by Ethan Johnson
May 19, 2007
Through the magic of Netflix, I steadily made my way through all 7 discs of The History of Football, the Beautiful Game. (Note: In the US, Netflix lists it as "soccer" and not "football", but the content itself is the original UK series narrarated by Terence Stamp.) I highly recommend this series to anyone who is unfamiliar with the history of soccer and would like to know more about the sport. My comments about each disc/program are as follows:
Disc 1 - Origins: Whenever the subject of soccer comes up in the popular US media, someone invariably mentions that the game used to be played "with human heads." Uh, no. Which is not to say that such a thing never happened. It's more like Ozzy Osbourne being forever linked to biting the heads off of various animals on stage, where either none of that ever happened, or did one time, never to be repeated. Well, if it sells tickets it's all good, right? Interesting overview of how soccer got its start, and why the English national team always has such high expectations (hint: it may have something to do with where the modern game got its start).
Disc 1 - Soccer Cultures: This was a must-see, and drove my decision to rent the series. I have always wondered why international crowds go completely batshit over soccer matches. This episode didn't completely answer that question, but close. Very interesting information about countries like Ghana and India, where soccer was more than "just" a game, it was a political catalyst. After watching this, I noted that the way a country fields a national soccer team might shed light on how they deal with the rest of the world diplomatically (or otherwise). The US is pretty terrible about this compared to other countries, including Iran. Pretty amazing to learn that there was once a time that Iran played a match against Israel. Not anymore! But that's not necessarily the teams' doing, which brings the political aspects to the fore. Fascinating episode.
Disc 2 - Evolution of the European Game: It was interesting, but frankly I'm kinda bored with the European aspects of soccer. I'm looking forward to the Latin American stuff. Just the same, Europe is where the history comes from, as Eddie Izzard likes to say, and it was mind-blowing to learn how old some of these teams are (1800s). We don't really have the same longevity here, with the possible exception of NFL football or baseball. But in this modern day and age, I wonder how many people even bother learning about the teams of old, and instead focus on the "now". Pretty hilarious to learn that the Scots revolutionized soccer by - wait for it - passing the ball. The English used to dribble the ball the length of the field nonstop. Take yer medicine!
Disc 2 - European Superpowers: More of the Europe thing. Interesting, but again, gimme the Brazilian stuff. No offense to the Euro crowd. (By the way, pretty wild that soccer continued mostly unabated during WWII - not sure how that was possible.)
Disc 3 - Brazil: I wanted it, and I got it. One entire episode devoted to the history of soccer in Brazil. Very interesting material, and I felt like a complete goober for thinking that the Brazilian national team was some sort of shoo-in for the final of, well, any World Cup, not just the most recent one. In truth, they haven't been to very many final rounds. Which is why it's such a big deal that Pelé was on 3 of the 4 winning teams. Fascinating overview of how it all began, and how the future is shaping up.
Disc 3 - South American Superpowers: Really, this is more about Uruguay and Argentina, but good stuff nonetheless. Some countries seem to have their act together consistently, whereas others just can't seem to get out of the starting gate. As has been the case around the world, politics plays a leading role in the development and evolution of soccer in a given nation. It doesn't help matters when one's government falls in a coup. It really doesn't help when the soccer stadium gets converted into a concentration camp. For a more recent example, see Afghanistan, circa 2000. I didn't come away from this any closer to understanding the debate about Maradona versus Pelé. Maybe if Argentina got their own episode too. Good material on Mexico.
Disc 4 - For Club and Country: Disc 4 wasn't quite what I was expecting based solely on the episode titles. I thought this episode was going to flesh out the idea that if say, France loses the World Cup, France loses. Meh, not so much. Instead, this is about the rise of "club" soccer and how this can be at odds with the notion of a national team. Hint: if the club is wealthy and successful, odds are that the club owner won't see any benefit to a national team. Here in the US, on an MLS scale, fans root for the local team, however X amount of MLS players are called up for the US national team. So we can temporarily chant "USA! USA!" and then go back to "FC! Dallas!" Or whatever. Interesting viewing once you grok the angle.
Disc 4 - The Dark Side: Once again, the episode title was misleading. I thought this was going to be about match fixing, doping, and whatever other scandals might exist in the annals of soccer. No, this was largely about soccer-related tragedies, such as plane crashes or hooliganism run amok. I recently watched a Premier League match on TV, and was struck by how incredibly polite and low-key the fans were. Not that I was expecting a full-on riot or anything, but a little more enthusiasm. Well, rewind the tape to 1989 and you'll learn why and how things got so tame, and at what cost. Wonder how long it will be before countries like Mexico follow suit. Definitely worth seeing for the 1989 incident for the present-day perspective.
Disc 5 - Superstars: Or, the longer should-be title, "Superstars who agreed to be interviewed for this series in one convenient episode." Hardly a peep about Beckham (and I thought Bend It Like Beckham was released prior to this series; maybe not), but loads about Pelé and Diego Maradona. It's an OK episode, but considering the same faces keep appearing throughout this series it feels "samey". The Maradona section was good though.
Disc 5 - The Media: For some reason I keep expecting this series to dish about whatever scandals may have been present in professional soccer. Instead, this is a brief history of the soccer-themed media, up to and including Rupert Murdoch's SKY Network. In short, the media can either help or hurt you. In the US, there is quite a bit of ennui and disinterest on the part of the national sports media concerning MLS, but theoretically as interest builds the media will follow. Hell, ESPN covered a womens' collegiate softball game recently in HD (!) with attendance around 1200. "No interest" doesn't seem to hold as much water as it did prior to the advent of 24/7 television. But never mind all that, this episode is focused squarely overseas.
Disc 6 - Africa: I wondered why Africa was shunted off to an episode fairly late in the series, and the short answer is that Africa only recently became something of a "football power", relative to the usual suspects (England, Italy, Argentina, etc). Africa's showing in 2006 may not lead one to believe that Africa is a "power" in the sport, but this thumbnail history is most helpful especially to those who are new to the whole soccer thing. Africa has deep-seated issues as a whole, and those issues continually drive African teams to strive for the World Cup, but also derail them. Informative and sad.
Disc 6 - A Game for All: This really came off as filler, and worse, the disc had a data error or something so I couldn't see one of the chapters. Upon skipping around the disc, it seemed like a re-hashing of the series but focused mainly on the goings-on at FIFA. I watched the final chapter and think that's where the meat and potatoes are for this one. Interesting/heartbreaking to see South Africa lose the 2006 World Cup bid, which then makes it more interesting/less heartbreaking to see them get the nod for 2010.
Disc 7 - Futures: A nice closing number to round out the series. Mostly centered on Asia (read: South Korea and Japan), this episode provides the necessary exclamation point to drive home the point that soccer is the world's game. As a US citizen, I'm pretty disappointed that we collectively haven't put the emphasis on international soccer, especially considering what the ramifications of "playing ball" are on the international stage. But we've got company... India is more memorable as a cricket-playing country than for soccer, and they have the 2nd oldest soccer club. Here's to a brighter future beyond 2008. <EM>
