Global and Local Football: Politics and Europeanisation on the Fringes Of

Global and Local Football What can the history of a nation’s football reveal about that nation’s wider political and socio-cultural identity? How can the study of local football culture help us to understand the powerful international forces at play within the modern game? Based on long-term and detailed ethnographic research, this book uses Malta as a critical case study to explore the dynamics of contemporary football. Situ- ated on the fringes of the EU, and with a very poor record in international competition, the Maltese are nevertheless fanatical about the game. This book examines Maltese football in the context of the island’s unique politics, culture and national identity, shedding light upon both Maltese society and on broader processes, both local and global, within the international game. The book explores a range of key issues in contemporary football, such as: • the dynamics of international player migration • football corruption and ethics • the politics of sponsorship and TV deals • the global appeal of footballing ‘brands’ such as Manchester United, Juven- tus and Bayern Munich. This book is essential reading for students and researchers working in Sports Studies, Sociology of Sport, Football, Globalisation, Politics and Ethnic Studies. Gary Armstrong is Reader in Sociology at Brunel University, London. Jon P. Mitchell is a Reader in Social Anthropology at the University of Sussex, Brighton. Routledge Critical Studies in Sport Series editors: Jennifer Hargreaves and Ian McDonald University of Brighton The Routledge Critical Studies in Sport series aims to lead the way in develop- ing the multi-disciplinary field of Sport Studies by producing books that are interrogative, interventionist and innovative. By providing theoretically sophisticated and empirically grounded texts, the series will make sense of the changes and challenges facing sport globally. The series aspires to maintain the commitment and promise of the critical paradigm by contributing to a more inclusive and less exploitative culture of sport. Also available in this series: Understanding Lifestyle Sports Consumption, identity and difference Edited by Belinda Wheaton Why Sports Morally Matter William J. Morgan Fastest, Highest, Strongest A critique of high-performance sport Rob Beamish and Ian Ritchie Sport, Sexualities and Queer/Theory Edited by Jayne Caudwell Physical Culture, Power, and the Body Edited by Jennifer Hargreaves and Patricia Vertinsky British Asians and Football Culture, identity, exclusion Daniel Burdsey Blowing the Whistle Culture, politics and sport, revisited Garry Whannel Olympic Media Inside the biggest show on television Andrew C. Billings Global and Local Football Politics and Europeanisation on the fringes of the EU Gary Armstrong and Jon P. Mitchell First published 2008 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2008 Gary Armstrong and Jon P. Mitchell All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-60748-1 Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0-415-35017-4 (hbk) ISBN10: 0-203-60748-1 (ebk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-35017-4 (hbk) ISBN13: 978-0-203-60748-0 (ebk) Contents Series editors’ preface viii Acknowledgements x Introduction: Europeanisation and football 1 1 Team selection: producing the nation 19 2 New tactics: producing difference 37 3 Football and politics: traditions and modernities 52 4 Playing to the big-men: patronage and party 67 5 Professions of faith: footballing modernities 93 6 The bigger they come: the price of football 108 7 All the President’s men? Follow the money 132 8 Getting into Europe: global flows of talent 144 9 Foreign fan clubs: the global in the local 162 Epilogue: the just man in Malta 190 Notes 198 Bibliography 203 Index 207 Series editors’ preface In the burgeoning multi-disciplinary field of Sport Studies, there are plenty of books about football. This is inevitable given the centrality of football in our global sports culture. Most of these texts focus on issues such as violence, com- mercialisation, media, masculinity, fandom and inequalities. They tend to take as their remit the important football nations or take a broad sweep to examine football cultures across the globe or within continents (such as Europe, Africa or Asia). It is indeed a healthy and vibrant field of study. However, what this field of study lacks is more in-depth accounts of football cultures on the fringes of the global game and its power networks. We know so little about the pas- sions, characters, commonalities and idiosyncrasies in football cultures of small nations. And, of course, a perfectly logical reason why there are so few such studies