Name: Angelos Stergiopoulos ID Number: 292562 Degree Title: Msc Middle East Politics Course Title: State and

Society in Asia & Africa Course Code: 15POCC008 Tutor/Lecturer Name: Dr Julia Strauss/ Professor Phil Clark Assignment Number: (2) Essay Title: The symbolical function of football in Turkey and in Sub-Saharian Africa

Football is a sport that incorporates a mosaic of different representations such as masculinity, political confrontation or resistance and most commonly the depiction of a national utopia that is heralded from the ruling elites of a state and media before, after and during the 90 minutes of the game. However, it is also dialectic between the state and the masses and it might be argued that often determines the public perception by interjecting the aspects of culture that the ruling institutions want to reproduce, in an effort to create a homogenous perception and cohesion in society. Beside, nevertheless, the Foucauldian notion of coercion and the Hegelian perception of simplification through division and confrontation, someone could raise the question of why is football so influential worldwide. A possible response could be the ritual and the theatrical2 connotations that football produce and the connection with the previously stated representations. However, football proves itself as a useful tool not only to compromise the masses but also to represent the opposition or the affability with a political issue. In this paper, football would be examined as a symbol of a nationalistic utopia channelled by the state, on behalf of the Turkish case, in order to create a notion of cohesiveness among the citizens. Moreover, a useful tool of media and ruling elites to remote problems of the society such as unemployment and negligence of provincial areas from the central state into the phobic and extremist notion of self-other division using the different in terms of culture to assemble the people around the state. To simplify, a constructed image of an enemy that operates as an element of unification of a suffering society through the symbols of nationalism and masculinity. As for the latter part, football would be investigated in the case of Sub-Saharian Africa in general highlighting its function as a resistance to colonialism, as a dream of life improvement for African youth through football migration
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and the purely traditional connection between witchcraft and football, which although

seems peculiar to western observers it has strong sentiments in African societies. In particular, witchcraft found through football a significant space to sustain itself and oppose the invasion of modernity in African continent.

Turkey had a very good relation with this popular sport. The affection of the people and the infiltration of the state in this public space, create a perfect situation for every ruling elite to cease the opportunity and stabilize its own legitimacy. While Turkish football is highly politicized also in the domestic league games, this paper would

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Gkalp, 2006 Sudgen,1993 {National Anthems, two rival teams (denoting dualism and confrontation)} 3 Poli, 2006

examine the impact of the political influence in international matches between both national teams and clubs. Here it seems evident that he quotes of the mass are quite interesting in order to start deploying the issue :
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Europe Europe hear our voice This is the sound of the footsteps of the Turks No one can deal with the Turks Europe Europe guard yourself

The quote is very much centralized on Europe as an enemy of Turkey, which is represented as Turks 5. Immediately, it is easy to understand that it is a message first to the constructed other that there is no room for negotiation, a pure violent and extreme view, and secondly the symbolism of the area that geographically called modern Turkey as a living entity that consisted from the unification of the people who reside inside the boundaries of this country. However, a possible question should be raised asking why is so significant to reproduce Europe as an enemy with this particular aggressive tone? The answer is situated in the previous history of the Ottoman Empire and its western borders in the Eastern Europe and of course its conflicts with the European powers6. The nostalgia of the imperial era is the notion that creates this frustration and confrontation, but not because of the people per se. This notion has been largely interjected to the people through media and government. In order to clarify that there are some illustrative quotes from newspapers such :
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Our nationals are determined to vanquish Germany (Fotomac) The sound of the Turk s footsteps (Fanatic) Going for invasion (Sabah) We conquered Copenhagen. The streets are filled with crescent-and star flag; Copenhagen has nearly become a Turkish city (Hurriyet)

All the above denote the construct of idea of the total confrontation with the other that called Europe. It also might be argued that the wording is not random. The word vanquish and invasion symbolize the
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Navaro-Yashin, 2002 Conversi, 1999 6 Navaro-Yashin, 2002 7 Gkalp, 2006

connotation of the Ottoman Invasion in Europe and as such Europe has to subdue, or in other words must lose the game. What is also important is to highlight the symbolism of the crescent-and-star flag . It seems evident that refers to the Turkish flag; however, the symbolism is going beyond that. It actually denotes the crescent (Islam) superiority to the Christian Europe , another feature that is very much emphasized in the occasions of international matches or when Turkish clubs are playing against European clubs in European competitions. Another important point is the effort to project the military atmosphere and the notion of defence and victimization on behalf of the Turks .
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This is national war! (Fotomac) This is time of revenge (Star) They are ready for battle! (Fotomac) We have warrior souls! (Fanatic) The British provoke the Turks; 1 dead, 15 injured (Star) The British always do it (Sabah)

