Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
football: The Game of passion
in his study of sports spectators, allan Guttman (1981) explains that for the
ancient Romans, sport had a purpose that went beyond social control and dis-
traction. Roman spectators were extremely partisan; enough so that partisan-
ship seems to have been the point, or at least the draw, of watching sports. pliny
the Younger, Guttman tells us, had difficulty understanding the passions of the
masses for sports. if the masses had had a genuine appreciation for the skills one
needs to properly control a speeding chariot, perhaps he would have been more
sympathetic to their passions. instead, pliny said, “it is the racing colors they re-
ally support and care about, and if the colors were to be exchanged in mid-course
. . . they would transfer their favor and enthusiasm. such is the popularity and
importance of a worthless shirt” (Guttman 1981, 11).
so deep were the passions for chariot teams that violence between sets of
fans was common (Guttman 1981, 12). furthermore, identification as a fan of a
certain team bound one to a common body that had political clout. Certain col-
ors, as teams were divided by color, were historically affiliated to certain parties.
“whatever differences in behavior and even social class there may have been,”
Guttman explains, “partisans of both colors moved in much the same world”
(1981, 12).
This is one ancient tradition that remains in contemporary Rome, as the will
to rivalry and partisanship is just as strong among contemporary Romans as it
was with their ancient forebearers. There is no question that football is the italian
national game. while other nations, like the Netherlands and brazil, associate
the game with beauty, the italians seem to have always associated football with
warfare. simon martin reports on the failure of serie a (italy's top professional
division) to unite the peninsula as mussolini had intended because of the ex-
treme partisanship of local fans (martin 2004, 27). similarly John foot summa-
rizes the origins of italian football by explaining the game's exacerbation of civic
rivalries (foot 2006, 1-41). however, while football ignites and maintains civic
rivalries associated with
campanilismo
(extreme localism) and politics all over
the peninsula, it is in Rome that “the beauty of rivalry,” as federico, a 24-year-old
as Roma fan told me, “flows forth like the tiber,” making the city home to the
most contentious and raucous fans in italy.
why this is the case is debated in popular and academic circles. in bars, ca-
fés, and piazzas, it is common to hear that “Rome is a place of extremes” or that
football “is a game of passion” that mixes freely with the fiery temperament of the
people. in the words of marcello, a 31-year-old barman and as Roma supporter,
the Romans possess a “ferocious spirit that seeks rivalry at every opportunity.”
elsewhere, maurizio stefanini (2009) and Giovanni francesio (2008) agree that
in Rome football lies at the heart of a battleground mentality. my own research
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