The Assistant Professor of Football: Soccer, Culture, History. (Philipp Gollner)
Explorez tous les épisodes de The Assistant Professor of Football: Soccer, Culture, History.
| Date | Titre | Durée | |
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| 18 Nov 2022 | The Manchester United Protests, and the Super League Crisis, One Year On - with Matt Ford | 01:02:58 | |
For this first episode, I am talking to Matt Ford. Matt is from Manchester, an active United supporter, longtime critical fan journalist, and a professional football journalist by day as well, for the English speaking public broadcasting service of Germany. He now lives in Germany too. Matt gives us the inside scoop about the protests among Manchester United fans against that club’s owners, particularly the events of May 2nd 2021 that led to the league game against Liverpool being canceled just in the wake of the proposal for the European Super League. A lot of important dynamics intersect here: super league vs league pyramid, ownership systems vs. member owned clubs, soccer clubs as global brands vs. community assets etc., and we try to cover them all to some extent. I would enjoy your comments and questions via The Assistant Professor of Football on twitter. Also: I would like to keep this space free of ads and paywalls. If you enjoy this podcast and think that what I do fills a gap in soccer coverage that others would be interested in as well, please
HELPFUL LINKS for this episode: Clip from Sky’s coverage of the protest, with the Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville quotes from the intro The English FSA (Football Supporters Association) is a great resource to dig deeper, and played a role in the “Fan-led Review” of football conducted after the Super League proposal. They also work with clubs’ supporters trusts. Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 18 Nov 2022 | Soccer Against Fascism: A Guided Tour through Europe with Chris Lee | 01:08:07 | |
Today, I am talking to Chris Lee about the role that football and particularly football fans have played, and are playing in the fight against fascism on and off the field. Chris is from England, and runs the football culture blog “Outside Write.” He is an active groundhopper and has visited many historic stadiums across Europe. He does really good historical research, and his book “The Defiant: A History of Football Against Fascism” just came out in October. We spent half of our conversation on soccer’s role in the rise of fascism in Europe in the 1930s and footballing resistance. In the second half, we moved to what antifascist soccer and supporter culture looks like today, its challenges, what the regular consumer of soccer can do - and Chris gave out a few travel tips as well. I would enjoy your comments and questions via The Assistant Professor of Football on twitter. Also: I would like to keep this space free of ads and paywalls. If you enjoy this podcast and think that what I do fills a gap in soccer coverage that others would be interested in as well, please
HELPFUL LINKS for this episode: Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 23 Nov 2022 | Boycott Qatar? A View from Germany | 00:49:43 | |
In this one - and only - World Cup-based episode, Stefan Schirmer, co-founder of the fan-run German initiative boycott-qatar and fan of Mainz 05 explains why the resistance to this year’s cup is so organized and so strong in Europe, particularly in Germany. How have fans organized? How do they view the engagement of the World Cup by the rest of the world? What do they mean by “boycott”? And what is their positive vision for the future of FIFA and the beautiful game, going forward? I would enjoy your comments and questions via The Assistant Professor of Football on twitter. Also: I would like to keep this space free of ads and paywalls. If you enjoy this podcast and think that what I do fills a gap in soccer coverage that others would be interested in as well, please
HELPFUL LINKS for this episode: A chronicle of controversies surrounding this World Cup (wikipedia) Report on Stefan’s initiative in Euronews VICE, “The Football Fans Boycotting the World Cup” Montclair State University study on the human rights situation surrounding the World Cup Human Rights Watch on the WC in Qatar Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 06 Dec 2022 | Ukraine through the Lens of Soccer: Kateryna Chernii in Conversation | 00:55:32 | |
A historian’s and fan’s view on how soccer is not just affected by politics, but has foreshadowed, accelerated and even influenced the political and cultural transformations in independent Ukraine since 1991. Kateryna, a PhD student at the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History in Potsdam, Germany takes us from the glory days of Dynamo Kyiv, the coaching genius of Valeriy Lobanivskyi, strange oligarchs, fur coats for referees and the rise of Schachtar Donetsk to today’s war in a turbulent yet resilient football nation. I would enjoy your comments and questions via The Assistant Professor of Football on twitter. Also: I would like to keep this space free of ads and paywalls. If you enjoy this podcast and think that what I do fills a gap in soccer coverage that others would be interested in as well, please
HELPFUL LINKS for this episode: Kateryna Chernii’s website at the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History A portrait of Valeriy Lobanivskyi “Who Are Ukraine’s Ultras?” - Radio Free Europe Sturm Graz Fans on tour in Kharkiv, 2009 Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 19 Dec 2022 | Support your Local Team: Terraces, Towns & Tunes of Germany’s 2nd Bundesliga | 01:09:13 | |
If you want to shake off all that syrupy World Cup coverage, join us for a free flowing conversation with Eva-Lotta Bohle, who follows quintessential 2nd league club Arminia Bielefeld - home and away - and has plenty of tales to prove it. She also takes an active role in shaping a better, louder and more inclusive fan culture at her local love. We talk about the joys and sorrows of getting into men's soccer as a 5 year old girl, travels to big names like Hamburger SV as well as small rural towns like Sandhausen; about why outsinging the opposing fans can be more important than winning the game; and about fries vs. "pommes" vs. bratwursts vs. pudding. We even chatted about how German fans view Ted Lasso and the MLS. But we also talked about some more serious issues: Stadium culture and sexualized violence, and the tense relationship between soccer fans in Germany and the police.