While the first four examples are quite obvious of what message want to promote the latter two are quite ambiguous. They are referring to the international club match in 2000 between the English team of Leeds Utd with the Turkish Galatasaray. In particular, the issue was for the murder of two English hooligans in Istanbul in Taksim Square. The remarkable thing here is that the incident was transmitted as a provocation of the English fans, while simultaneously the media downplayed the importance of murder. As it seems from what the newspapers published, the Turkish fans felt insulted from the immoral behaviour of the Englishmen and that was the main cause for the act of murder. This has to do also with the phobic and defensive stance that Turkey try to implement politically in the international level, as the issue of a conspiracy against the Turkish state. Many EU states have been accused from Turkey for accepting the genocide of the Armenians and the existence of Kurdish minority. The fact is that because Turkey is not in position to impose its policy towards those issues directly is channelling this frustration through sports and in particular in football. Following the issue of the phobic and defence stance it is important to demonstrate the incident in the city of Tabzon in Eastern Turkey.
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Navaro-Yashin, 2002 Gkalp, 2006

The murder of one Armenian journalist from a teenager illustrates to the most severe way the turmoil situation with respect the ethnicity problems not only in huge urban areas such Istanbul but also in neglected provinces such Trabzon . The importance of this issue is that football is the main rudiment that reinforces the notion of nationalism. Because of the negligence of this area from the state the nationality notion formulated through football in an effort for young people to change their lives. That is because of the underdevelopment and the unemployment. The fear or better the xenophobic notion derives from the manipulation of the state for a potential threat which wants to demise the society and therefore football. Hence, young people adopt the nationalistic propaganda believing that in such way they could sustain their football dream which is a dream for a better life11. Another symbolism that deployed in football and has to do again with the nationalistic view of confrontation is the performance of masculinity12. Here some useful quotes from newspapers again:
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Our Galatasaray writes an epic by screwing Manchester (Fotomac) A father (male) Turkey mounted on the English (Hurriyet) Kiss the Vikings, then come back (Star)

This use of derogatory language engenders the rivalry of the opponent team in order to reduce the quality of the opponent team, denoting the determination of the Turkish team as active and male against the European passive and female in the most essentialist way13.

Moving to the African case, it is good to stress the importance of football in the anti-colonial struggle and the state formation of the African countries after their independence14. In essence, football underwrites the sovereignty of the new African states. For instance, in 1960 the colonial state of Congo gained its independence from Belgium and participated immediately to international football matches as a proof of an independent sovereign state . Moreover, it changed its name in Zaire. Before moving to other identical examples of African
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Rainsford, 2007 Rainsford, 2007 12 Gkalp, 2006/ Ronay, 2003 13 Ronay, 2003 14 Darby, 2005/Nelson, 2007 15 Conversi, 1999/ Darby, 2005

states, it is worth mentioning the creation of the institution of CAF and the symbolism that this institution connoted to the new independent African states. It seems evident that CAF was one of the ipso facto causes of recognition of independence even though CAF was a sport organization. Another example of anti-colonial resistance through football is Tanzania . In the previous colonial Tanganyika, the football club that had created from the colonizers channelled and implemented the liberation movement of the indigenous population. Furthermore, in Zanzibar the refusal of African players to participate in matches with European referees had particular connotation . The referee s power to determine the outcome of a match perceived as the power of the white colonizers who had over the African populations. By denying playing, they actually denied to participate to a game that would be in full control of the Europeans. Moreover, they refuse the exercise of the colonial power which was symbolized through the figure of the referee. Hence, their action was aiming to undermine any aspect of European exercise of power over them. Apart from the anti-imperialistic and anticolonial sentiments the football instigated, there is also the ideological solidarity which created through football and because of the anti-imperialistic struggle called Pan-Africanism19. One of the most recent examples that demonstrate this solidarity and simultaneously denotes the anti-colonial attitude is the opening football match in World Cup of Japan and Korea in 2002 between France, the previous world cup holder, and Senegal20. The unexpected win of Senegal celebrated not only as a win of Senegal but also as a win of the previously discriminated and oppressed people against the oppressor. Moreover, it did not celebrated only in Senegal but also in whole continent. Another significant symbolism of football in Africa is the force of development that indicates the effort of escape from poverty and misery, especially for the young people. Here it is important to highlight the importance of the media which underscore the successive carriers of several African footballers in Europe . The expatriates footballers such as Didier Drogba are symbols for every young African who wants to escape from misery and poverty of his country, playing in a European club. Football, hence, materialised as an opportunity to change life status, not just a sport. However, there are strong arguments of that notion from
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Darby, 2005 {Confederation Africaine de Football} Darby, 2005/ Poli 2006 18 Darby, 2005 19 Nelson, 2007 20 Schatzberg, 2006 21 Poli, 2006
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some thinkers with respect of the impact of the media manipulation and the sustainment of the pre-existed colonial system of economy towards the dream of African youth. They stress that the exploitation of the African players is a new type of slavery that serve the neo liberal capitalist system . Moreover, there is no coincidence that the important and most valuable African players called pearls, diamonds or gold with the indication of the word black
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. It is clear that through this wording it is since today identical the colonial heritage of perception

