Why football may still be coming homeā¦to France
This article, written by , Senior Lecturer at the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, was originally published on . Read the .
When England hosted the 1996 European Championships, a song by Frank Skinner, David Baddiel and the Lightning Seeds inspired the popular chant: āā. Ahead of
Englandās World Cup semi-final defeat by Croatia, many fans were again talking about football coming home. But were they right to do so.
After all, there is a chance that football will still be coming home ā despite Englandās elimination.
Given their teamās recent performances and their countryās role in the history of football, the French also have reason to feel that football may soon be ācoming homeā. This idea may be hard to swallow for some English fans, not least those who are getting the lyrics .
Jules Rimet ā the World Cup founder mentioned in the chorus of Footballās coming home ā was French. So was Henri Delaunay, who is generally seen as the brains behind the European Championships. So was Gabriel Hanot, the L'Equipe journalist credited with founding the European Cup (now Champions League). Indeed, footballās world governing body the FĆ©dĆ©ration Internationale de Football Association, better known as FIFA, was founded in Paris in 1904 and its first president was another French journalist, Robert GuĆ©rin.
France has had a long history of establishing international sports tournaments and organisations. This in part stems from influential Frenchmen in the late 19th century such as Philippe TissiƩ, Paschal Grousset, and Pierre de Coubertin who became convinced of the educational and physical benefits of sport.
De Coubertin is best-known as the founder of the modern Olympics and he initially wanted the first games to take place in Paris, to coincide with the cityās 1900 . For De Coubertin and others, the development of international sport provided France with an instrument of soft power.
England were at this time somewhat suspicious of international sporting organisations, as the football sociologist has mentioned. It didnāt send a team to the World Cup until 1950, fully 20 years after the first tournament in Uruguay.
Nonetheless, England is often perceived as the home of football due to its role in the early development of the game. Sheffield FC (founded 1857) is heralded as the worldās first football team. The Football Association (FA), established in 1863, is the oldest national football association in the world and it is the FA that helped create the basis for the rules of football that exist today.
Franceās oldest football team Le Havre were in fact created in 1872 by Englishmen working in the cityās port. Their sky blue and navy halved shirts represent the alma mater of the clubās founders, namely the universities of Cambridge and Oxford. even adopts the same tune as āGod Save the Queenā.
However, Williams was right that it is not easy to define where is to be found. The line āfootballās coming homeā appears to hint at a sense of entitlement and ownership when it comes to Englandās relationship with football.
Yet football is a global game. Its governing body FIFA may have been founded in Paris, but its headquarters are now located in Zurich, Switzerland. England is no longer home to the International Football Association Board (IFAB) that is responsible for the laws of football. Its headquarters are now also in Zurich.
āNever understood anything about footballā
Given the role that France has played in football becoming a major international sport, are many French people talking about football potentially ācoming homeā this summer? In short, theyāre not. This is largely due to football occupying a very different place in French as opposed to English culture.
France has a larger population than England, but less than half as many professional football teams. Prior to the launch of cable channel Canal Plus in 1984, relatively little domestic football was shown on French television. Nevertheless, hosting and winning the 1998 World Cup led to increased interest in football.
Since then, high-profile failures in several major tournaments have led to Franceās leading footballers facing lots of over their bad attitudes. In 2012, French football magazine So Foot hit back and claimed that France was a ācountry that has never understood anything about footballā. These comments appeared in a special issue on āā. France was also described in the title of a book that year by the journalist Joachim Barbier as āThis country that doesnāt like footballā, or , subtitled āwhy France misunderstands football and its cultureā.
At a time when France has faced economic challenges and an increased threat from terrorism, football has the potential to . This yearās World Cup Final will take place the day after a national holiday that marks Bastille Day. A victory by Les Bleus would give France good reason to claim le football revient chez lui two decades after its iconic 1998 World Cup victory.
Publication date: 13 July 2018