Arminia Bielefeld hymn - video 2nd Bundesliga Podcast (Eva-Lotta Bohle and Matthew Karagich) Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 03 Jan 2023 | Soccer vs. the State: Radical Politics and the Beautiful Game | 01:12:12 | |
A world traveller, author, philosopher and former semi-professional soccer goalie in Austria, Gabriel Kuhn has written extensively on sports, politics, anarchism, socialism and punk. His book on soccer and radical politics merges travel narrative, anarchist football handbook and vignettes for a different future of the game. We sat down for a conversation on all that, his own journey - and on whether soccer really isn't just a distraction from all the important work for and by common people in today's world. Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 17 Jan 2023 | Nordic Cool? Stockholm’s 3 Heated Soccer Rivalries | 00:47:17 | |
A different kind of city sightseeing, through the lens of AIK, Djurgarden and Hammarby. Viktor Asp, Stockholm-based soccer journalist and cultural observer maps his city's landscape along the lines of a gameday: it's three big clubs, their distinctives, the origins and present of their rivalries, and the growth of Ultra fanculture. And he entertains my questions about the tensions below the surface of Swedish society. Djurgarden vs. AIK, minor riots in the stand at last year’s derby Djurgarden vs. AIK, before the derby Hammarby Ultras, “Best Of” Video Kindsight, Swedish Punk (Video) Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 31 Jan 2023 | The Match That Started a War? Dinamo Zagreb and the Conflicts of Croatian Nationalism | 01:06:05 | |
In front of the Stadium Maksimir, home to the World Cup's 3rd place finisher, Croatia, and to its biggest club, Dinamo Zagreb, a large memorial put up by Dinamo's fan group Bad Blue Boys is dedicated "to Dinamo fans for whom the war started on May 13 1990, and ended by laying their lives on the altar of the Croatian homeland.” That war is the Croatian war for independence, part of the larger bloody Yugoslavian war of the early 1990s. And the May 13th they mean, was the day of Dinamo played Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) in Zagreb, a match that descended into chaos and violence on and off the field. Bad Blue Boys for Ukraine - recent video War Memorial at Maksimir Stadium 3 Minute History: The Yugoslavian War Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 14 Feb 2023 | Hammers Unite! Lessons on Fan Involvement from East London's Working Class Club | 01:06:46 | |
Since moving from its century-long home to the former London Olympic Stadium just 3 miles away in 2016, West Ham United have undergone a severe identity crisis that can not be papered over even by success on the pitch. Though not owned by global billionaires, the former Ironworkers’ club has seen large scale fan protests over the stadium move, the club’s identity, the owners’ approach to fans and the matchday experience. With Andy Payne from Hammers United, an 18,00-member strong fan advocacy group, we roll up this recent history - from toxic gamedays and pitch invasions to present-day challenges and the future of fan involvement in soccer.
Hammers United Protest March, Media Coverage Hammers United on why they are protesting in 2020, amidst sporting success The infamous home game vs. Burnley, 2018 Cockney Rejects, Goodbye Upton Park (Music Video) Cockney Rejects, Bubbles (live performance at Top of Pops, 1980) “Is the London Stadium Beginning to Feel Like Home for West ham Fans?” (by The Guardian, 2022) “Farewell Boleyn: The End of an Era,” documentary (by The Guardian, 2016) Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 27 Feb 2023 | Extra: 30 seconds of Supergrass - and a new mic! | 00:03:23 | |
I have a new mic, and I trust you can hear the difference and any future episode will be beasier on your ears. Thank you for all your support. I hope there’s not too many of you who have given up on this during the last episodes when I was not able to produce decent sound quality from a fairly pricy mic plus mastering software. The new one should do the trick, give them recording room I am in. Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 28 Feb 2023 | 1860’s Lions, “Munich’s Great Love” in the 3rd Division (finally with a new microphone!) | 01:08:15 | |
Munich is far more than FC Bayern and the Oktoberfest. In fact, it’s actually quite different than those two famous exports suggest. A city of neighborhoods in a region often at odds with wider German culture and politics, and a stubborn drama queen of a soccer club deeply rooted in these neighborhoods are the focus of this episode. With Claus Melchior, one of 1860’s official club historians (who also has written about Baseball, of all things!), we’ll try to capture what kind of culture and history sustains 1860’s tens of thousands of fans and members across 3 different stadiums, 4 leagues and constant internal turmoil.
Club History section of 1860 (in German) Grünwalder Stadion website (in German) 1860 fans marching through the city to the stadium before a cup game against Dortmund (Video) Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 14 Mar 2023 | Fan-Tastic Females: A Digital Exhibit on Women in Soccer Supporter Cultures | 00:55:22 | |
Women have claimed their space in stadiums since the game’s beginnings. But the fact is, it’s hardly women whose stories of “how did you come to soccer” get told, hardly them who get asked about their experiences when travelling away, in confrontations with the police, about participating in their own club and clashes with other clubs. An extremely well done exhibit wants to set the record straight. The exhibit’s title is Fan Tastic Females and it “wants to tell the stories of fan.tastic women … to illustrate the diversity and realities of female fan culture in European football (and beyond) – from the perspective of the protagonists themselves.” And that is, of course, right up the alley of The Assistant Professor of Football. Our visiting professor today is Antje Grabenhorst of Football Supporters Europe, and also of Werder Bremen’s Ultra fan Group Infamous Youth. She is one of the masterminds behind the exhibit. With her, we will go to those parts of the stands where supporters create their own choreography, their own drama, and meet the women behind the banners, flags and flares - from Istanbul and Tel Aviv to Rome and Marseille, to London and Portland.
