Más Que Un Club

Have I gone to the dark side? Forsaken all that is holy in American life and traded in an allegience to football for futbol? No. However, it has been fun to gain an appreciation for futbol while at the same time defending, arguing, and teaching about American Football (e.g. despite notions to the contrary, the punt returner is not the best, but, is in fact, the worst position in all of sports -- those with doubts need only watch this). I have come to appreciate the fluidity of soccer, although games can at times be mind numbing. It also takes a lot of persuasion to convince people that a game that stops every 3 to 6 seconds is physically straining. As Dan Carr noted, the best analogy to help futbol fans understand football is to think of it as a giant chess match, as a thinking man's game. Whereas futbolers run around constantly, hoping to get lucky, football teams work together to execute meticulously orchestrated plays, often working to set up plays two, three, four plays, or even quarters, in advance. Defenses try to out-smart the offense. I concede futbol has the fluidity and improvisation of a John Coltrane jam session, but football has the complexity and depth of a Beethoven symphony.

Futbol does, however, have a much richer history than American football and has occupied a role in society that American football could never dream of emulating (despite Raiders and Eagles fans half-hearted attempts). Clubs have historically been just that -- clubs -- and not until recently, huge entrepreneurial enterprises. A rich and sometimes violent past is put into perspective with the realization that clubs were formed, made up of, and took on the persona of their supporters. Thus, Glasgow's Celtic became the champions and social outlet for Glasgow's Irish Catholic working class immigrants while Rangers became the bastion for the nationalist anti-Catholic Anti-Irish population in Glasgow. Certain clubs have despicable histories, having been the place for people to voice opinions few can praise. A club like Chelsea has a right-wing Antisemitic past, and to an extent, present, which includes fans making "Shhh" sounds, imitating the the sound of gas at Nazi concentration camps. Other clubs have laudable histories they can be proud to stand on. And standing and shoulders above the rest, is FC Barcelona.

Futbol Club Barcelona embodies what professional sports franchises should be. FC Barcelona was the only futbol club in the entire world not to display corporate sponsorship on their shirts. They would not even entertain an offer until 2003. This changed in 2006. Remarkably, the club turned down lucrative offers that could have brought in tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars to instead display UNICEF on their jerseys. Moreover rather than receive payment for this endorsement, they DONATE nearly $2,000,000 a year to UNICEF! FC Barcelona was the only place during Franco's reign that Anti-Franco, anti-fascist, and pro-Catalan sentiments could be voiced. They also had to fight the fact that Franco's Real Madrid was financed by the state. The club has been a refuge for Catalan culture and leftist belief in Spain. This leftist sentiment transcends mere nostalgia and is manifest in the fact that the club is a true collective -- season ticket holders vote on the club's administration; nationally televised presidential debates decide who will run the club, and the club must answer to its fans (ticket holders, for a rough comparison, think the Green Bay Packers, although this does no justice to FC Barcelona). Historically they have had no problem getting rid of players that fans feel are not giving 100%, even when those players are their stars. And get this, the most visited art museum in Barcelona is not, as one might expect, the Picasso gallery, or any number of other impressive institutions, it is the museum at the football club which houses, maintains, and displays an impressive art collection. Finally, despite the Spain's violent history, Barcelona fans have never exhibited the vitriol or violence of other European futbol fans. Thus, Barcelona's motto, más que un club, "more than a club," makes perfect sense.

In conclusion, there is no need to fear Europe has brainwashed a love of football from my brain, or that I am now in jeopardy of joining the legions of hooligan fans. I still deplore the "everyone wins" attitude of American soccer that disregards the game's score and refuses to teach heading. Upon return to the US I won't be rushing out watch DC United or the Galaxy but will savor having regular access to football and basketball (college and high school). I have though, come to appreciate futbol more than I ever thought I would and I enjoy sitting in giant socialist-era hotel restaurants or small Yugoslav corner places and watching futbol with legions of Macedonian fans. And now, when I'm invariably asked who my club is, I can proudly respond: Barcelona!



(Thanks to Franklin Foer's How Soccer Explains the World, Alek, and Ronan)