Political conflicts in the cypriot football fields: a qualitative approach through the press

Abstract

Sports and especially football have often become a field for political conflict in several societies around the world. In Cyprus the history of football follows the overwhelming history of the country, since, during the twentieth century and until today, the political events that take place in the island are often depicted within the football fields. Mass media and especially newspapers developed a crucial role and several times this role resulted in the deterioration of the already strained situation. The article examines the history of the Cypriot football in accordance to the political history of the country along the twentieth century, focusing on the turbulent period 1948–1953, as depicted through the newspapers, through Discourse Analysis. The aim of this research is to present the various ways in which football became an important field for political conflict and the role of the press in this situation.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the journalists Chrysanthos Chrysanthou for conceding part of his personal archive, Stelios Steliou for conceding part of his photographic archive for the completion of this article and Irene Photiou for her valuable remarks upon the article, prior to publication.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Auster, To Vima.

2. Rhodes, Framing the Black Panthers; see also, Doulkeri, Maniou, and Tsiolcha, ‘Athletisicm, Politics & Media in Greece’.

3. Wenner, Athleticism and Mass Media, 52.

4. Menary, ‘Football and the Cyprus conflict’.

5. Although statistics regarding the ethnicity of the population in Cyprus have been a bit sketchy since 1974, at that time it was estimated that 85% of the population were of Greek-Cypriot origin, 12% were Turkish-Cypriots and the Armenian, Latin and other Catholic groups comprised the remaining 3% of the population (PIO, 50).

6. Photiou and Maniou, ‘Infotainment Journalism’.

7. Chrysanthou, Mass Media: Martyrs and Lead Actors, 23.

8. Ibid., 17.

9. For example Pavlou, ‘The 1993 Presidential Elections’; Chrysanthou, Mass Media: Martyrs and Lead Actors; PRIO group, Appendix I.

10. Wodak and Meyer, ‘Critical Discourse Analysis’.

11. Muncie, ‘Discourse Analysis’, 74.

12. Fairclough, Analysing Discourse.

13. Ibid.

14. Fairclough, Discourse and Social Change.

15. Maniou and Photiou, ‘Representation of Gender Relations’.

16. (FCO 141/4570. Description: Cyprus-removal of Cypriots threatened by EOKA to safety in the UK. Date: January 1959–January 1960, which will be released in the year 2085). Kaittanis, ‘Political Dimensions of Football’.

17. See analysis, Foinikaridis, Football: A Sport for the Masses, 242; also, Sofokleous, Mass Media in Cyprus, 820–4.

18. Young, ‘Five Approaches in the Sociology of Athleticism’.

19. Young, ‘Five Approaches in the Sociology of Athleticism’ and Doulkeri et al., ‘Athletisicm, Politics & Media in Greece’.

20. Rojo-Labaien, ‘Football as a Reflection of Modern Society’s Conflicts’.

21. Doulkeri et al., ‘Athletisicm, Politics & Media in Greece’.

22. Stylianou and Theodoropoulou, ‘Performing Fan Identities’.

23. Cashmore, Making Sense of Sports.

24. Stylianou and Theodoropoulou, ‘Performing Fan Identities’.

25. Doulkeri et al., ‘Athletisicm, Politics & Media in Greece’.

26. Tsoukala, ‘Timing Dangerousness’, 599.

27. Crolle and Hand, Football and European Identity.

28. Nicholson and Stewart, ‘The Media’s use of Interpretive Frames’.

29. Tucker, ‘The Framing of Calvin Klein’, 144.

30. Mehler, ‘Political Discourse in Football Coverage’, 96.

31. Gramsci, Selections from the Prison’s Notebooks.

32. Hargreaves, Sports and Hegemony.

33. Hough, ‘Make Goals Not War’, 129.

34. Kissinger, ‘This is the War of Nations’.

35. Jarvie, Sport, Culture and Society.

36. Brown, ‘Foreword’.

37. Riris, Anorthosis and Famagusta, 41.

38. See analysis at http://www.cfa.com.cy/Gr/historyevents (accessed October 10, 2013).

39. Peristianis and Loizou, ‘The Politicisation of Football’.

40. Foinikaridis, Football: A Sport for the Masses.

41. See analysis at http://www.apoelfc.com.cy/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=1372&tt=graphic&lang=l1 (accessed October 11, 2013).

42. Chrysanthou, ‘Football Riots’.

43. Alexandridis, ‘Well done to APOEL…’.

44. Peristianis, ‘Historical Blogs, Historical Identities’.

45. Orwell, ‘The Sporting Spirit’.

46. Peristianis, ‘Historical Blogs, Historical Identities’.

47. The 2013 banking crisis riots are excluded, since they were a unique societal phenomenon for the local society, due to the unique situation the country had to face.

48. Peristianis, ‘Historical Blogs, Historical Identities’.

49. Davis and Harris, ‘Racial Discriminations and Ethnicity’, 236–53.