Once again I was very interested by our guest speaker. The two that have come to class have great insight on the globalization of sport. Dr. Meek had fascinating stories of soccer and hooliganism in England.
The thing I found most interesting was that the kids he taught would miss two days of school every time their club had a match because they were in jail. I don't believe Dr. Meek mentioned the age of his students but I would like to know what they're parents thought and if the school itself did anything to get the kids back in school or punished them for missing so much. This also got me wondering how young children in England start to participate in hooliganism. In the United States parents dress their kids in their teams colors starting as a baby. I wonder if they do that in England.
Dr. Meek said that hooliganism is now banned from the stadium and they have moved it to fields and have meetings for fights. It makes sense to me that they finally banned them from the stadiums but I find it kind of funny that the leaders of the firms text each other to set up a fight. It seems like the most civilized things hooligans do. The security Dr. Meek talked about at the train station did not surprise me at all. I actually think it's a good idea that they check a lot of people. Not necessarily to stop hooliganism but also terrorism. England has had a lot of issues with terrorists and it's good they are tightening up security.
I was shocked by the racism that black soccer players receive in Europe. I had no clue that race was such an issue on the soccer pitch. I didn't even know that Europe as a whole was so racist. I always hear how open minded Europe is, but I guess that's not as true as they portray. It's a shame that this is still happening in the world, and on such a large scale in public. I feel like the soccer stadiums could do so much more to prevent this. I think even banning bananas from the stadium would help a lot and mean a lot to the black players.
I am glad you could appreciate Dr. Meek's presentation. I believe he said in an earlier class that the students were mid to late teens. However, the student who did the study and "went native" (that is a term in ethnography that means the researcher becomes part of the culture that they are studying) may have been in college. Hooliganism has been studied by a lot of researchers including one former professor named Jerry Lewis, at Kent State.
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