Globalization of Football - Research Paper Example

 Globalization is a process that is evident in virtually all aspects of social and economic activities. It is a continuous process that may not be noticed but has a significant impact on people’s lifestyles. It is important to understand the real meaning of globalization before narrowing down to how various processes have led to the globalisation of football. Robertson (1992) argues that the popularity of globalization in the contemporary society makes it a catchphrase for many people. Whenever it is mentioned, it tends to click economic theories in the mind. However, there is need to think outside the box and visualize globalization as a phenomenon that encompasses not only economic issues but also social, political and technological matters. It is also important to think of the anti-globalization activists who view it as a cause of concern to various economies. Robertson & White (2003) views the common use of the term globalization as referring to the relaxation of the national boundaries, thereby lessening the barriers to trade between countries as well as free movement and participation in common social events. The interconnection between countries globally leading to the view that the world is a one extensive market is attributed to globalization. Giulianotti (1999) observes that this phenomenon has reduced the differences between nations, resulting in countries sharing many things in common, and also enabling technological transfer. With such improvements in technology in many countries, the ways of life have largely been affected including many social practices such as sports. Before technological advancement, people could not move for long distances to watch matches or participate in sports. However, after development of the rail and air transport, competitions between teams from different cities and countries began. Football is among the sports that have developed to a great extent through globalization (Milward, 2003). It is believed to have begun from ‘harpaston’, which was an antique game that was played roughly by Greek men, and which had no rules to control the conduct of players, making it one of the most brutal games of the time. The only rules observed were those regarding awarding of points, which were acquired mainly through crossing a particular line that was designated as the goal with the ball, kicking it across the line or simply flinging it across the line. The opponents had the task of ensuring that the ball does not cross that line. The field was not demarcated and therefore there were no particular boundaries. The number of players was also not defined and therefore the roughness could be attributed to such indefinite structures. This game evolved in to football and other games such us Rugby in later years (Elfin, 2001). Dunning & Rojek (1993) observe that it is the most fashionable sport globally with the number of countries participating under the governance of FIFA being more than 200, which struggle to win the world cup that has remained a prestigious prize from its inception in 1930. Since then, it has motivated various national teams which are in most of the times supported by their governments as well as local investors, who provide sporting equipment as well as transport and accommodation facilities for the teams. In addition, to reach the world cup championships, there are also other qualifying matches which are played on continental basis and which also promote free movement between countries (Walvin, 1994). Were it not for the FIFA world cup as well as the search of superiority and recognition among the nations in the sports industry, there would be less soccer activity in most of the nations especially those which are of low economic growth (Lanfranchi & Taylor, 2001). Football matches have brought together the world’s population into a one sports family regardless of their places of origin and cultural beliefs. It is through these seasonal football competitions that local talent among players is discovered in the sense that by the end of the championship, the shining stars based on their scores and expertise through out the matches are recognized by other international team managers who are always out to capture such talents for their team’s benefit (Polley, 2007). Technological advancement has made it possible for people to watch football matches taking place many miles away from home. Sugden & Tomlinson (2002) observe that many billions of people were able to view the televised FIFA 2006 world cup finals played between Italy and France. A similar number of people who are fans of the UEFA and European Champions league are able to watch the games from home, internet and other social places in different countries. In other words technological advancements have largely contributed to the globalization of football. The brand name of football has been globalized, and organizations tend to associate the advertisement of their products with football (Maguire, 1999). For example, multinational organizations such as Coca-Cola, Unilever, and GlaxoSmithKline among others associate advertise their products using significant football events such as the upcoming FIFA 2010 world cup in South Africa. Lomax (1999) argues that the integration of diverse views from people of different nationalities has led to the development of modern football. Various changes have occurred in the manner of playing the game, ranging from the rules of football, governance and participation of countries in global football (Murphy et al. 1990). The twelfth century is understood to be the time when modern football developed in Europe. In England, the sport acquired popularity amongst the people, compelling kings Henry II and IV to prohibit the game reason being that people were undermining the