Fan-Tastic Females, online exhibit - code/ticket to visit for a voluntary donation FSE - Football Supporters Europe F-In, Frauen im Fussball (in German) The Athletic, “Sexism, Abuse and Harassment: The Experience of Female Fans at Matches” Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 11 Apr 2023 | A Soccer Culture Playlist - Preliminary Punk, Ballads, Ska and Indie About Fans, Footballers and Clubs | 00:48:16 | |
Back from Spring, or Easter, break, an unusual episode: a - very preliminary, but very varied - playlist of 12 soccer culture songs that you wont find in this constellation on any English-speaking website. From punk perspectives on the game and the fate of Hooligan culture, to ballads about football, God and sexual orientation, from the Antifa ska-punk of Southern Europe to German indie-rock with an FC Bayern strikers’ voice mixed in, from the 1990s to the present - I hope you have as much fun listening to this as I had curating it. As the leagues heat up and the teams we root for seem bound for either glory or desperation (or perpetual mediocrity), here is the musical long view to distract us a little: Los Fastidios, Antifa Hooligans Branden Steineckert, Believe RSL The Business, Terrace Lost Its Souls Ska P, Como un Rayo (Live in Madrid) De Höhner, Mir Stonn zu Dir (1.FC Köln, in the stadium) Stage Bottles, Kick Out the Parasites Sportfreunde Stiller, Ich Roque Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 25 Apr 2023 | An Englishman Among Italian Ultras: Stadium Culture, Passion, and the Vibe of Calcio, with Richard Hall | 00:57:00 | |
A first, but certainly not the last, journey to Italy, the homeland of Ultras: with Richard Hall, founder of the Guardian Sports Network blog The Gentleman Ultra - a treasure trove of Italian soccer stories - and host of Inter Milan’s English-speaking club podcast, we travel first to the 1990s, when Ultra fanculture first became visible across Europe as an alternative to Hooligan and other supporters cultures, and then try to explain the fascination of Calcio from Italy for all soccer fans, the stadium experience in Italy today, and the life of an English-speaking fan at the heart of one of Italy’s great clubs. There is a lot more ground to cover on Ultras and Italy, of course - politics, power dynamics, and violence that now takes place almost exclusively outside of stadiums. Richard’s experience is that of a fan himself. Some books and articles linked below deepen or reframe his impression - but they do not take away from the fascination he felt, and is feeling, when coming in touch with the culture in Italy’s curvas, the terraces behind the goals in Italian stadiums.
Inter choreo against Benfica Lisbon, April 2023 Pazza Inter Amala - Inter’s club song Inter Ultras - best moments (video) Tobias Jones on changes within Inter’s ultra scene
John Foot, Calcio: A History of Italian Football Joe McGinniss, The Miracle of Castel di Sangro: A Tale of Passion and Folly in the Heart of Italy Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 10 May 2023 | California Dreamin': Who is Wacker Innsbruck, the new Austrian Partner of Los Angeles FC? | 00:56:47 | |
This April, an unlikely press release made headlines in Major League Soccer- as well as Austrian soccer-related media: Los Angeles FC, reigning MLS champion and barely 9 years old, noted that they had “officially received approval to invest with the Austrian club FC Wacker Innsbruck,” the “living legend” that the song we just heard, Wacker Innsbruck’s anthem, speaks of. Benny Tran, one of LAFC’s vice presidents went to Innsbruck and described Wacker as having a “110 year old history and legendary fans” and promised to “return the Club to top-level, winning football.” He also promised Wacker’s fans and members, who own the majority of the club and will continue to, that their name, badge and colors would remain untouched. The story sounds strange enough for an MLS club, period, but it becomes even stranger if we consider that, eight now, Wacker plays in Austria’s 4th tier. And for all its illustrious past, including championships and cup titles, Wacker’s last decades have been marked by more downs than ups, bankruptcies that technically don’t make the club 110 years old, and a total of three failed attempts to revive its fortunes with (supposedly) rich investors on board. The “legendary fans” part is certainly true though. Innsbruck has the oldest and one of the most loyal active fan-cultures in Austria, a reputation for spectacular tifo, and would not exist at all anymore were it not for its most important stakeholders: it’s fan-members. So how does an MLS team, from a very different soccer culture, fit in here? And how to explain this beloved but chaotic 4th league club from the Alps to American soccer fans? For one hour, Christian Hummer, life-long active Wacker fan, sports psychologist and one of the editor’s of Wacker’s only fan-run media, sat down to attempt some answers to these questions after sketching the club’s turbulent history over the last decades.
Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 02 Jun 2023 | Teaching Soccer: Three Actual Professors of Football on their College Classes, and Soccer Literacy in the U.S. | 01:38:27 | |
It's the first episode with American guests - and the first one with three of them. For this episode of The Assistant Professor of Football, I am joined by three (real) professors who regularly teach, in American university classrooms, about football - its culture, its meaning, its history. We talked about how that teaching is going, what would it be like to take a class with them, what do they assign, and how did they get into this subject in academia in the first place, and what good books are being written about the beautiful game beyond the well-known popular ones. And then we went on to opine more broadly, about the future of the game globally as well as here in the US, the next World Cup, why awful people run clubs, and what makes the beautiful game such a unique angle to understand the world. These guests are: Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 12 Jun 2023 | Live from East London: Clapton CFC - Left-Wing Soccer on the Pitch that Fans Mowed | 01:14:51 | |
Clapton Community Football Club is a very special member-owned club in East London, just two Tube stops east of West Ham United. Its members saved its own ground, rebuilt it, host workshops on how to monitor police violence in the neighborhood, will host St Pauli’s women’s team from Germany in a few weeks - and have very good reasons for why they do not want to play too high up in the league pyramid.
Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 26 Jun 2023 | The Flight of the Bumblebee: Live from Degerfors in Sweden's Rustbelt, a Football Family on Soccer's Big Stage | 01:21:02 | |
Degerfors IF in Sweden's top tier surely must have one of the most unusual, lovely and countercultural stories that professional football in Europe has to tell at the moment. It's roots lie in a rich history of steeltown football that led the club to national fame in the mid 20th century, and its present is headed by a chairman who is a sociologist without any football background until he ended up on the board of a first league professional team. How he and his club chart the course of a largely volunteer-run club in a small steeltown in which football means so much to the people there amidst the pressures of global soccer capitalism is a fascinating story. On top of that, the little town houses Sweden's only football museum. A little audio tour is included in the episode. I think this hour and 20 minutes will be enough for you to find your sentimental favorite among European professional teams. There is extremely little beyond results, the odd international transfer news etc. on the club that is in English. Nevertheless: Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 10 Jul 2023 | “Ordinary Morality is for Ordinary Football Clubs” - the Visions of Dulwich Hamlet F.C. | 01:18:01 | |
Probably no other English club below the professional leagues has gathered more media attention than Dulwich Hamlet, located South of the river in London and around in that neighborhood since 1893. Any quick search on the club will turn up grand phrases like “a different vision for football” or “the small club with the big vision.” And that vision - inclusive, humanitarian, egalitarian - draws around 3000 spectators (critics would say 3000 hipsters) who often wouldn’t feel comfortable at other soccer grounds to the Hamlet’s South London home for most games. But despite such record numbers for the lower leagues, the club just got relegated. It also is planning a new stadium, after briefly being thrown out of the old one by developers. And it is both shaped by and wrestling with its identity in a gentrifying neighborhood. Tim Scott, chairman of the Dulwich Hamlet Supporters trust, shares about the vibe around the club, the ups and downs and growing pains of the atmosphere at home games, and the work of a supporter's trust. Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 24 Jul 2023 | How Are They Now? Season 1 Reunion with 7 Visiting Professors of Football (song links in the shownotes) | 01:03:36 | |
Today's Season 1 wrap-up is a tour of Europe in 1 hour. Some listeners contacted me with the same great idea: check in with a lot of the visiting professors from season 1 again, and have them tell us briefly how they are now, and how things went. So I called all those with whom I talked a while ago about a club, a country, an ongoing situation, to look back at the season that was, the stories, the joys and the problems of soccer that were. Somewhere toward the end I’ll also say who the top 3 downloaded episodes of the season were, so hang tight. All the guests for today are, in the order that they appeared here: Matt Ford, for United We Stand on Manchester United Katerina Chernii, center for Contemporary Historical Research, Potsdam Germany on Ukraine Eva Lotta Bohle, Germany 2nd Bundesliga Podcast on Arminia Bielefeld Viktor Asp from Football Stockholm on the three Stockholm teams Andy Payne, Hammers United Claus Melchior, 1860 Munich Christian Hummer, Tivoli12 on Wacker Innsbruck and, by implication, Los Angeles FC Most of them also bright a song, so you will also hear these interesting soccer songs today: Marc Antoine Charpentier - Te Deum (Prelude) Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 21 Aug 2023 | Moldy Oranges in Karl-Marx-City: Berliner FC Dynamo, the Fall of the Berlin Wall, and the Forgotten Past of East German Soccer | 01:03:35 | |
Between the late 1970s and the late 1980s, Dynamo Berlin, a club closely associated with the Communist East German Republic’s secret police, won the country’s title ten consecutive times. The hatred of the team across the country united its fans, but also provided the perhaps most prominent kind of complaint and grumbling that the GDR’s citizens had against the regime that ruled them. In 1989, that regime crumbled and fell. And so did Dynamo. Alan McDougall is a historian at the University of Guelph in Canada. He has written The People’s Game: Football, State and Society in East Germany, and takes us on the wild ride through a nation that is no more, with a club that polarizes Germany to this day. Andreas Auslauf - … Sein (“How it Should be”) Feeling B - Ich Such die DDR (“I’m, searching for the GDR, and no one knows where she is”) Namenlos - Nazis Wieder in Ostberlin ("Nazis Back in East Berlin")
Alan McDougall, The People’s Game:Football, State and Society in East Germany “Das randalierende Rätsel” (“The rioting enigma”), German TV Documentary from 1992 about BFC’s hools in the 1990s “Dynamo Berlin: the soccer club “owned” by the Stasi” (2016 article from David Crossland via CNN) Bonus, about the music: Arun Starkey, “Exploring the Importan Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 04 Sep 2023 | Mr. Präsident: FC Bayern, a Holocaust Survivor, and the Almost Forgotten History of one of Europe's Most Famous Clubs | 01:07:16 | |
FC Bayern is the club of Franz Beckenbauer, Harry Kane, and countless fans across the world. However, Bayern is also the club of Kurt Landauer. A Jew from a businesspeople’s family, he served for Germany in World War I and got to know football from English and Swiss students. As a club president, he led his FC Bayern to its first championship 1932, a year before the Nazi rise to power. As a Jew, Landauer promptly landed in a concentration camp only to flee to exile in Switzerland. And just two years after World War II, he returned to Munich to take on the presidency of his beloved club for a second time. His life story is a wild ride through the 20th century. And that his story was almost forgotten until a group of young, activist Bayern Munich supporters rediscovered it in the 2000s speaks to that century as well - but also to the power of fans in helping their club grow roots. One of those fans is with us, Patrik Stöhr - he is part of the team that leads what is now the Kurt Landauer Foundation that connects the world famous FC Bayern to all kinds of anti discrimination work in its hometown and on its terraces.