of the exploitation of the African people such as the precious minerals that exist in the African soil. The only thing that have changed is the fact that now instead of having a mining field with slaves there is the football field with African athletes, who in order to achieve their dreams can do anything that the neo liberal capitalist markets command them to do. The last part of symbolism in Africa refers to the relation between witchcraft and football24. It is arguably a strange co existence, however, could be easily explained via the confrontation between tradition and modernity and causality. Firstly, in order to clarify causality, it is worth mentioning the incident of the Cameroonian government who had promised certain amount of money to players with respect to their performance and match results25. This type of legal bribery is a kind of logical doping and a rational explanation of why players respond positively and play with such determination in order to achieve victory. Nevertheless, there is the other side of the coin that demonstrates the traditional and irrational, at least for modern people, impact of witchcraft in a positive football result. In particular, there was the speculation that in World Cup of Japan and Korea, African sorcerers were responsible for the injury of the most important player of France, Zinedin Zidan. Hence, the African sorcerers determined significantly the win of Senegal against France26. All these rumours of witchcraft and sorcery force CAF to ban the sorcerers of the African teams as a back warded sign. In the same line many African players supported the idea. Significantly, Samuel Kuffour who is an important player of Bayern Munich stated :
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It is an old belief that has no place in modern football...Juju can never help a player become a superstar. Only hard work, training and discipline will do that

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Hargreaves, 2002 Hargreaves, 2002/ Poli, 2006 24 Schatzberg, 2006 25 Schatzberg, 2006 26 Schatzberg, 2006 27 Schatzberg, 2006

From the above statement, Kuffour who played in Europe depict the rational cause of how someone achieves success in the football field. However, a possible question that could be raised is why this particular aspect perceived as dangerous one for the African football, and why tradition believed to be the element of stagnation or at least one that holds back football in Africa. It might be argued that football is, with regards of this issue, the battle ground between the western modernity and African tradition. After decolonization, there is a clear shift of Africa societies towards Eurocentric and Western ideas such as the creation of the nation state in the African continent . It seems also evident that this project steadily expels the traditional ways in favour of the Western. It is also evident that football was and probably is still one of the last frontiers of African witchcraft culture. In other words, tradition and witchcraft found a public space to demonstrate their existence against the invasion of the western reason. Hence, the African witchcraft culture interjected to local football as a kind of resistance sentiments of tradition against the aggressive modern views. Football is the public space in which witchcraft is betting lot its own survival.
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To conclude, it seems evident that some aspects in both areas are similar in terms of means and ends. Both in Turkey and in Sub-Saharian Africa football used as a nationalistic symbol. While in Turkey has an aggressive and extremely xenophobic character creating the self as the utopian Turkishness with other the image of Europe in general, in Africa the confrontation materialized as an anti-colonial sentiment. Another similarity is the fact that media and the ruling elites play a significant role in shaping the image of the symbolism of football. Lastly, the poverty and the unemployment in vast population is a significant to determine the effort of young people in searching a chance for better life. As already argued in this paper both Turkish and African young people prospect a professional contract in order to change their living status and escape from misery. As a final observation, it seems evident that football had the power to create per se the dynamics for political exploitation. The theatrical part of a football match applies to the archetype of the Roman Arena where the mass demanded a lavish spectacle and the Roman Emperor had to respond to this demand if he wanted to keep certain degree of order to the state. Indeed, football is the opium of the people by all means

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Conversi, 1999/Nelson, 2007/ Sugden, 1993

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