das libero

Soccerphobia (n. fear of association football)

Possibly the world’s most loved game, association football is definitely the world’s most vilified sporting code.

There are plenty of reasons why this should be so. The game’s reputation has suffered through fan violence around the world; throughout history it has been variously held responsible for the collapses of moral order and collective political will; it has even been outlawed by monarchs afraid of football’s impact on their fighting forces.

But none of these relates directly to the main source of contemporary vilification, soccerphobia. Soccerphobia is the fear of one particular code of football, association football and its supposed potential to damage national and regional cultures.

The loudest bastions of soccerphobia are, curiously, found in Anglophone countries with a historical, colonial connection to the British Isles – the birthplace of association football. Australia, the United States of America, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa all house strong and entrenched cultures of soccerphobia. In three and one-half of these countries, association football is seen either as a threat to ‘local’ games or as a game that cannot assimilate because of its foreignness.

Ireland, Canada, the USA and southern and western Australia have developed regional variations of football (or other sports) that are assumed to be indigenous expressions of nationality – assumptions that are often flawed. For example baseball’s claims to indigenous status ignore the obvious fact that it stems directly from rounders, a game imported from Europe. Often, claims of indigeneity rest more on politically expedient assertions of national independence than they do on historical fact.

In New Zealand, South Africa and the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales the local/imported divide is not particularly relevant. The dominant football codes (rugby union or league) in each of these regions and countries have clear British roots. Here, the disparagement of football tends to focus on questions of masculinity and even sexuality. Historically association football has been seen to be a game for pansies and weaklings across the anti-football world.

Australian football hero, the late Johnny Warren captured the various antagonisms in the title of his autobiography, Sheilas, Wogs and Poofters. In Australia, these were the kinds of people who played ‘soccer’. The game was seen as effeminate, foreign and for men of dubious sexuality.

While Warren’s title doesn’t quite capture the totality of the opposition to association football it does capture the vituperation and the spirit. He relates the story of a tickertape parade for the Australian national team in Sydney.

I have a daunting image, still prominent in my memory. It was the occassion of a ticket tape parade for the Australian national team in 1969. I had taken my allocated place in one of the sports cars which had been organised for the event. The calvacade was snaking its way through the streets and turned a corner. This one particular corner, like so many of its kind in Sydney, was adorned by a pub. Wooing the punters to drink from its kegs were pictures on its outer wall of rugby, cricket and horse racing. True-blue Aussie sports. Spilling out of the pub's doors were tank-topped, steel-cap-booted, tattooed workers quenching their thirst after the dust of the day's work. 'Fuckin' poofters,' some hooted at us. 'Dago bastards,' followed others. The odd projectile was hurled our way. Needless to say, I had, in my life, felt much safer than I did during that parade. (ppxxi-xxii)

This is an attitude that can be identified world over.

This page exists to document examples of soccerphobia from around the world. But we also are interested in drawing out the differences between bastions of soccerphobia. The links below are divided into national groupings but please feel free to email us with your suggestions about content and structure.

Australia	Canada	Ireland
New Zealand	South Africa	The United States