FC Bayern, Stern des Südens (official contemporary club anthem from the outro), video with lyrics “Rediscovered by the Fans” - Deutsche Welle English Speaking clip about the debut of the 2014 movie about Kurt Landa Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 18 Sep 2023 | The Homeless World Cup: A Former Champions League Player and a Social Entrepreneur on Soccer's Transformative Power | 00:59:37 | |
When I was High School, Sturm Graz, one of the two teams of my hometown in Austria and the club I was born into, had its most successful phase. We made it to the CL group phase twice - and eventually went bankrupt from it. One of the protagonists was a young, serious-looking player from our own youth system who was known to be not your stereotypical soccer player. We were aware that he had a love for languages and philosophy. During the same period, in 2003, also in Graz, the first Homeless World Cup took place, on the city’s main square: 18 nations, 8 homeless players each, streetsoccer style on a small pitch. The tournament, its founders argue, has “The power to transform the lives of participants, and shape attitudes towards homelessness." I would argue it also has the power to recenter the attitudes of soccer fans like us towards the power of the beautiful game. We hear from one of these founders today, Mel Young, a social entrepreneur from Edinburgh, Scotland who is president of the HWC til today. We also hear from that young, serious Sturm Graz player I watched growing up: his name is Gilbert Prilasnig, he now coaches Sturm’s under 18, but it turns out he began his coaching career at the Austrian Homeless World Cup national team, already during his active career as a player. He still coaches the HWC team now, making him Austria’s longest tenured national team coach. Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 02 Oct 2023 | The Shirt: A Material History of Soccer, from Rags to Fashion and Cotton to Polyester | 01:02:13 | |
Soccer jerseys, kits, football shirts - whatever the name, there is no shortage of opinions about them. Pretty or ugly, traditional or not, brands, costs, sponsors; whether to own only those we have connections to, or buy them for style, or collect them... Alex Ireland, Pretty Poly: The History of the Football Shirt (Pitch Publishing, 2023) Alex Ireland on X/Twitter John Devlin, True Colors - books and website TSV Hartberg shirt (yes, it says that) MUSIC SNIPPETS FROM THIS EPISODE: Donovan - I Love My Shirt (YouTube) Oasis - The Girl in the Dirty Shirt (YouTube) Ken Dodd and the Diddymen - Where’s My Shirt (YouTube) Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Green Shirt (YouTube) Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 16 Oct 2023 | The Footballer who Defied the Nazis? The Myth of Matthias Sindelar, and the Myth of Austrian Victimhood | 01:21:36 | |
Matthias Sindelar was, and is, the most famous Austrian footballer between World Wars 1 and 2. Known for his elegant style of play during a period when Austrian soccer was admired as an innovative model, he defined Austria’s national team, known as the "miracle team," and his club, Austria Vienna. Austria joined Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1945. And when it arose as an independent nation again, Sindelar's legacy was more than that of a footballer: he became a myth - the elegant Austrian who defied the Nazis. This version of Sindelar has reached a wide international audience, from Italian graphic novels and Latin American books to articles in well-known English-speaking newspapers, complete with the story of how Sindelar celebrated a goal “by dancing in front of a directors' box packed with high-ranking Nazis." Until recently, no historian has attempted to probe these stories. The story of the elegant footballer who defied the Nazis was too endearing for antifascist football fans worldwide - and for Austrians, who wanted to see themselves as victims of the Nazis. As far as the international, English-speaking discussion is concerned, this episode is a first. David Forster, a historian from Vienna, has published research in German into Sindelar’s life and death that offers a pathbreaking counter-narrative to the story of Sindelar, the resister, and Austria, the victim. We will journey from 1903 to 1938, but ask many hard questions of today along the way, about truth, about the nature of history, about collective forgetfulness, and about our responsibility as fans of and storytellers about the beautiful game today. David Forster, Viennese Football and the German Wehrmacht (academic article in English, via JSTOR) Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 30 Oct 2023 | Cooler Little Sisters: The Graz Derby in Austria, Sturm vs. GAK | 01:27:53 | |
On Thursday, November 2nd, the second largest city of Austria, Graz, will see its second soccer derby in the last 16 years, in the Austrian cup tournament. Sturm Graz, currently leaders of the Austrian Bundesliga and Europa League starters, face GAK (Graz Athletic Sports Club), the city's oldest club, its first one to win a national title, and currently on the verge of returning to the 1st tier. This episode hits close to home: 20 years ago, in elementary school, I attended my first Sturm Graz game. Sturm was fighting relegation that season. My dad, a life long fan, took me. I went in as a neutral, and went out mesmerized - not only by the game, but even more so by what went on in the stands, the sights, the smells, the language and the social and cultural prism in the old, crammed Sturm ground. Last Fall, the first derby in 15 years was on, again in the cup. I was in Austria at the time, and gathered at Sturm’s old ground before the game, with thousands of fellow supporters and one of today's guests. You can find some photos here. (We won the actual derby 1-0 ) Two guests will help me walk through the history of both clubs, especially the drama and bankruptcies of the last 20 years, the culture and vibe that each club has, the rivalry, and also what they share in common. Fabio Schaupp is a soccer professional. A lifelong GAK fan and former player, he is currently the sporting director of Austrian 3rd league team FC Weiz. Peter K. Wagner is the chief editor of Graz’s street newspaper, the Megaphon, also a football journalist, and a lifelong fan of Sturm. Together, they produce a wonderful and funny and insightful weekly podcast on the vibe of the Austrian 1st league. The Guardian (2016), “Why Avant Garde Graz is Vienna’s Cooler Little Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 13 Nov 2023 | FC St.Pauli: Rebellion and Commercialization, Punk and Social Work | 01:13:15 | |
FC St. Pauli is a 2nd Bundesliga team from Hamburg. That’s one thing. It is also "Germany’s original cult club," an "antifascist pioneer," the "club of punk and techno, or a "swashbuckling left wing club." The history behind these labels begin in the late 1980s, when punks occupied houses around St. Pauli’s stadium and antiracists found out that football grounds didn't just belong to Neonazis. It continues today, in a club that has spoken out against the overcommercialization of football, or as an ally to refugees, and in a fan culture that defines and defends its antifascist ties between neighboring Bremen and faraway Tel Aviv, Israel.
