Despite Pitch Battles, World Cup Credited With Promoting Unity
June 29, 2006
The Battles of Berne, Santiago and now Nuremberg at World Cup finals does not suggest soccer can serve as an example of peace to the rest of the world, but strangely that seems to be exactly the case.
While politicians wrap themselves round the flag and take the polls boost from their team's success, the more positive aspect of what it can do for a country is how it can also be a unifying force.
The latest case is the former Soviet Republic of Ukraine, whose team may not have played attractive soccer but, having reached the last eight on their tournament debut, have had a dramatic impact on their politically divided country.
That is no small achievement in a country of 47 million that was split into two warring camps by the "orange revolution" in late 2004.
One side, the Ukrainian-speaking nationalist northwest, backed Viktor Yushchenko, a pro-Western reformer eventually swept to the presidency.
The other, the Russian-speaking southeast, supported Viktor Yanukovych who wanted to retain close ties to Moscow.
"Nothing unites quite like football," said Vassyl Androsenko, a 52-year-old engineer in Kiev.
The country's soccer stars have taken up the slack as ignoring which part of the country they come from or language they speak, they room together irrespective of political differences and converse in both dialects.
Ukraine national team doing its part for unity
"I think these guys have done more tonight to reunite the country than all politicians put together," commented Petro Poroshenko, tipped to be the next parliament speaker after the penalty shootout win over the Swiss in the second round.
Franz Beckenbauer, German soccer legend and the man responsible for winning the right for Germany to host the extravaganza, is convinced that the sport has more far reaching effects than simply firing up brief bouts of nationalism.
The 60-year-old should know because he has traveled the world in his role as chief organizer of the finals but also was born into a divided country himself and won his two World Cup titles with West Germany, though the 1990 team did have a couple of players from the East in it.
"Football occupies an incredibly important position, especially in Africa a continent that has all sorts of problems," he told the German magazine, Bundesliga earlier this year.
Africans have team spirit while factions at home wage war
"In Ivory Coast and Togo the people are embroiled in terrible civil wars, while Angola has emerged from decades of internal conflict and is still riddled with land mines."
"Football can help to build bridges. It brings opposing chiefs together to sit beside each other and watch matches and it is almost as if it helps them to understand each other."
The 'Kaiser's' opinion may seem naive given the amount of discord and war on the African continent, but it certainly echoes the efforts of the Ivory Coast players to ensure their success on the pitch helps with bringing the rebel-held north of the country together with the government maintained south.
Their players, similar to the Ukrainians, place great worth in team harmony despite coming from different sides of the political equation.
"We think that every time we get together is a chance to show Ivorians that they can get on," said striker Bonaventure Kalou.