Official Ongoing Football/Soccer 2011/2012

[iambic]

now is a very good time to start supporting Roma, because they just got bought by an American who is going to pump cash into the club

Juve used to wear pink, but when the kits started to fade, John Savage asked a friend back home to send over some new ones. the friend happened to be a Notts County fan.

that was in, like 1900

[fury]

i think ill support roma then. i like that they are the counter to lazio. i thought about supporting athletico madrid because of forlan's play last summer but i dont get many la liga games

[doormat]

You guys had any luck finding matches on Roku? I just got a box and found a private channel with Foxsoccer.tv streams, but of course there aren't any live right now because it's only Premier League stuff. I was hoping ESPN3 would have a channel somewhere but I can't find anything.

[delgriffith]

Can't think of modern Lazio without thinking of

[sambadeamigo]

now is a very good time to start supporting Roma, because they just got bought by an American who is going to pump cash into the club

not only is he pumping cash into the club he has tried to sign landon donovan. the owner really wants american fans.

[iambic]

from Calcio, by John Foot

Lazio fans were openly anti-Semitic, associating rivals Roma with the city's small Jewish population. There was no justification for this link, although Roma had been run by Jewish presidents in the past. In the 1980s, a huge banner was displayed across the Lazio end during a derby: "Curva Sud full, Synagogues empty". Roma's fans stood in the curva sud. In 1994, when the general election was extended across two days in order to accommodate the Jewish New Year, another Lazio banner appeared -- Andatevene senza frette, potete votare anche domani; "Don't hurry home, you can also vote tomorrow". Later banners were more offensive: Auschwitz la vostra casa; "Your home is Auschwitz", or SQUADRA DE NEGREI, CURVA D'EBREI; "Team of blacks, curve of Jews". Unfortunately, Roma's support [traditionally left-wing] was also slowly taken over by the far-right in the 1980s and began to display racist slogans and boo black players. A long struggle took place over the 'control' of Roma's curva sud, with a shift towards extremist far-right politics. It was not difficult to spot fascist symbols in both the Lazio and Roma curve on a Sunday -- Celtic crosses, Mussolini banners, swastikas. Lazio fans would often sing the national anthem, complete with fascist salutes."

[sambadeamigo]

Lazio both fascinates and horrifies me.

[fury]

what is it with italians and racism now i dont want to support roma

[delgriffith]

I cited that book in a paper I wrote in high school.

It was about Mussolini and sport.

[iambic]

Lazio both fascinates and horrifies me.

to be fair, there are plenty of other Italian teams with notoriously right-wing/authoritarian fans, e.g. Verona, Padova, Inter, and Fiorentina (who also used to be left-wing and shifted), and pretty much no fanbase is free of a dedicated minority of racists and other scum, whether or not they are 'organized' as named ultra groups.

what is it with italians and racism now i dont want to support roma

well, it's not even really 'Italians' so much as it is 'Europeans' (racism was endemic in English stands before hooliganism was for the most part forcibly stamped out and the game prettified with television money and soaring ticket prices; there are plenty of racist fans and regular incidents in Spain, Holland, etc.; don't get me started on the ultra madness that goes on in some Eastern European leagues), though Italy does have a particularly obvious and on-off love affair with authoritarian, nationalist politics.

I mean, it extends far beyond football. most European nations are overwhelmingly white and don't have the legacy and associated national traumas of race that America has had. in many ways, racism, both implicit and explicit, is more 'acceptable' over here; the idea that "there are no black Italians" isn't a particularly controversial one in many corners of the peninsula, and they wouldn't even necessarily view this as 'racism', just a kind of nationalism.

[delgriffith]

If Pisapia wins, Milan will became a Muslim town, a Gypsyville of Roma camps, a city besieged by foreigners

If Pisapia wins, there will be a boom in rapes and prostitutes on the streets

[iambic]

If Pisapia wins, Milan will became a Muslim town, a Gypsyville of Roma camps, a city besieged by foreigners

If Pisapia wins, there will be a boom in rapes and prostitutes on the streets

exactly, and this rhetoric isn't condemned; in fact, it works. Italy can be fascinating precisely for its rampant corruption and insane attitudes

and I kind of suspect its football helps to explain or at least demonstrate how the country thinks and works in microcosm (e.g. Berlusconi naming his party after a soccer slogan)

I appreciate it's not for everyone, but for off-field hysteria and sheer sideshow, Italy can't be beat. just this week we have fresh scandals about betting rings, doping, and Mario Balotelli being given a tour around Napoli by known gangsters last summer!

[mites]

really I think most americans would really benefit from having to learn about football in culture in Europe before they go visit for all that lovely culture

[Snatch]

As the son of a man born and raised in Italy, who has spent literally hundreds of weekends with an extended FOB family, I can assure the thread that however racist you think Italians are, you are underestimating the depths of it.

[mites]

that sounds like a dare to me

[sako]

i guess i am the only ligue fan here.

[sako]

also, chicharito was awesome today

[darkendofthestreet]

If you're a fan of the black & white strip just support Udinese

[iambic]

or newly-promoted Siena!

[darkendofthestreet]

So many to choose from!

[pana]

i guess i am the only ligue fan here.

Sako or Sakho? who do you prefer?

[delgriffith]

Fulham got their man. I've always liked Jol a lot, good to have him back in the Premiership.

[darkendofthestreet]

Begs the question of who the hell Villa are gonna get as their manager.

[number none]

Friend of mine got a tip that it's going to be Owen Coyle. No idea of the credibility of his source though

[badminton]

I would be happy with Coyle. His odds have shortened a lot in the past 24 hours. I'd be surprised if it's not Hughes though.

[iambic]

we're gonna beat Italy you guys

[5% Tint]

anybody gonna watch the gold cup tonight?

[number none]

we're gonna beat Italy you guys

This is quite the run we're putting together.

[number none]

So it seems the Jordan Henderson to Liverpool deal is done, with N'Gog going the other way. Bit mystifying to be honest

[sambadeamigo]

anybody gonna watch the gold cup tonight?

yeah. i don't have fox soccer channel, but i think http://futbol.univision.com/copa-oro/partidos-en-vivo/ is the right link for univision's stream