Charles Vinas and Natxo Parra, St. Pauli: Another Football is Possible (Pluto Press, 2020) - review by Jacobin Magazine Die Sterne - Wenn Dir St. Pauli auf den Geist fällt (This music video was filmed at the Millerntor stadium, pre-renovation) St. Pauli enters the field to AC/DC’s “Hells Bells” in the Hamburg derby St. Pauli - goal and goal music Nina Glick Schiller, "Long Distance Nationalism Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 11 Dec 2023 | Europe's Multicultural Bellwether and it's "Crazy Club:" The Wild Ride of Olympique Marseille | 01:23:22 | |
An arranged marriage of a Greek and a Celt began the settlement of Massalia, today: Marseille. Europe’s bellwether of multiculturalism, 2nd city of France, one of Europe’s biggest ports, migrant destination for centuries, cauldron of socioeconomic conflict, cradle of French rap music - and home of Olympique, still France’s only Champions League winner ever. A few days after that win, the club went under in a bribery scandal and forced relegation. A few more headlines on Olympique Marseille, or OM? Voila: Coaches change pretty much every year. A lion in the changing room. Fans light players’ cars and parts of the training facilities on fire. The world’s only football club with a rap label. Fanclubs with names like Dodgers, Yankees and Winners. Not one but two Ultra stands. And players like Didier Drogba, Didier Deschamps, Laurent Blanc, Dimitri Payet, Fabien Barthez. There is never a boring moment with Olympique Marseille, who made it to the Europa League again this year. Our visiting professor is Ben Senouillet, chairman of OM’s official English fanclub and quite the hobby historian of his club. We first introduce the city and Olympique’s roots, then discuss the culture that surrounds the club on the terraces, stands and in the city - and finally, the crazy last 30 years since the Champions League win. Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 25 Dec 2023 | The War Game: a Holiday Read-Aloud | 00:31:33 | |
A mini audiobook - for the time to think in the evenings after the presents have all been unwrapped, or for a listen with the children: I will be reading from the award winning children’s book The War Game, by Michael Foreman, from 1994. Foreman narrates the story of Freddie, Billy, Lacey and Will, avid soccer playing teenagers from the English countryside, who find themselves caught up in the euphoria of flag-waving and patriotism when war breaks out in 1914. "We'll be back by Christmas," they think. By Christmas however they are in the muddy trenches, as a soccer ball emerges between the battle lines. Whether the story ends in tragedy or in hope remains up to you. History Extra with 2 historians’ perspectives on whether a football match actually took place Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 08 Jan 2024 | At a Soccer Crossroads: Polish Football Culture in the 21st Century | 01:12:39 | |
Just a few weeks ago, Poland elected a new parliament. The result was a change in power, from the national conservative camp to the centrist, pro-European one. And the campaign, yet again, highlighted, to use an overused term, the culture wars over defining the future of one of the European Union’s largest but also newest member states. Historically occupied by its neighbors over and over again, risen from the Eastern bloc, riven between a historically national Catholic identity and the fast pace of capitalism and Westernization, between skepticism toward those changes but also a deep antagonism towards Russia, Poland is constantly, it seems, at a historical crossroads. And its soccer culture, says our guest today, highlights that. Simultaneously behind and ahead of the curve of the rest of the continent, here lies an often still undiscovered landscape of dramatic change, shady business, physical violence combined with often new stadiums and lack of success on the field. Intrigued yet? We journey into the heart of Europe with Alex Webber, a British journalist who has lived in Poland a long time and has made it his passion to chronicle the history that is unfolding before his eyes.
Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 22 Jan 2024 | Trauma, Diversity and Fanaticism: Israel and Soccer after October 7th | 01:22:01 | |
I thought today’s episode needed a long rationalization. But as I was writing it, I thought f*** it, I don’t need to be doing verbal gymnastics. I know human beings, there, and our guest does too. So we’ll just let these stories speak. About soccer, about trauma, about peace and coexistence, and about youth cultures both left and right of center in what is a diverse and divided country. This was a hard episode for me to prepare and process. But I am deeply grateful it came together. From Israeli ultras killed or kidnapped, to the Arab soccer club that won the Israeli cup, to what football and medicine in Israel have in common, we go to Ashdod, in the south of Israel, to Felix Tamsut. He is a self described lefty journalist who covers football and fan cultures for outlets in Germany and Israel. And he is also a wonderful human to talk us through a strange time and, I hope, stretch our empathy muscles. Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 05 Feb 2024 | How (not) to be a Premier League Tourist - with Felipe Tobar | 01:12:16 | |
If you are thinking of dreaming of going to England, seeing a Premier League game, dive into the atmosphere that you see on TV, or even have concrete travel plans already to finally see one game of the club you otherwise follow on TV, then this episode is for you. If you are listening from England, and have followed your club for years and decades, it's for you as well. Felipe Tobar, originally from Brazil, is a scholar at Clemson University in South Carolina and has written about soccer tourism to England, Premier League related club museums, stadium tours etc. - all the stuff tourists do - as well as overtourism, its effect on local fans, and the danger it could be to the very product that the Premier League is trying to sell. We begin by mapping what this tourism is, and how the combination of neoliberal capitalism, international TV and individual club’s initiatives have shaped a billion dollar business around the beautiful game in the Premier League. Then we talk about the negative effects. And then, we tried to give a little bit of advice: how can you go, and be a good tourist while there - what should you know before you go and what should you do and not do when there. The intent is not to bash tourists (almost all of us are, in some way, as we’ll make clear) but chart a more sustainable path forward for the game we all love, and international as well as local fans.
Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 19 Feb 2024 | A Soccer Culture Playlist 2.0 - 12 Football-Related Songs from 8 Countries | 00:38:00 | |
Indie, Hip Hop, Punk, Reggae, Ska and Choruses- from Leeds to Istanbul, from Vienna to Mexico City, from Darmstadt to Buenos Aires. Your second soccer playlist is here - with some background info, and plenty of quirky football lyrics. Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 21 Feb 2024 | Rush Episode! German Bundesliga Investor Deal Dies Live on Air with Raphael Molter... | 01:07:36 | |
... of all people! Raphael is a German political scientist, whose book "Peace to the Terraces, War to the Federations and Leagues" is a pathbreaking materialist critique of "modern soccer" - the game as purely an entertainment market commodity. The book is only published in German so far, and we were in the process of rolling out his thoughts with the ongoing conflict between German fans and the German Bundesliga as a case in point (you know, the one with tennis balls and remote-controlled cars thrown on the pitch in recent weeks...). About halfway through, the bomb dropped: sooner than any of us expected, the Bundesliga collapsed and nixed the negotiation with the private equity firm that was interested. We let out a "holy shit!" and analyzed what this might mean, and what concrete solutions Raphael's thoughts provide for the future. Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 18 Mar 2024 | Time Travel to Europe's Wild East: Stalinist Albania and Soccer | 01:28:14 | |
"The era is brought to life by the accounts of Albanians who lived through it, which capture the importance of football to a populace starved of any other source of communal enjoyment. The otherworldliness and innate cruelty of the Stalinist regime provide a terrifying backdrop to their tales," reads the blurb for Phil Harrison's book The Hermit Kingdom: Football Stories from Stalinist Albania. Albania, on the far eastern edge of Europe, followed a rather unique path through the Cold War - and has a unique soccer culture to match that period. Caught between Russia, China and neighboring Yugoslavia, in a country that outlawed religion for all intents and purposes, the stories from Albania between 1946 and 1991 offers the use of pigeons by fan groups, evil Yugoslavian radios, an almost World Cup qualifier, and an erratic dictatorial regime that proudly practiced Stalinism long after Stalin was dead. Albina & Familja Kelmendi - Duje (Albania at Eurovision, 2023) Anxhela Peristeri - Karma (Albania at Eurovision, 2021) Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 15 Apr 2024 | Hertha Berliner SC: In Memoriam Kay Bernstein | 01:16:12 | |
Kay Bernstein was elected the president of Hertha BSC, then in the 1st Bundesliga, in June 2022. He died at his home near Berlin on January 16th of this year, with Hertha being in the 2nd Bundesliga. What sounds like a short and - on the pitch - unsuccessful presidency is in fact the most significant shift and opening up of possibilities in club leadership in German and, possibly, European club leadership over the last years. Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 30 Apr 2024 | Soccer is for the Fans? England’s proposed “Football Regulator” and the Struggle for the Soul of the Game | 01:00:45 | |
The excesses of global soccer capitalism are well documented on this podcast. Perhaps no footballing country is more affected than England, the birthplace of the modern game and home to arguably the wealthiest clubs and league. To take it up one notch, six of its big clubs attempted to join the breakaway Super League while, around the same time, historic club Bury FC collapse and fell under administration. The fan protests surrounding both, the striking inequality growing in English football, and the fast growth of ever more dubious club owners spurred a “fan-led review” commissioned by the British government and, now, a proposal. In March of this year, the “Independent Football Regulator” was proposed. From future attempts to join a “super league” to tests of financial stability to a protection for crest and jersey colors, a wide range of developments in modern football would fall under the purview of the regulator if passed. And its introduction could spur similar developments in other countries. What exactly does the “regulator” look like, what could they do? What is the impact on fans as well as the future of bigger and smaller English clubs, at home and on the global stage? The Football Supporters Organization, the FSA, England’s largest and most influential fan lobbying organization, has been involved in the process from the beginning - as a contributor but also as a critic. Michael Brunskill from the FSA helps me explain the history, the potential and the shortcomings of the football regulator. And what sounds like a technical and political discussion will impact fans of the game around the globe. Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 13 May 2024 | (No) Mustard at Continental Europe's Oldest Soccer Club: FC St. Gallen in Switzerland | 01:12:54 | |
We begin with the Eurovision Songcontest and end with Sturm Graz's cup win, but consider, most of all, FC St. Gallen. Saint who? True, if I would ask you who invented club football in Europe in continental Europe, would you guess that the answer is the same as to the Ricola cough drop question? The Swiss did! Well, technically English students living in Switzerland, but nevermind - the year was 1879 and the place was right near St. Gallen, Saint Gallen, and the continent’s oldest soccer club was founded. Not some club who is big and famous today, and not in some big famous city, but in St. Gallen, an old regional textile metropolis. FCSG, as the club is known, have won two championships in their long history. 1904, and 2000. And there’s one cup win, too. Plus, they have what may well be the fanciest, best designed and most intellectually stimulating fan-run magazine. It’s called Mustard. And today, one of it’s masterminds joins us. He is Ruben Schöneberger, and in his regular job, he is a data journalist for one of Switzerland’s largest media outlets. St. Gallen is a bit off the beaten path even for those abroad who know a little bit about Swiss football, and the fact that this, of all places, is continental Europe’s oldest club is odd at first sight. But that is also what makes it so endearing. “The Notorious FCSG” - tifo from FCSG fans in 2024 (Youtube video) Impression from the new stadium (Youtube video) SRF, Swiss public TV, on “The Shame of Espenmoos” when FCSG got relegated in the last match in the old stadium. Movie Trailer on the same events (Youtube video) Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 27 May 2024 | The 777 Files: Investigating the Strange Multi-Club-Owner that Wants to Buy Everton | 01:17:58 | |