traditional games of the nation, thereby eroding their culture though they were later lifted and the sport continued to attract more and more fans. The initial rules were not consistent and were only developed in the in the early 19th century when the sport was integrated in to the educational curriculum beginning with seven government schools in England. In the United States, the sport began in the mid 19th century (Lomax 1999). The first teams to meet in a competition were from the university of Princeton and Rutgers, which consisted of 20 players each. Murray (1996) associates the development of football to a global level sport to the industrial revolution. Initially, the game was played without rules or demarcations in the field. Moreover, the game was rough and it was not mandatory for the number of players from each side of the game to be equal. Lack of rules caused injuries to players and many critics argued that the game was played in an uncivilized manner especially due to the fact that different communities had different ways of playing. After the industrial revolution, communities began mixing up in urban centres to fill the increasing demand for labour in the emerging industries. The combination of diverse cultures generated the need to represent the different views of the people from different communities, which in turn created the need to develop rules to govern the game (Kenneth, 2004). Dunning et al. (1993) argues that for any set of rules to be adhered to, it is necessary to have a body that is responsible for overseeing their implementation. There emerged various football governing bodies that were in charge of implementing and overseeing the observance of the football rules. The first Football Association (The FA) was formed in England in 1863. The governing body facilitated the implementation of the football rules, which were a necessity after it was realized that football matches became chaotic when the university students that were drawn from the various public schools that had varied styles of playing met. Football had to be formalized to ensure that there was a clear and definite playing style that was to be observed by all. Football rules have kept on changing through out its evolution, with changes being made mainly to make it more exciting both for the fans and for the players as well as protecting the players from injury. Major changes in the football rules occurred in 1873 when the “Intercollegiate Football Association (IFA)” was established in a meeting involving representatives from “Columbia, Rutgers, Princeton, and Yale Universities who met in New York City” (Forster and Pope 2007). This meeting culminated in a reduction of the team players from 20 to 15. Docherty et al. (1987) observes that Walter Camp who was the instructor at the University of Yale was not satisfied with the 15 as the minimum number of players and therefore, he further pushed for more reforms to reduce the number of players to 11 per team. The establishment of football rules made the game admirable and it attracted the upcoming industries to establish strong football teams to compete with those of other companies (Holt, 1993). Apart from generating a teamwork approach in the workplace as the employees supported their colleagues in competitions, the triumph of the football teams in competitions were an important tool for advertising company products. It was a source of awareness creation regarding a particular company in the market (Taylor, 2006). The adoption of football by the rapidly expanding industries contributed to the globalization of football to a large extent. With increased production that was attributed to the industrial revolution, there was need for companies to establish markets across national boundaries (Jack, 2002). The multinational companies that established in other nations brought in the idea of football to local industries, thereby spreading the game to all the nations in which they established. Even the organizations that had no their own teams began sponsoring large scale football events in which participants would be drawn from various teams from different countries. Crafts (2004) observes that sponsorship of football matches by multinational organizations helped them to advertise their products, thereby motivating more local organizations to participate in football. On the other hand, Coakley & Dunning (2000) argue that for an organization to be successful in using football as an awareness creation tool, it had to ensure that it engages competent players. This was done regardless of nationality, which led to the migration of competent players from their countries of birth to play for various clubs. Up till now, players are distributed in various teams globally and are allowed to play for the team of their choice (Russell, 1997). Football is a game that was initially regarded as a leisure time activity. However, with the opening up of the European teams for foreign players, many have focused on professional football as a primary economic activity whereby Rodrik (2008) views the third world countries as major beneficiaries in terms of the players who are employed by the teams from the rich nations. In most cases, poor countries are usually unable to support professional football due to the expenses involved as well as maintaining the upkeep of full time players, which is needed for any team to be competent in the global perspective. For that reason, African players have found opportunities to work for teams from rich nations, making football one of the highly commoditized sports. The movement of players is similar to the movement of people seeking employment in any other commercial field. According to Milanovic (2010), specialized football is one of the professions that are being practiced globally. Many English teams