Why football’s obsession with nationality is pointless

 
Mike Tuckerman Columnist

By , 8 Apr 2010 Mike Tuckerman is a Roar Expert

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Manchester United's Anderson, left, gestures as teammate Carlos Tevez looks on, during a training session ahead of Wednesday's Champions League final match between Manchester United and Barcelona, at the Rome Olympic stadium, Tuesday, May 26, 2009. AP Photo/Jon Super

Basil Fawlty was nowhere in sight, but Sir Alex Ferguson only just stopped short of mentioning the war: “The young boy showed a bit of inexperience, but they got him sent off, everyone sprinted towards the referee – typical Germans.”

After witnessing his Manchester United side exit the UEFA Champions League on the away goals rule, a seething Ferguson took aim at Bayern Munich in a fiery post-match interview (see the video below).

Having seen young Brazilian defender Rafael sent off for a second bookable offence shortly after half-time, Ferguson blamed the dismissal on Bayern players surrounding Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli.

Never mind that the players in question come from France, the Netherlands and Croatia, Ferguson was evidently in an anti-German frame of mind as he deflected attention away from Rafael’s rash challenge.

United have prior form when it comes to surrounding referees – they were involved in one of the worst incidents ever seen in the Premier League when Andy D’Urso awarded Middlesbrough a penalty at Old Trafford in 2000.

But it didn’t stop Ferguson from ungraciously suggesting that Rafael’s dismissal was the turning point of the tie, with the United manager insisting that his side would have gone on to win had 11 players stayed on the pitch in the second leg.

The bizarre “typical Germans” line is just one of several talking points from an absorbing encounter, but it got me thinking about why national stereotypes are still so prevalent within the game.

After all, we live in a multicultural world where ties like the United – Bayern classic are beamed across the globe and a multitude of nationalities represent their club sides on the pitch.

United had nine different nationalities in their starting eleven, Bayern had six – so why did Ferguson feel it necessary to pick on the Germans?

Perhaps it’s because international football remains, without doubt, the most popular sporting spectacle in the world.

Jingoistic nationalism is never far off when the World Cup finals are just around the corner, even if Ferguson’s Scotland will be watching it on their TV sets back home.

Or maybe it’s because we associate certain styles of football with particular nationalities, which is no doubt why the Dutch school of thought is the prevailing ideology in Australian football right now.

But maybe, to put it bluntly, it’s because we’re all just a little bit thoughtless.

In a piece for The World Game late last year, I highlighted the fact that clichés about Germany’s supposed “Teutonic supremacy” are pointless since coach Joachim Löw will field one of the most cosmopolitan squads going around in South Africa.

Many of the respondents completely missed the point – choosing to blast me for “disrespecting” the Germans and suggesting that I had underestimated Germany’s impressive World Cup record.

No matter how many incisive passes Mark Bresciano has made or mazy runs Harry Kewell has embarked upon, the world media will still focus on Australia’s “physical style” when the Socceroos run out for their first match in Durban.

And don’t get me started on Asian players, what with their over-reliance on technical skills and complete inability to finish – which hardly explains the presence of Japan’s menacing defender Yuji Nakazawa or rampaging Chollima striker Chong Tese.

No, when it comes to thinking about football, sometimes it’s just easier to reach for some hackneyed clichés and lazy national stereotypes.

Which is a shame, because I think Sir Alex Ferguson’s line about “typical Germans” – made in the heat of the moment under the glare of the world media – is one he will live to regret.

Even so, he’s unlikely to admit it and even if he did, it won’t change the way many coaches, fans and media think about players from certain countries.

It may be called “the world game,” but when it comes to analysing it, football’s pointless obsession with nationality looks set to rumble on unabated.

Follow Mike on twitter @Mike_Tuckerman
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