Today's episode is a mix between soccer detective story and true crime podcasting. British investigative journalist Paul Brown is our Visiting Professor for the day. He and his colleague Philippe Auclair have piled up pathbreaking research on the backstory, money trail and flat out baffling activities of a group called 777 partners. Their activities in the insurance and airplanes business would be a story well worth telling in and of itself, but they feature here today because they own stakes in prominent football clubs in Brazil, Belgium, France Italy and Germany (Hertha Berlin, from 3 episodes ago!) and, last but not least are currently trying to buy Everton of the Premier League. And that deal is what might make the whole scheme go belly up, with plenty of casualties on the way - in the soccer world, but also among retirees, insurance brokers and airplane passengers. Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 10 Jun 2024 | Support Your Local Club! Goshen City FC, and Semi-Professional Soccer in Small-Town America | 01:09:24 | |
Goshen, Indiana is home to a private college without an American Football team - and, most recently, a semi-professional soccer club that serves as an - albeit unusual - case study for how grassroots soccer in the U.S. can thrive and build a community. Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 24 Jun 2024 | Summer Round-Up: Sturm Graz, GAK, Degerfors, 1860, Bayern Munich, Olympique Marseille, FC St. Gallen, Bundesliga Investors, Football Tourism | 01:16:01 | |
The end of Season 2 of The Assistant Professor of Football is nigh, and we check in with guests from the last year to hear how their club, cause or research have been doing. Here are, in order: Peter K Wagner on Sturm Graz’s sensational champions league and cup winning season Fabio Schaupp, also from Graz, on the promotion of Graz’s other team, GAK, to the Austrian Bundesliga, so regular Graz derbies from now own. Fredrik Rakar, chairman of Degerfors IF in Sweden, on a dramatic relegation and a new beginning in the second league. Claus Melchior, on the ever-entertaining 1860 on and off the pitch - Claus and I went to a game together in Munich this Spring, as you may remember. Patrik Stoehr, from the red side of Munich, FC Bayern, with an update on the work of the Kurt Landauer foundation to create a culture of and for memory and antidiscrimination. Benjamin Senouillet on the continuing turmoil at Olympique Marseille, Europa League semifinalist Ruben Schoeneberger from FC St. Gallen, with a brief update on how their season finished. Raphael Molter on the future of fan activism and the German Bundesliga after the investor deal had to be cancelled, live on air here by the way, back in Spring. And finally Felipe Tobar, currently at the Euros in Germany, on the future of football tourism, overtourism, and the public soccer memories he is researching about in Germany. Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 05 Aug 2024 | "This Is Our Club!" The Summer Wind that Might Become a Fall Storm in England | 01:15:45 | |
If you follow a club that plays in the English Premier League, you may have gotten wind of it: over the Summer, quite a few clubs increased their season ticket prices, and phased out - or partially phased out - discounted tickets for kids and seniors, so called concession tickets. And for once, English fans seem to get organized and cooperative in resistance. Wolverhampton, Tottenham and West Ham in particular are the hotspots right now, but there are others, and they are talking. If the fans do this right, you will witness some public action at the start of the season. And good on them. Why does this matter, what vision are the clubs following, and can English fans pull off a successful protest against the robberbaron capitalism of modern soccer like German fans did in Spring? Here to tell us are two fans who are in the trenches of this fight at West Ham United: Andy, from Hammers United, who was with us in season 1 already, and Alex from the campaign #saveourconcessions. Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 19 Aug 2024 | Iceland to Moldova in 50 Minutes: The Joy, Madness and Method of the UEFA Club Tournaments' Qualifying Rounds | 00:58:46 | |
Gent in Belgium. Rasgrad in Bulgaria. Mostar in Bosnia. Borås in Sweden. Tiraspol in, well, Moldova. Or Differdange in Luxemburg If you know where these places are, have some sense of what it looks like there, what the vibe is, perhaps it is because of the early UEFA club competitions' qualifying rounds. It is for me. If it isn't for you yet, it's time it was. I know I’ve often said in the past this podcast is intended to look beyond the big leagues, beyond stars and their goals, but never have we cast the ned so deeply and widely as today. Lee Wingate is the Visiting Professor today, an Englishman who lives in Vienna. He shares with us his deep knowledge of the faraway corners of European football, corners that are on full display during these weeks, because it’s the best season of them all: the qualifying rounds for the European club tournaments are on. How these tournaments work, what countries, teams or scenic grounds to watch out for - listen in. Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 02 Sep 2024 | Football Utopias: An English-Language Exclusive on Creating Better Footballing Worlds with Alina Schwermer | 01:12:40 | |
To critique the state of our world, our communities, to critique what is wrong with soccer in late stage capitalism is one thing. It actually isn’t a hard thing. But to dream, think and even plan for a better world, and a better football, that is something different entirely. Alina Schwermer, a young and extremely talented German journalist, has done just that, on 450 pages, in her book Futopia: Ideas for a Better Footballing World. It’s a book about football, and about utopias. About the game and how we can reimagine it, but also about a different, more vibrant and just world. We discuss new rulebooks, a critique of competition and beauty as we now know it, a new financial order for the sport, and some DIY ideas for your local context. Tune in and, I promise, you will be rewarded and your imagination will be stretched. And you can tell your friends afterwards that you are well ahead of the curve by having listened into this book, because it isn’t translated into English. Not yet. Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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| 16 Sep 2024 | Emancipation and Migration: Hakoah Vienna, Austria's Jewish Champion 1925 | 01:17:32 | |
In a bit of a parallel episode to Episode 24 ("The Footballer who Defied the Nazis? The Myth of Matthias Sindelar"), this is the story of Hakoach Vienna. A child of central European Jewish emancipation movements and of the "muscular religion" fashionable at the time, the Jewish club became Austria's first professional champion in 1925, subsequently lost its important players to North American clubs, was home to Bela Guttman in Austria, and was shut down 3 days after the Anschluss of Austria to Germany. It lives on in at least 3 clubs, on 3 continents, one of them a re-formed Hakoah, in Vienna itself. Marcus Patka is here to tell this story. A historian and curator at the Jewish Museum of Vienna, he created and curates the Hakoah collection from the interwar years at the Museum. "How a 1926 soccer match divided the St. Louis Jewish Community," STL Jewish Light, August 3 2023 Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
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