New Europe, old games? Making sense of Anglo-Polish media coverage of England versus Poland football matches

Abstract

Attention is primarily given to a comparative qualitative discourse analysis of British/English and Polish media coverage of England versus Poland football matches as part of the qualification rounds for the men's World Cup football tournament that were to be held in Germany in June 2006. The media discourse surrounding these matches was characterised by nostalgia, an ethnic assertiveness / defensiveness and a wilful stereotyping of opponents that can be understood as part of an active construction of ‘fantasy group charisma’ based on both the ‘invention of traditions’ and, at a deeper level, the habitus codes that underpin the ‘national character’ of European nations. The media's representations of identity politics can be understood from the vantage point of not solely ‘imagined communities’ and ‘invented traditions’ but also national habitus codes.

Notes

¹ Elias and Scotson, The Established and the Outsiders; Elias, The Germans.

² Anderson, Imagined Communities; Hobsbawn and Ranger, Invention of Tradition. For further discussion of the terms ‘fantasy shield’, ‘imagined charisma’ and ‘group charisma’ see Maguire, Global Sport, 176–206; Hargreaves, ‘Globalisation Theory’.

³ Elias, The Established and the Outsiders; Elias, The Germans; Maguire and Burrows, ‘Not the Germans Again’; Maguire and Poulton, ‘European Identity Politics’; Maguire, Poulton and Possamai, ‘Weltkrieg III?’.

⁴ Elias, Society of Individuals, 182.

⁵ Williams, Marxism and Literature.

⁶ Elias, Society of Individuals, 210.

⁷ Elias, The Germans, 153.

⁸ Elias, Society of Individuals, 209.

⁹ Giddens, Constitution of Society.

¹⁰ Compare the British media coverage of matches between England and Germany in Maguire and Burrows, ‘Not the Germans Again’.

¹¹ Bignell, Media Semiotics.

¹² Hopcraft, The Football Man; Crolley, Hand and Jeutter, ‘Playing the Identity Card’, 107.

¹³ Raney and Bryant, Handbook of Sports.

¹⁴ Crolley, Hand and Jeutter, ‘Playing the Identity Card’, 108, 109.

¹⁵ Kösebalaban, ‘Turkish Media and Sport Coverage’, 47.

¹⁶ Kinkema and Harris, ‘MediaSport Studies’.

¹⁷ The ‘British’/English material used in this study comes from the sports sections of the national daily newspapers, both the popular and the quality ones. The Polish print media analysed here include both the national press (Gazeta Wyborcza, Fakt, Superekspress etc.), regional papers (e.g. Dziennik Wschodni), the specialist sports dailies such as Przegląd sportowy (with a daily circulation of almost 90,000), as well as weekly and monthly sport magazines (e.g. Piłka nożna). It should be also noted that Polish daily newspapers have a considerably lower circulation than their ‘British’ counterparts (Fakt, which is the market leader, sells about 600,000 copies).

¹⁸ Daily Express, September 8, 2004, 86.

¹⁹ Daily Mail, September 8, 2004, 78; Daily Express, September 8, 2004, 87.

²⁰ Daily Mirror, September 8, 2004, 55.

²¹ The Times, October 8, 2005, 72.

²² The Daily Telegraph, October 8, 2005, S1.

²³ The Guardian, October 8, 2005, 34.

²⁴ The Independent, September 8, 2004, 60.

²⁵ The Guardian, September 8, 2004, 32.

²⁶ The Independent, September 8, 2004, 60.

²⁷ Daily Mail, September 8, 2004, 77.

²⁸ Daily Mirror, September 9, 2004, 71; The Guardian, September 9, 2004, 34.

²⁹ The Sun, October 12, 2005, 53; The Guardian, October 12, 2005, S3; The Times, October 12, 2005, 87; Przegląd Sportowy, October 12, 2005, 5; ‘Match of the Day’, October 12, 2005.

³⁰ Życie, September 8, 2005, 20; Gazeta Wyborcza, October 6, 2005, 36; Przegląd Sportowy, October 12, 2005, 2.

