Blood is Thicker than Water

The German Men's National Football team played a friendly today against the Netherlands today.  Given the nature of this type of match (where the result doesn't impact future tournaments), the only thing on the line was pride (which is still a lot for footballers).  If you're dying to know the result, it ended 0-0.  German fans, like myself, will attribute this to the fact that Germany was fielding a team of rookies since many of their starting players were injured or sick.  Dutch fans will say this points to a new resurgence for the national team but I wouldn't necessarily bet on that one.  The Dutch squad has had it chances in recent tournaments but just can't seem to put the pieces together...sort of like the German squad (but you didn't hear that from me).

What I'd like to mention is that the headline from an article I read here declares the game between Germany and the Netherlands as "An Old Rivalry."  At this moment, my inner soccer fan was booted aside by my inner political scientist because I'd just learned about types of ethnic conflicts and my mind immediately jumped to the term Primordialism.  Now, to be clear I do not want to suggest that rivarly between German and Dutch fans mimics the conflict, for example, between Sunnis and Shias.  My mind simply started to mull over the origins of football rivalries and the ferocity with which they are often played out.

According to the article mention above, the rivalry between these two teams started when West Germany beat the Netherlands in the '74 World Cup final.  Hostilities have flared since then and no doubt resurfaced in today's friendly.

I'll go ahead and reference Franklin Foer's How Soccer Explains the World because it really is and awesome book and it really does explain a lot of things in our world.  But many of the chapters discuss passionate rivalries in particular countries around the world, some with better-explained origins than others.

The rivalry between Germany and the Netherlands is a relatively mild one (in the grand scheme of things) but it's a rivalry nonetheless; the winners will be jubilant and the losers will hang their heads and be grateful that it was just a friendly.

Rivalries big or small transform the game and it's important to give them their due attention rather than passing them off as a tool of hooligans or as something that you could never possibly understand.  We have plenty of sports rivalries here in the United States.  Think of your favorite team and the second thing that you'll think of is their #1 rival.

Mull that one over for a bit, then get back to me and let me know what you think of rivalries in football and in general.

Bis bald!

Sarah