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England versus Germany: On Tommies, Krauts and Footie Foes Anglo-German relations and discourses of national character in English and German press coverage of football games between these countries “..our portrait (Fritz Wolf, Neue Tagespost , 29/07/1966) in the English press..” Astrid Fedeler A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy in English Department of Foreign Languages University of Bergen May 2008 Acknowledgments First of all and above all, THANKS TO GOD who carried me through ‘all this’! A huge thanks goes to my supervisors for this thesis, Kari Haugland and Leiv Egil Breivik; always positive and encouraging, always ready to help, constructive in their criticism and competent in their judgment. Kari; I hope you`ve finally caught the football fever! Thanks to Maria Carme Torras and Kari Normo at the University Library in Bergen; Warrant Officer Carl Tomkinson, British Forces Germany, Osnabrück, for his helpfulness in connection with the survey at 1LANCS; Werner Koller and Kevin McCafferty, who provided relevant articles; staff at British Library Newspapers , Colindale, London, for professional assistance, reliability and courtesy; Eli Richter, my lovely friend in Germany, who got up at 5:30 one morning to help me find my way in Münster; Thorsten Schmidt, ULB Münster (press archives), for letting me come early before the ‘rush’ set in, and for good preparations; Carmen Vosgröne and Christiane auf dem Kampe, Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung (press archives), for their kind assistance . Last but not least : THANKS to my wonderful parents and family for prayers, encouragement and support in every possible way. I dedicate this work to my parents. 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgments …………………………………………………………………………….2 Table of contents ……………………………………………………………………………...3 List of tables …………………………………………………………………………………..5 List of abbreviations ………………………………………………………………………….5 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 The national dimension of identity in England and Germany…………………………..6 1.2 Media, sport, national identity…………………………………………………………..8 1.3 Football in England and Germany – more than just a game…………………………...10 1.4 Stereotypification of national character………………………………………………..10 1.5 Discursive strategies for the construction of national character in sports reporting…...11 2 THEORETICAL CONCERNS and METHODOLOGY 2.1 Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA).…………..…………………………….……..….16 2.2 The media – a complex factor in the formation of national character...……......……..18 2.3 Globalisation of media sport – a challenge to the national dimension…….….………19 2.4 Methodology of the present study…………………………………………..…...……19 3 MATERIAL 3.1 Primary data – English and German newspapers analysed in this study……...………21 3.2 Delineation of subject matter: reasons for the specific choice of games……...………22 4 ANALYSIS 4.1 The World Cup 1966 in the English press……………………………………………..26 4.1.1 Use of stereotypes…………………………………………………………………………………. 26 4.1.2 Military and aggressive language…………………………………………………………………. 31 4.1.3 Football-nostalgic references……………………………………………………………………... 33 4.1.4 Assessments of the Anglo-German relationship………………………………………………….. 33 4.1.5 Displays of nationalism, chauvinism, jingoism…………………………………………………… 34 4.1.6 Meta-discourse: Reactions to journalistic representations in the other country …………………. 35 4.1.7 Summary………………………………………………………………………………………….. 36 4.2 The World Cup 1966 in the German press…………………………………………….36 4.2.1 Use of stereotypes………………………………………………………………………………… 37 4.2.2 Military and aggressive language………………………………………………………………… 39 4.2.3 Football-nostalgic references……………………………………………………………………… 40 4.2.4 Assessments of the Anglo-German relationship…………………………………………………. 40 4.2.5 Displays of nationalism, chauvinism, jingoism…………………………………………………… 41 4.2.6 Meta-discourse: Reactions to journalistic representations in the other country…………………. 42 4.2.7 Summary………………………………………………………………………………………….. 44 4.3 The World Cup 1990 in the English press……………………………………………..44 4.3.1 Use of stereotypes ………………………………………………………………………………… 45 4.3.2 Military and aggressive language…………………………………………………………….…… 47 4.3.3 Football-nostalgic references……………………………………………………………...……… 49 4.3.4 Assessments of the Anglo-German relationship…………………………………………………. 49 4.3.5 Displays of nationalism, chauvinism, jingoism………………………………………………….. 51 4.3.6 Meta-discourse: Reactions to journalistic representations in the other country…………………. 52 4.3.7 Summary………………………………………………………………………………………….. 52 3 4.4 The World Cup 1990 in the German press…………………………………………….52 4.4.1 Use of stereotypes…………………………………………………………………………………. 53 4.4.2 Military and aggressive language…………………………………………………………………. 