are viewed as predominantly comprised of foreign players. The key issue in this kind of set up is the fact that the sponsors of such teams least focus on promoting football at the national level, but the prestige they acquire from engaging competent players selected on the basis of their skills. More over, the coach does not necessarily have to be a British national (Back et al. 2001). The same case applies for other European teams that have mainly engaged players from Argentina and Africa. The movement of players from one country to the other in search of employment by rich football teams has had a great impact on the globalization of the game and its spread in the third world countries. As Armstrong & Giulianotti (1997) observe, players who are employed to play for foreign clubs are allowed to represent their countries in international competitions. For this reason, the poor nations that have talented players but are not in a capacity to maintain strong teams benefit from the participation of the players of the national football teams in foreign clubs where they gain experience, and eventually play for their own country during the international competitions such as FIFA world cup. This means that combining the talents of the players who spend most of their time outside the country, even the poor nations can be competent football. For example, as Bell (2007) argues, the European clubs are usually at a great loss whenever the African players return to represent their countries in the Africa cup of nations. On the other hand, football acquires fans from the different countries from which the players are pooled from. Countries such as Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo are among the major contributors of players in the European clubs. Such players attract fans from their countries who keep track of their performance in the foreign teams, bearing in mind that they will bring back the talent when need arises; such as in the Africa cup of nations. The number of fans in Africa and other nations who watch the UEFA champion’s league is also an indicator of the level of globalization of football (Houlihan, 2003). The movement of players to represent their nations in international competitions is a clear indicator of the significance that nations attach to football. Conn (1997) argues that countries globally demonstrate the view that competence in football is a sign of superiority. Each player is therefore expected to demonstrate patriotism by playing for their country in international matches. Apart from the governments, fans usually rest much hope to their players in foreign teams to support the national teams. In other words, playing for international teams is prestigious in the home country of the player whereby he is viewed as an indicator of a country’s success in football (Giulianotti & Williams, 1994). Except for the nations that have been affected by civil conflicts, many countries try as much as possible to establish a strong national team. In a way, the national football teams are viewed in the same way as soldiers of a nation, but for their roles. While the soldiers protect the nation against external aggression, the national football teams defend the country’s prestige and identity (Torkildsen, 2005). The national anthems at the beginning of international matches are an indicator of the place of football in national and international matters. Also, it has promoted unity among the participating nations as well as economic development especially those which are lucky to host matches such as the world cup. This is due to the fact that whenever a country is privileged to host the matches, it becomes the center of attraction and as such, it is compelled to undertake measures, which may involve re-carpeting its infrastructure as well as auditing its security procedures, which is paid back by the large number of visitors who come to watch the matches (Jarvie, 2006). The country also gets the chance to market its tourist attraction sites as well as boosting the hotel and catering businesses, which in most cases contributes a significant amount of wealth in most economies in the world. The broadcasting industry has also played a significant role in the globalization of football. In essence, companies in this industry largely depend on the viewers for their business to thrive. They need to attract clients so that their satellite technology can be adopted (Hatton & Solberg, 2007). For this reason, there is need to ensure that there is a particular attraction to people, which would make it necessary for investors to purchase their satellite equipment. Moreover, the organizations also offer services that require people to register for a particular fee over a certain period of time, which boosts the profitability of the organizations. As Cashmore (2000) notes, organizations make use of the slightest opportunity to improve their performance. Football is a major product that can promote the purchase of satellite equipment by investors in leisure and entertainment activities. MyP2P, GIOVE-B, Sky TV and BSkyB's are among the broadcasting organizations that have promoted the globalization of football as they compete for the provision of the transmission services. It is important to note that becoming a football fan is contagious in the sense that people like to be informed regarding the progress in football and tend to take sides even when they are many miles away. They therefore tend to ensure that they visit the social places where they can view their favorite teams (Coakley, 2003). For example, the pubs that have subscribed to the satellite services attract more customers who are football fans than those without. It is approximated that through out the period of 2005 and 2006, the European League matches generated a significant figure of