Where soccer meets free speech
A thoughtful—and at times hilarious—article on the importance of free speech in the Fabrice Muamba twitter scandal. Although Liam Stacey acted like a racist goon in cheering as the soccer player suffered from cardiac arrest, the author finds that the court’s reasons for jailing him are questionable and set a dangerous precedent.
(via So what did the troll actually say? | Victoria Coren | Comment is free | The Observer)
![An extract from “An Afghan Journey” at English PEN, in which he interviews several young Afghans girls playing soccer.
“I’ve never seen children’s faces like these. They’re at once childish, getting swept up in bouts of wild excitement, and at the same time old, with dark rings under their eyes and wrinkles around their mouth. Old women in children’s bodies – their eyelashes mascaraed with dust. In this area of about half a square mile, they pounce on each new visitor with their shoeblack boxes and the water canisters from which they refill people’s drinking bottles. Sometimes they’re just curious or hoping to bag something. They might be eight years old, often younger, but they already know all about pity, shoe repairs and the art of survival.”
(via [Extract] An Afghan Journey by Roger Willemsen – - English PENEnglish PEN)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m55wsgu0xD1qdq50ro1_400.jpg)
An extract from “An Afghan Journey” at English PEN, in which he interviews several young Afghans girls playing soccer.
“I’ve never seen children’s faces like these. They’re at once childish, getting swept up in bouts of wild excitement, and at the same time old, with dark rings under their eyes and wrinkles around their mouth. Old women in children’s bodies – their eyelashes mascaraed with dust. In this area of about half a square mile, they pounce on each new visitor with their shoeblack boxes and the water canisters from which they refill people’s drinking bottles. Sometimes they’re just curious or hoping to bag something. They might be eight years old, often younger, but they already know all about pity, shoe repairs and the art of survival.”
(via [Extract] An Afghan Journey by Roger Willemsen – - English PENEnglish PEN)
Everything I know about morality and the duty of men, I owe to soccer.
Albert Camus
In honor of today’s clash of titans between Spain and Portugal at the European soccer championships, we include a much paraphrased quote by Albert Camus. Camus grew up in Algeria and played goalkeeper for his university’s junior team before abandoning the sport when his lungs were perforated by tuberculosis.
If you probe deeper, you’ll see that the quote has been interpreted in varying ways. It was translated from the French, so “football” and “soccer” are used interchangeably. And apparently the quote was actually longer, referring specifically to the RUA, the university where he was enrolled.
Anyway, we like the quote and we think Camus’s writings would be heady stuff for all those unused substitutes on the bench.
Today marks 33 years since the conflict between El Salvador and Honduras erupted during the so-called Soccer War.For an excellent portrayal of the four-day war, check out Ryszard Kapuscinski’s book of the same name. It is actually a collection of reportage by the late Polish journalist, and the title piece is phenomenal.
via keepinitrealsports
The U.K.-based Guardian newspaper has a thriving books section and maintains its own bookstore for its publishing wing. Readers might be surprised to discover that the most popular book is about soccer, entitled I Am the Secret Footballer.
The author, writing anonymously, is a professional soccer player in the twilight of his career who tells-all about his rise up the ranks of soccer in England, his excessive spending, and a lot about the WAGs (Wives and Girlfriends), including some juicy tidbits about sex in swimming pools and infidelity. The more tender moments of the story relate to the author’s crippling depression and his criticisms of how fame corrupts relationships.
The Guardian has ingeniously published a video of the secret footballer juggling in full spandex and a hoodie, but the clip gives away a little bit (juggling styles are very personal, and anyway some fans suspect he is midfielder Jimmy Bullard.) It is a brilliant marketing ploy.
Much of the story has been written about before in other sports, but here is a tasty morsel for the writing world: the author is considering writing novels. While we haven’t been dazzled by his prose, it’s worth watching the shelves. Anthony Bourdain’s bold forays into writing and graphic novels prove that anything is possible, right?
—DBO
Everything I know about morality and the duty of men, I owe to soccer.
Albert Camus
Albert Camus grew up in Algeria and played goalkeeper for his university’s junior team before abandoning the sport when his lungs were perforated by tuberculosis.
If you probe deeper, you’ll see that the quote has been interpreted in varying ways. It was translated from the French, so “football” and “soccer” are used interchangeably. And apparently the quote was actually longer, referring specifically to the RUA, the university where he was enrolled.
(via penamerican)
Author’s note: For several years I have been traveling to Timbuktu, the ancient trading city perched on the southern shore of the Sahara Desert. On each of my visits, I have always stayed with the same Tuareg family. This poem is about their escape when rebel groups overran Timbuktu in April and eventually occupied most of northern Mali. Since then the family has been spread among refugee camps in Mauritania. The father died last month. The city was liberated on Monday, January 28.
A Tuareg Leaves Timbuktu
The first thing you must do
when word of the rebel army’s advance
reaches your mud-brick home
is surrender your hope
to see the Great Messi
play futbol tonight
on your new used television.
