I think Michael was referring to the national teams in the World Cup (no?).
Actually, I believe that most of the people with African surnames are
genuine nationals of country for whom they play in the World Cup -- FIFA
has the final say and has tried to keep talent from bunching into
Europe. So, for example, the player on the U.S. team with an African
surname was born in D.C. and raised in Maryland.
Michael might be especially thinking of the French National Team. As many
Pen-lers probably know, since their World Cup victory in Paris in 1998 the
inter-racial character of the national team has become one of the leading
symbols in the effort to move the French to open their society to a more
multi-national background. The team virtually launched the slogan
"Blacks-Blancs-Beurs". In a low-key, dignified way the players themselves
(including whites) have been steadfast supporters of this movement.
The many players with African surnames on the French team were all born in
France (except one who came from Cameroon at age 4). Ditto for the other
"foreign" sounding names, with several players coming from the Antilles or
Guyane. One player is half Argentinean.
A French victory tomorrow will certainly give a further boost to the French
anti-racism movement although nothing like the breakthrough of '98 (it will
also give a small boost to beleaguered Chirac/Villepan, even vs-a-vs
Sarkozy). Still one does wish Africa had done better.
As some on the list know much better than I, football has often had
political overtones in Europe (e.g. the political typecasting of many major
Italian teams). Recently, there has been a spate of racist incidents in
stadiums and the players seem inclined not to put up with it. Likely we
will be hearing more of this.
[The old Brooklyn Dodger phenomena probably gives US-ers a small taste of
this. Is it true that Joe McCarthy once called the Dodgers 'the baseball
wing of American Communism' ?]
Paul
Mari Jose, responding to Michael P. wrote:
There are some good African players playing in European teams. But
we can't say they "are loaded with
Africans". This would be one exaggerates.
I don't know anything about the sport, but it seems that the
European teams and even the US to a lesser extent are loaded with
Africans. Am I wrong?
Would African teams have done better with their own players?