is because they are difficult to do. They require adept sociological and anthropological skills and a deep knowledge of the society in question that comes from years of systematic research and engagement with key players – those on the field, those who organise the game, and those who are in powerful positions in that society. Gary Armstrong and Jon Mitchell display that rare combination of expertise in their book, Global and Local Football: Politics and Europeanisation on the fringes of the EU, which tells a fascinating story about the transformation of global football as a popular cultural form through an explo- ration of its development in one small place: the Mediterranean island of Malta. Malta is a football-loving, self-contained community, yet it is also histori- cally shaped by a range of cultures. It offers an illuminating perspective on the global/local cultural dynamic, where ideologies of tradition and modernity are at one and the same time contested and intertwined. Armstrong and Mitchell breathe life into their analysis with a narrative that culminates in the battle for the Presidency of the Maltese Football Association, a battle between European cosmopolitanism and Maltese populism. Written in an accessible and engaging style, we anticipate that students and scholars in Sport Studies and beyond take advantage of this book to enhance their understanding of the diverse, complex and rich cultures of football. Global and Local Football extends the range of books in the Routledge Crit- ical Studies in Sport Series. It fits with our commitment to publish accounts of sport that are interrogative, interventionist and innovative. We welcome Series editors’ preface ix studies – like this one – that challenge common-sense ideas and expose rela- tions of power in the world of sport; that highlight the relationship between theory and practice; that provide arguments and analyses of topical and polemi- cal issues; that develop new areas of research; and that stimulate new ways of thinking about and studying sport. Gary Armstrong and Jon Mitchell are both internationally known and highly respected authors and we were always confi- dent that this book would reflect the best of the anthropological and critical traditions. For these reasons and more, we are delighted to have Global and Local Football in the Series. Jennifer Hargreaves (University of Brighton) Ian McDonald (University of Brighton) Acknowledgements The authors are both anthropologists and have spent considerable lengths of time in Malta. Gary Armstrong was resident in Malta for one year (1979–1980), and has returned annually since. Jon Mitchell conducted two years of ethnographic fieldwork in Malta (1992–1994) and also returns annually. The authors are indebted to many people who answered their questions and made the research task enjoyable. Particular thanks are due to a variety of people and institutions which for convenience we will put into the following categories. From the world of academe, we are grateful to Rosemary Harris who intro- duced us in 1996 and from which this research project began. Further inspiration came from Dr Paul Clough of the Institute of Mediterranean Studies, University of Malta, who not only inspired the research process but assisted no end with his willingness to run an Anthropology of Football module between 1999 and 2007. We are indebted to the students on this course, particularly the following – Jean- Paul Baldacchino, Joe Grech, Matthew Vella, Victoria Galea, Sean Vigar, and upward of 200 others who contributed their thoughts and impressions. We are grateful to our university departments, past and present, which have allowed us time and space to pursue this project: The Department of Sport Sci- ences at Brunel University, and particularly Professor Ian Campbell for allowing time away from the office to finish the book; the Department of Anthropology at the University of Sussex, and particularly Professor James Fairhead for sup- porting the breadth of anthropological research. Many people involved in the game in Malta also gave us their time and wisdom. Our thanks are due to George Abela, Robert Arrigo, Tony Bezzina, Carmel Bussutil, Joe Caruana-Curran, Victor Cassar, Joe Cini, John deGray, Norman Darminin-Demajo, Fr Larry Essory, Hutch, Joe Mifsud, Michael Mifsud, Freddie Mizzi, Tony Nicholl, Sammy Nicholl, Damien Iweuke, Nick Perchard, Pippos Psaila, Father Hilary Tagliaferro, Michael Zammit-Tabona and Victor Zammit. Comfort and refreshment made the research into the foreign fan club most enjoyable, provided variously by Charles Cassar (AC Milan), Noel Enriques (Roma), Brian Psaila (Bayern Munich), Vost (Juventus) and John Zammit (Inter).

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