Material and representational legacies of sports mega‐events: the case of the UEFA EURO™ football championships from 1996 to 2008

Abstract

Major sports events (MSE) include the well‐known sports mega‐events (SME), the summer Olympic Games and the FIFA football World Cup Finals, as well as other, lower order, though major international, sports events such as the Winter Olympics, the UEFA football championships, the Commonwealth Games and Track and Field World Championships. In addition, major events such as the World Cups for rugby union and cricket, and the annual Six Nations Championships in rugby, are also thought to contribute in varying degrees to social and economic well‐being and development in Europe. The main objective of this article is to critically reflect on the legacies for the imagined community of Europe associated with MSE/SME, and in particular the UEFA football championships. Although consideration will be given to material legacies the article focuses mainly on the representational legacies – how Europe as a whole is represented and how participant football nations are represented – in connection with the second largest football spectacle in the world. The article thus seeks to engage with debates about the idea of Europe and European culture via consideration of European football.

Notes

1. Roche, Mega‐Events and Modernity, 225.

2. Some suggest that it is the third biggest sports event in the world. This claim is made for several other events and the debate about this is not discussed here in detail.

3. cf. Horne and Manzenreiter, ‘Introduction to the Sociology of Sports Mega‐Events’.

4. cf. Appadurai, Modernity at Large.

5. McNeill, New Europe, 41–3.

6. cf. Edensor, National Identity.

7. McNeill, New Europe, 43.

8. A joint ‘Celtic’ bid by the Republic of Ireland and Scotland failed to get beyond the first round of voting in 2002 when the hosts for the 2008 competition were decided; the same happened to Hungary and Croatia in 2007 when the decision was made about 2012. A joint Scotland–Wales bid to host the finals tournament in 2016 was withdrawn in 2008 owing to the credit crunch and the increasing number of stadiums required following UEFA’s announcement of its expansion to 24 teams.

9. cf. King, European Ritual.

10. King, European Ritual, 246, 247.

11. cf. Dobson, Holliday, and Gratton, Football Came Home.

12. Gratton, Dobson, and Shibli, ‘Economic Importance of Major Sports Events’, 21.

13. Dobson, Holliday, and Gratton, Football Came Home, 10.

14. For example, Garland and Rowe, ‘War Minus the Shooting?’; Maguire and Poulton, ‘European Identity Politics in EURO 96’; Poulton, ‘Mediated Patriot Games’.

15. Maguire and Poulton ‘European Identity Politics in EURO 96’, 27.

16. Crolley and Hand, Football, Europe and the Press, 161.

17. ‘Costs Spiral as Sponsors Go Football Crazy’, The Guardian, June 9, 2000.

18. ‘Sponsors Will Win Euro 2004’, The Guardian, June 7, 2004, 9.

19. cf. Oldenboom, ‘Impact of the Broadcasting of Sports Events on the Image’.

20. cf. Bishop and Jaworski, ‘“We beat ‘em’”.

21. ‘Portugal May Win Euro 2004 But How Much Does It Stand to Lose?’, The Business, June 13/14, 2004, 7.

22. Boyle and Monteiro, ‘A Small Country with a Big Ambition’, 225, 239.

23. ‘Coca‐Cola Invests in Euro 2004’, The Guardian, May 20, 2002.

24. Federal Ministry, UEFA EURO 2008™ Sustainability Report, 24–6.

25. EURO 2008 National Promotion, Final Report, 8.

26. Rutter+Partner, Economic Impact , 11.

27. cf. Blain, Boyle, and O’Donnell, Sport and National Identity.

28. Whitson, ‘Circuits of Promotion’, 57–72; see also Whitson and Gruneau, ‘The (Real) Integrated Circus’.

29. Whannel, Media Sport Stars; Maguire, Global Sport.

30. Levermore and Millward, ‘Official Policies and Informal Transversal Networks’, 147.

31. Delanty, ‘Is There a European Identity?’

32. cf. Castells, Network Society.

33. Levermore and Millward, ‘Official Policies and Informal Transversal Networks’, 158.

34. Peter Preston, The Guardian, June 19, 2000, quoted in Levermore and Millward, ‘Official Policies and Informal Transversal Networks’, 162.

35. Levermore and Millward, ‘Official Policies and Informal Transversal Networks’, 153, 155.

36. For example, in the European Council’s four‐sentence ‘Declaration on Sport’ adopted in December 2008, which begins: ‘The European Council recognises the importance of the values attached to sport, which are essential to European society’ available online at http://ec.europa.eu/sport/news/news692_en.htm (accessed March 30, 2009).

37. cf. Henry, ‘Sport, the Role of the EU and the Decline of the Nation‐State?’.

38. Whannel, Sport, Culture and Politics, 175–85.

39. Nauright, ‘Global Games’, 1334.

40. Thrift, ‘Intensities of Feeling’, 1.

41. cf. Bennett, ‘Shaping of Things to Come’; Whitson, ‘Bringing the World to Canada’.

42. Thrift, ‘But Malice Aforethought’, 138, 145.

43. ‘Innsbruck deputy mayor Christoph Platzgummer is hoping the Austrian city can make the most of a “once‐in‐a‐lifetime” opportunity as it gears up to hosting three group games at UEFA EURO 2008™’, ‘Innsbruck aims to grab chance’, uefa.com (accessed 15 February 2007).

44. Roche, ‘Mega‐Events, Time and Modernity’, 102.

45. Cashman, Bitter–Sweet Awakening, 21–2, 25.