³¹ Dariusz Tuzimek, ‘The English Monster’. Magazyn Sportowy, September 3, 2004, 3.

³² Trybuna, October 14, 2005, 16.

³³ Daily Mirror, September 9, 2004, 68.

³⁴ Daily Express, September 8, 2004, 86.

³⁵ Daily Express, September 9, 2004, 85; Daily Mail, September 9, 2004, 84; Daily Mirror, September 8, 2004, 55.

³⁶ The Independent, September 8, 2004, 60.

³⁷ ‘Poland v. England’, Sky Sports, September 8, 2004.

³⁸ Daily Mirror, September 8, 2004, 54; Daily Mail, 8 September, 2004, 78; Daily Mail, September 9, 2004, 85; Daily Mirror, September 9, 2004, 68.

³⁹ The Independent, September 9, 2004, 64.

⁴⁰ The Times, September 9, 2004, 86.

⁴¹ The Daily Telegraph, September 8, 2004, S1.

⁴² The Independent, September 7, 2004, 46.

⁴³ The Daily Telegraph, October 13, 2005, S2; The Times, October 13, 2005, 96; The Independent, October 13, 2005, 81.

⁴⁴ Daily Mail, October 13, 2005, 95.

⁴⁵ The Daily Telegraph, September 9, 2004, S1; Daily Mail, September 9, 2004, 86; The Times, October 12, 2005, 84; Trybuna, October 14, 2005, 16; Lubelski Sport Express, October 10–16, 2005, 4.

⁴⁶ The Times, September 9, 2004, 87; Daily Mail, September 9, 2004, 84; Daily Express, September 8, 2004, 86; Daily Mail, October 13, 2005, 95.

⁴⁷ Przegląd Sportowy, October 12, 2005, 6; Gazeta Wyborcza, October 11, 2005, 32; Nasz Dziennik, October 12, 2005, 13; Rzeczpospolita, October 10, 2005, 16; October 11, 2005, 16; Fakt, October 11, 2005, 18; The Giga Sport, October 2005; Superexpress, October 10, 2005, 2–3; Fakt, October 11, 2005, 18–19.

⁴⁸ See Maguire and Poulton, ‘European Identity Politics’; Maguire, Poulton and Possamai, ‘Weltkrieg III?’; and Maguire and Burrows, ‘Not the Germans Again’, with respect to England versus Germany rivalry.

⁴⁹ The Independent, September 9, 2004, 60; Daily Mail, September 8, 2004, 77; Daily Express, October 13, 2005, 79; The Times, October 13, 2005, 95; The Independent, October 13, 2005, 81.

⁵⁰ Dziennik Wschodni, September 8, 2004, 16; Piłka nożna, September 8, 2004, 4; Magazyn Sportowy, September 3, 2004, 12 and 9.

⁵¹ Sport, October 12–25, 2005, 1; Fakt, October 11, 2005, 18–19; Superexpress, October 10, 2005, 2–3.

⁵² Wawrzyczek and Mazur, ‘“Wyspiarze” v “Biało-czerwoni”’.

⁵³ ‘Poland v. England’, Sky Sports, September 8, 2004; Trybuna, October 14, 2005, 16.

⁵⁴ Daily Mirror, October 13, 2004, 69; The Independent, September 8, 2004, 56.

⁵⁵ The Independent, October 12, 2005, 68.

⁵⁶ Tylko Piłka, October 12–18, 2005, 5, 3.

⁵⁷ Przegląd Sportowy, October 15–16, 2005, 2; Gazeta Wyborcza, October 10, 2005, 10.

⁵⁸ Giga Sport, October 2005, 6.

⁵⁹ Tempo, October 14, 2005, 3.

⁶⁰ Sport, October 12–25, 2005, 4–5; Tylko Piłka, October 19–25, 2005, 5; Rzeczpospolita, October 12, 2005, 18.

⁶¹ Ferguson, Empire, xvi.

⁶² Maguire, Power and Global Sport, 1–20.