The Assistant Professor of Football: Soccer, Culture, History.
The academic treatment for English-speakers who get that soccer is more than gamedays, stars and goals. Who wonder about the histories, subcultures and politics that make the game so different from many American sports cultures; and who care about a critical take on soccer as a global capitalist machine. A European-guided journey, with one expert "visiting professor" each episode.
The Assistant Professor of Football: Soccer, Culture, History.
Rush Episode! German Bundesliga Investor Deal Dies Live on Air with Raphael Molter...
... of all people! Raphael is a German political scientist, whose book "Peace to the Terraces, War to the Federations and Leagues" is a pathbreaking materialist critique of "modern soccer" - the game as purely an entertainment market commodity. The book is only published in German so far, and we were in the process of rolling out his thoughts with the ongoing conflict between German fans and the German Bundesliga as a case in point (you know, the one with tennis balls and remote-controlled cars thrown on the pitch in recent weeks...). About halfway through, the bomb dropped: sooner than any of us expected, the Bundesliga collapsed and nixed the negotiation with the private equity firm that was interested. We let out a "holy shit!" and analyzed what this might mean, and what concrete solutions Raphael's thoughts provide for the future.
This episode was to air on March 4th - given what happened today while we talked, I rushed it live. This may mean no TAoF episode on March 4th then, check social media for updates. For now, you wont regret this window into a very german conflict with a lot of promise for soccer fans around the world - the fans to whom this beautiful game truly belongs!
HELPFUL LINKS :
Raphael's book, in German
Raphael Molter on X/Twitter
Protests in Rostock - remote controlled cars with flares on them
Protests in Dortmund - chocolate coins and tennis balls
Matt Ford, Bundesliga scraps major investment deal amid fan revolt (dw.com)
Gabriel Kuhn, Soccer vs. The State (an interview with him on TAoF from last year)
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Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind
Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/