October 28: Sport and "the Nation" (Yannick)

As we started to read sport critically in class these past few weeks, we have been focusing on many aspects that are wrong with sport and its reflection of and contribution to society. For instance, we have criticized how sports oftentimes reinforce traditional gender roles or how sports can be an arena which is rather exclusive of individuals who do not fit the hegemonic norms (e.g. female or transsexual athletes). The main reason why I liked reading Steenveld and Strelitz’s “The 1995 Rugby World Cup and the Politics of Nation-Building in South Africa” this week is that the article pointed out the positive power that sports can have as well. In the article, Steenveld and Strelitz (1998) argue that the 1995 Rugby World Cup “with its focus on national teams and national pride [...] provided an ideal vehicle for the discursive construction of a united South African collectivity” (p. 610). It seems to be in the realm of “the nation” that sports can be a great force to unity people from multiple, diverse backgrounds. As such, the 1995 Rugby World Cup series in South Africa was a great example of how sport can act as “the unifier of the nation” (Steenveld & Strelitz, 1998, p. 613).

That sport has the potential to create a feeling of national unity cannot only be seen in the example of the Rugby World Cup in South Africa in 1995. I have pointed out many times that I am convinced that the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany had a similar effect on the German people. The World Cup united Germans as a nation, and created a sense of national identity for individuals who lived in a country that has not experienced a national identity due to its horrific past. Many scholars have argued that although the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, an “inner wall” has remained in the minds of East and West Germans to this day. The World Cup, as other major sports events, certainly tore down this inner wall to a certain extent (even though this state might have been temporary rather than definite), and created a feeling of national pride and national unity.

I think that one of the biggest events that unites the U.S. as a nation is the annual Super Bowl. Many Americans watch this major event every year, no matter what their gender, class, racial, or sexual background is. Even further, the Super Bowl is constructed as the American sports event. It is the final match of the two most successful American Football teams that face each other to find the best team in America’s favorite sport. By doing so, it celebrates core American values such as competition, strength, beauty, athleticism, and wealth. As such, the Super Bowl unites all viewers and creates a sense of national U.S. identity – it constructs the United States as an “imagined community.”

These instances reveal that “the nation” and national identities are cultural and social constructs – just like gender, race, or sexuality are. It remains important to carefully examine these constructions of nationhood in and through sports to gain more insight into how individuals participating in, observing, or experiencing sport make meaning of their lived experiences as members of certain nations in different social and cultural settings.