55 4.4.3 Football-nostalgic references……………………………………………………………………… 56 4.4.4 Assessments of the Anglo-German relationship…………………………………………………. 57 4.4.5 Displays of nationalism, chauvinism, jingoism…………………………………………………… 57 4.4.6 Meta-discourse: Reactions to journalistic representations in the other country………………….. 60 4.4.7 Summary………………………………………………………………………………………….. 61 4.5 The 2001 qualifier in the English press………………………………………………..62 4.5.1 Use of stereotypes…………………………………………………………………………………. 62 4.5.2 Military and aggressive language…………………………………………………………………. 65 4.5.3 Football-nostalgic references……………………………………………………………………… 67 4.5.4 Assessments of the Anglo-German relationship………………………………………………….. 68 4.5.5 Displays of nationalism, chauvinism, jingoism……………………………………………..……. 69 4.5.6 Meta-discourse: Reactions to journalistic representations in the other country…………………. 70 4.5.7 Summary………………………………………………………………………………………….. 71 4.6 The 2001 qualifier in the German press………………………………………………..72 4.6.1 Use of stereotypes…………………………………………………………………………………. 72 4.6.2 Military and aggressive language…………………………………………………………………. 73 4.6.3 Football-nostalgic references……………………………………………………………………… 74 4.6.4 Assessments of the Anglo-German relationship…………………………………………………. 74 4.6.5 Displays of nationalism, chauvinism, jingoism………………………………………………….. 77 4.6.6 Meta-discourse: Reactions to journalistic representations in the other country…………………. 78 4.6.7 Summary…………………………………………………………………………………………... 80 4.7 The 2007 friendly in the English press……………………………………………...…80 4.7.1 Use of stereotypes…………………………………………………………………………………. 81 4.7.2 Military and aggressive language………………………………………………………………… . 82 4.7.3 Football-nostalgic references…………………………………………………………………….. 83 4.7.4 Assessments of the Anglo-German relationship………………………………………………… . 84 4.7.5 Displays of nationalism, chauvinism, jingoism…………………………………………………... 85 4.7.6 Meta-discourse: Reactions to journalistic representations in the other country…………………. 86 4.7.7 Summary…………………………………………………………………………………………. 87 4.8 The 2007 friendly in the German press………………………………………………...87 4.8.1 Use of stereotypes………………………………………………………………………………… . 87 4.8.2 Military and aggressive language………………………………………………………………… . 89 4.8.3 Football-nostalgic references…………………………………………………………………….. 89 4.8.4 Assessments of the Anglo-German relationship………………………………………………… . 90 4.8.5 Displays of nationalism, chauvinism, jingoism………………………………………………….. 91 4.8.6 Meta-discourse: Reactions to journalistic representations in the other country…………………. 93 4.8.7 Summary………………………………………………………………………………………….. 94 4.9 Summary……………………………………………………………………………….95 5 CONCLUDING DISCUSSION: Football reporting in context – Anglo-German relations and discourses of national character…………………………………………99 Final comment ……………………………………………………………………………...107 References ………………………………………………………………………………….108 Appendix I England–Germany games survey…………………………………………………...…110 II Questionnaire ……………………………………………………….…………………111 4 List of tables Table 3.1: Game survey………………………………………………………………….. 22 Table 4.1: English press 1966-2007……………………………………………………… 95 Table 4.2: German press 1966-2007……………………………………………………... 97 List of abbreviations Bild - BILD-Zeitung CDA - Critical Discourse Analysis dpa - Deutsche Presse Agentur Independent - The Independent N.o.t.W. - News of the World NOZ - Neue Tagespost (1966); Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung sid - Sportinformationsdienst Sun - The Sun Sunday T. - The Sunday Times Times - The Times 5 Anglo-German relations are a riddle wrapped in an enigma inside a football. (Simon Barnes, Times , 01/09/2001) 1 INTRODUCTION This study sets out to explore in which ways, to what extent and for what purposes the media both reflect and promote – and in some cases even revise – representations of national character. By analysing German and English press coverage of football matches between these two countries, I want to shed some light on the relationship between the stereotypical Tommies and Krauts , and thus to some degree uncover the “enigma” (see quote above) of their mutual prejudices and issues of national identity. For each game, at least two German and two English 1 newspapers will be examined, one ‘tabloid’ and one ‘broadsheet’ paper, respectively. Four games of the years 1966, 1990, 2001 and 2007 have been picked for analysis. These are, of course, not only important in a purely sporting, but also in a broader historical and sociological context, which must also be taken into account in this multidisciplinary approach. Through a chronological evaluation of coverage of the games in question, it will be possible to trace some of the changes and developments in discourses of national character and Anglo-German relations. The methodological approach chosen here is that of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). 1.1 The national dimension of identity in England and Germany In a largely