Always Sparta Rotterdam
The fan shop was had just opened. The lights on the towers had not yet been turned on. On the way from Marconiplein RET trains top, a teenager had accelerated down the footpath on his bicycle doing a wheelie. Someone else had parked their (non-motorised) scooter on the footpath as they waited for their Chinese-Indonesische […]
Stadium Portraits
Citymania
(notes after reading David Conn’s, Richer than God) ‘it is typical City’ […] ‘In goes Dzeko…hope rekindles here. […] ‘Ag-uuueer-ooooooohhhhh. I swear you’ll never see anything like this again. So watch it. Drink it in. They’ve just heard the news at the Stadium of Light. … Premier League dreams have come true in blue.’ Martin […]
Panggilan Kontribusi
Setiap hari kita buka internet untuk tetap up-to-date dengan kabar dari Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Barca. Kita pakai kaos atau jersey ori agar tampak keren. Kita bangun pagi-pagi untuk nonton Liga Champions. Kita tidak tidur agar bisa nonton derby Manchester atau el clasico di Spanyol. Kita tiba-tiba menjadi pendukung tim German yang sangat nasionalis waktu […]
Visiting Stadia
I first learned about the practice of groundhopping through someone who has now become a friend. He is from Kiel in northern Germany and his name is Hendrik. I met him in Prague, where he presented on groundhopping as practiced by Germans and English. I presented a paper about PSIM’s supporter group, the Brajamusti. While […]
The Art of Conducting
The modern orchestral conductor emerged with the rise of large scale symphony orchestras in the 19th century. In orchestral and choral music, a musician – a concertmaster – was able to use his body or bow to maintain rhythm and indicate the kind of sound to be played. The typically bombastic and verbose Richard Wagner […]
Marathoning
/1/ Marathoning is a mass event. Tens of thousands of participants – ranging from rank amateurs to elite professionals – compete in the same event. Many of the participants are in their 30s or 40s or above. Many are middle-class. /2/ Marathoning is an urban event. The courses wind past city landmarks and urban peripheries. […]
I Heart Ben Arfa
Hatem Ben Arfa, recently interviewed by France Football, spoke of his troubled time at Newcastle FC. For him it was a kind of hell; he felt he was being punished beyond his crimes. He says, “It was a very, very difficult period. The worst of my career. It was as if my hell began at […]
Watching Quick of The Hague
“So, do they come to Quick thinking it is a Dutch, establishment club?”, I asked Dennis regarding SC Remo. “Yes, of course. But, they don’t come to the club, looking for a fight, or to square off. There are always some tensions – but, that is just the same against other clubs. And, there are […]
Robert Enke, Goalkeeper
*Faded Footballers is a documentary project, led by Adam Labno, looking at the lives of professional footballers and how they finish their careers. The footballers studied are those who have often had spectacular exists and downfalls: blowing their cash due to drug or alcohol addictions, depression, any other combination of factors. Rarely do these players […]