Globalization

Dictionary.com says that globalization is the act of globalizing or extending to other or all parts of the world. Franklin Foer’s book How Soccer Explains the World, explains globalization to his readers with soccer.

The first two chapters of the book were the most interesting for me. Soccer is played all over the world. The first chapter called “How Soccer Explains the Gangster’s Paradise” showed how Arkan bought his own soccer team, Obilic, to legitimize his newfound wealth. The team instantly became successful under his leadership but how? Instead of using henchmen to make people submit to his rule he used his soccer team. The opposing teams can be seen as Serbians who disagree with Arkan and Obilic as Arkan’s supporters. Arkan may have been able to use his soccer team to get people who did not agree with him to submit to him, but his ways of submission were useless once he came upon the European teams. The Europeans would have none of his tricks of submission. Once the non-Arkan supporters, other Serbian soccer teams, saw other stand up to him, they decided to band together and defy Arkan. The non-supporters of Arkan were able to stand up to their aggressor.

In chapter two, “How Soccer Explains the Pornography of Sects”, the hatred for Catholics and Protestants still runs deep, and it can be found when the Celtics and the Rangers play each other. Some places enjoy soccer more than others, but everyone enjoys a good rivalry. You would think that sports rivalries in America could be intense, but the Rangers and Celtics take it to a whole different level. Sports, like soccer, is usually a way to bring together lots of different people to enjoy a fun event together. But I believe that bringing globalization to soccer is not going to end this deeply embedded rivalries. Foer points out how globalization has failed in the world of soccer. For example, Foer mentions, “Karl McGraorty, twenty years old, shot in the chest with a crossbow leaving a Celtic pub. Liam Sweeney, twenty-five years old, in a green shirt, beaten by four assailants in a Chinese carryout. Thomas McFadden, sixteen years of age, stabbed in the chest, stomach, and groin – killed after watching the game in an Irish pub” (37). Of the three people mentioned, two people were killed over some rivalry between the Rangers and the Celtics. The rivalry is deeply rooted which soccer only seems to be making worse in Glasgow. Like globalization, soccer is a way to connect and bring people together, but these two teams only become a projection of the hatred that the Catholics and Protestants feel towards each other. When Celtic soccer player Mo Johnston signed with the Rangers, it was supposed to help break down the wall between the two teams. He was supposed to be the Jackie Robinson of Scottish soccer, but it was not meant to happen.

A common theme between these two chapters is that soccer not only seen as a team, but also as a side to take on cultural differences. Globalization has failed to bring the people of Glasgow together. The people there still identify as themselves either Celtic or Ranger fans, and they are not worried about globalization taking away their identity. So far, Glasgow and Serbia explained by soccer have not been affected by globalization and refuse to embrace it.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/globalization

Foer, Franklin. How Soccer Explains the World. New York: HarperCollins, 2004. Print.