Don’t be misled by the title. “The Language of the Game: How to Understand Soccer” may sound like a collection of soccer terminology for the novice fan. It is actually more of an impassioned fan’s perceptive observations about the sport’s history, tactics, and drama. The guide in this journey is a professor of romance studies and history at Duke University who teaches a popular soccer politics course. In the book’s introduction, Laurent Dubois sets the stage by writing, “Given that it is probably the most widely shared form of culture on the planet, soccer must have something to teach us about being human.” In “The Language of the Game,” he avails himself admirably of this teaching moment.
Here’s an excerpt from The Language of the Game:
“Police and soccer authorities have long struggled with how to stamp out … fan violence. One technique they have used is to punish the teams for the behavior of their fans, notably by forcing them to play in empty stadiums. Eliminating the crowd can clearly resolve the security problems – no fans, no violence – but it also destroys the very spirit of the game. After all, what is a team playing for if not for the fans?
"Struggling with how to respond, the Turkish soccer authorities came up with a novel idea. Instead of banning all the fans from the stadium, why not just exclude the problem demographic: men? [Team] Fenerbahce would be allowed to play in front of their fans, so long as those fans included only women and young children.
“It worked. Forty thousand women, along with a small number of children, attended the match. The only men in the packed stadium were the players and staff from the two teams, along with referees. Even the security forces in the stands and around the field that day were all women. As the game unfolded, there were some differences: the opposing team was greeted with applause, not boos, for instance, and the players threw flowers up toward the fans. Otherwise, everything was the same.”
