Football In The Civilizing Process

 

The development of sport as a world phenomenon in the course of the twentieth century and its growing significance in international as well as intra-national relations is one of the prime indicators of the accelerating processes of globalization that have characterized the modem world (I include under the term 'modem world', what has fashionably but in my view misleadingly come to be called our current, 'p6s-modem' era). In this paper, I shall use Elias's theory of 'civilizing processes' (1939, 1994) in an attempt to shed light on the early development of one of these world sports - the 'soccer' form of football. I shall also examine, less intensively, its global spread and attempt to iluminate why soccer has been more successful in diffusing internationally than the rugby and American forms of the game. Finally, I shall briefly pay attention to the related issue of why hooligan behaviour has come to occur more frequently in conjunction with soccer than with these other ludic forms. However, centrally underlyng my paper will be the contention that Elias's theory of civilizing processes is a fruitful vehicle for shedding light on processes such as those connected with the development and diffusion of modem sports. Accordingly, a primary requirement for appreciating the analysis which follows is a proper understanding of what Elias's theory of civilizing processes does and does not entail.

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