored) about soccer, but I have men in the household who do. Lilbro is nuts about soccer, my not-so-dear grandfather is the most veteran soccer referee in Spain, probably in the world. This year marks his 70th anniversary as one (no, he doesn’t referee any more, but he goes to matches and evaluates the referees, that counts as active).
Aragonés just talks like that. He’s as likely to yell “don’t let that pimp of a maño beat you!” as to yell about color - but only the color gets plastered all over the TV, the reference to an opponent’s birthplace and alternative mode of employment does not.
You guys want to talk about racism in Spain, go ahead, but let me repeat once more:
Fascists and right-wing skinheads would never be caught dead with a Confederate flag on them. They use the Spanish flag with the Imperial coat of arms.
There, I hope that was loud enough.
The guy who was waving it probably chose it because it was available at home (himself or someone else is a “Rocker”) and it’s unusual enough to serve as a “hi, mom, we’re here!” You’re all reading too much into it.
It’s intimidating to you only because of the KKK. I grew up seeing those up close and I’ve still to see a child who’s scared by them. It’s not just in the South, it’s all over Spain for the Easter religious parades.
It wasn’t a political statement - I read about this yesterday and the paper said the chap in question plays for an Israeli club side.
…which is something of a problem in itself, of course. The teams that make it to the World Cup aren’t the best 32 national teams in the world. Each region gets to send a certain number of teams, and some regions have more excellent teams than others - more World Cup-level teams, in essence, than they have WC spots. So the best teams that have to stay home are always going to be better than the weakest teams at the WC. (In fact because of the nature of the qualifying play-offs, there’s no guarantee that even the best teams from any one region will get that region’s spots. And no, I’m not saying this because Norway didn’t qualify, because frankly, Norway’s team in the qualifying matches didn’t play like they deserved a trip to Germany.)
Israel is, of course, geographically part of the Asian region. But, ahem, certain other Asian countries don’t want to compete against them. FIFA decided to fix the problem by moving Israel to the European region - but the European regional qualifiers are tougher than the Asian regionals. Israel would be more likely to qualify for the WC if their team was competing in the region they geographically belong to.
It’s tempting for me to say that FIFA should just tell the teams that if they don’t want to play Israel, that’s fine, but not showing up is an automatic disqualification for them and three points for a win to Israel. This is probably why I am a preschool teacher and not a member of the board of an international sports federation 