about $18 billion to various broadcasting companies and entertainment joints all over the world are making huge sums of money from the sale of entry tickets to their premises whenever there is an international football match being played (Gratton & Solberg, 2007). Football is regarded as a unique sport especially due to its uniqueness in its management. After establishment of strong international teams, the sponsors who mainly control the sport are usually immobile while on the other hand the players have the freedom of free movement from one club to the other (Horne et al. 1999). Even though the game has been largely commoditized, it still remains only one of its kinds among other commercial activities in the sense that the player moves while the employer maintains a fixed position. In many other commercial activities, the employer determines who is to be transferred and who is to remain (Charles, 1998). In other words, the game is characterized by the presence of stock-still capital while labor is flexible to a great extent. This means that the players, as the employees have the freedom to move to various clubs within one country as well as beyond political boundaries, which means that the players can move from country to country. This trend has been a major contributor to globalization of football especially with the current trends whereby football clubs have no right to prevent a player from terminating his services with a particular team (Finn & Giulianotti, 2000). Politicization of football occurred during the Second World War whereby football changed to a large extent from the popular European leisure event in to a tool for political advancement. It was used by politicians for the purpose of developing international alliances between the nations that participated in the war. Sports were generally used to spread fascist ideologies. Fascists such as Mussolini used the football stadiums that had been built purposely for the purpose of awareness creation among the public to acquire support. The key supporters of fascism were put at strategic leadership positions in sports to ensure that the message was clear regarding fascism. This idea led to the construction of many new football stadiums in the major cities during the time of Mussolini. The fascists took advantage of the stadiums as avenues for spreading propaganda and were successful in convincing the spectators regarding political issues while on the other hand the sports were used as a sign of might, agility and masculinity of nations (Ritzer, 1993). On the other hand, they helped in developing unity among the citizens. Politicians gained political mileage through the use of this strategy. The victory of Italy over Czechoslovakia in 1934 is even thought to have been influenced by Mussolini. Hitler on the other hand affirmed the supremacy of the Third Reich after Germany emerged victorious. Many other matches were associated with power. Spain was also part of the fascist nations that used football as an indicator of power and economic strength. The politicization of football made it known on a global scale (Forster and Pope, 2007). Even in the contemporary football, the sign of economic strength is evident since football clubs can be owned by any person who is economically stable to run a football club. Moreover, Smith & Taylor (2004) observes that the football clubs are currently entering the stock market and the people who are capable of purchasing shares are able to claim ownership of a club, which is evidenced by the appearance of Manchester United in the stock market. Private ownership of the clubs is also on the rise and several well known clubs have been purchased, for example the Fulham club that was sold to Al-Fayed. Other clubs such as Chelsea too have been purchased by foreigners, which is a clear indication that there exists no boundary in regard to the ownership of football clubs (Giulianotti & Finn, 2000). The main reason for purchasing such clubs may not necessarily be focused on gaining profits, but for prestige and a show of economic power. Players on the other hand are mainly concerned on sustained employment as they exercise their talents (Hamil et al. 1999). The fact that the clubs that have entered the stock market have strong brand names means that many people globally are able to own shares in them. Although fans sometimes may be unhappy with such trends, there is no alternative for the purpose is to generate funds for the maintenance of a strong club (Maguire et al. 2002). In a way, it gives the impression that the globalization phenomenon has made football clubs a form of investment. Conclusion Football is currently a global sport with many countries participating in international competitions such as world cup. It has a long history which dates back in the twelfth century. It has continuously evolved from a game without rules to the modern football. Globalization of football has resulted from various occurrences such as the industrial revolution that had a significant contribution to the transport industry that made it possible for people to move freely beyond political boundaries. More over, the tendency for emerging companies to establish football clubs was a significant contributor to the spread of football especially when the industries expanded to establish in foreign countries. The multinational companies used their football clubs for the purpose of advertising their business. Politicization of football was also a major contributor to its globalization. It was used for various reasons during the Second World War. The football governing bodies such as FIFA have been significant in ensuring that all nations have an equal chance of participating as well as overseeing the implementation of the football rules. 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