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.
State of the Unions: In the Heart of the European Union, at Royal Union St. Gilloise in Brussels
The EU, Europe's great post-war peace project, can feel beleaguered today. Global and continental uncertainties collide, and things are complicated in Brussels, Belgium, the heart of the European Union. Two clubs from that capital survived in the Europa League, though none bear Brussels’ city name: RSC Anderlecht, with the beautiful color of purple, and Royal Union St Gilloise, a recent regular guest in European club competitions. And in a multinational, multilingual European Union, in Brussels, Belgium, a multilingual, multiethnic country (French, Dutch and German are Belgium’s official languages), it’s Royal Union that fittingly has a multinational, multilinguistic fanclub. Its beginnings lie in a group of EU employees from other countries who met on the standing terraces of the Stade Joseph Marien, St. Gilles' legendary homeground.
Joining me today are Ana, from Portugal, who works for the European Commission, one of the Branches of the European Union, and Seppe, from Belgium, who "works a normal job”. They are members of the above mentioned multinational, multilingual fanclub - "beunion" is its name. This is a conversation about the rise back to the top of one of Belgium’s oldest and most unique clubs, about the state of the Union that is Union St Gilloise, but also the European Union, and the continent, these days.
HELPFUL LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
bEUnion - fanclub website, in English
The full cup final of Union vs. Royal Antwerpen FC 2024, with nice USG pyro to start
USG's history on wikipedia
Stade Joseph Marien, stadium guide with photos
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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/