The 2010 FIFA World Cup begins June 11th in South Africa. The whole world is watching! To get into the mood, here are some stories you may not know of the seamier side of the wholesome sport of football.
Drugs
Relative to the number of players worldwide, soccer is surprisingly low in drug scandals. This only makes for bigger headlines when it happens. Diego Maradona is considered one of the greatest players of all time. The Argentine footballer started in international leagues when he was only 16 years old. He played in four World Cup tournaments. Maradona was suspended for 15 months in 1991 for cocaine use. In the 1994 World Cup played in the US, he failed a drug test after the match with Nigeria, his second game of the tournament, and was sent home. The culprit in the World Cup dismissal was ephedrine, which Maradona blamed on an energy drink. In recent years, health problems including a heart attack spurred the player to give up cocaine. Maradona is coaching Argentina’s team going into the 2010 World Cup.
Crime
The team from England went to Colombia for a match just ahead of the 1970 World Cup tournament in Mexico. After a visit to a jewelry store attached to their hotel, players Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton were questioned by police about a missing bracelet. A witness said she had seen Moore take the bracelet, but the players were allowed to go to Ecuador for a game. Moore was arrested for shoplifting and jailed when the team returned to Colombia. England was in danger of World Cup disaster if Moore couldn’t make it to Mexico on time, so diplomatic pressure was applied to attain Moore’s release. The team made the World Cup, but lost to West Germany in the quarterfinals. Many years later, evidence surfaced that police knew the bracelet thief was female, and the player had been set up.
Cheating
Although there have been many accusations of cheating in the World Cup, one particularly egregious case stands out because so many people saw it -except for the one person who mattered. The 1986 match between Argentina and England went down in history for a goal Diego Maradona made with the “Hand of God”, meaning he used his hand, but the inexperienced referee didn’t see it and allowed the goal. Argentina won that quarterfinal game. The second goal Maradona scored in that same game was later called the “goal of the century”.
Alcohol
Alcohol is not considered a sin in soccer; but who gets to sell beer to the fans can lead to a huge fight. The 2006 World Cup was held in Germany, the land of beer. Anheuser-Busch, then a US company, paid $40 million dollars for the rights to sell beer exclusively at the World Cup venues. German brewers and beer drinkers had a problem with that.
Simply put, Germans hate Budweiser. Weeks before the inaugural games kicked off the Cup, Germans were furious at the prospect of having to drink what they refer to as “dishwater” at stadiums. Germans even set up a Web site with an image of an American Eagle vomiting beer to lampoon the American brewer and express their disgust.
Budweiser gave in just a little to allow one German company, Bitburger, to sell beer in the stadiums, but they were restricted to unmarked cups. However, they refused to allow spectators to wear logos from other beer companies, which caused a first-round game to see half the crowd in their underwear, as a Dutch beer company had sold shorts in the team’s colors to their fans. Thousands were asked to remove the logo, which meant removing their shorts.
Fixing
Why would anyone throw a World Cup game? Fans couldn’t believe what they saw in the second group game between Argentina and Peru at the 1978 tournament in Argentina. Argentina needed at least a four-goal lead to advance; otherwise Brazil would go to the quarterfinals. Peru, which had been doing well in the tournament up to that point, fell apart in a spectacular fashion. The military junta that ruled Argentina at the time called itself the the National Reorganization Process. This dictatorship was responsible for the disappearance of thousands of opponents. There were rumors of threats or payoffs or both, possibly involving Peruvian sports and government officials more than the players. In any case, spectators noticed that the Peruvian team seemed terrified throughout the game. The fact that Peru’s goalkeeper, Ramon Quiroga, had family in Argentina only added to the speculation. Argentina eventually beat the Netherlands in overtime to win the cup.
Sex
Restricting young adult athletes from sex seems like a recipe for trouble, but it was standard operating procedure for a long time in soccer. In the early days of the World Cup, teams would be sequestered for two months before and during the tournament. The very first World Cup tournament was held in Uruguay in 1930. Olympic gold medalist Andrés Mazali was the goaltender goalkeeper for the home team, but was suspended for breaking curfew to make a date with his wife. Uruguay went on to win the cup nevertheless that year. In 2006, coach Oleg Blokhin offered players on the Ukrainian team the chance to have conjugal visits with their wives as an incentive, but only if the team made it to the semifinals. Ukraine lost to Italy, and just barely missed the semifinals. Of course, once they were out of the tournament, there was no need to abstain.
Even today, some teams must get specific clearance to have sex in the days leading up to the World Cup. Argentina has the OK this year, but England’s manager Fabio Capello has limited player’s access to wives and girlfriend to only the day after games. The team from Brazil will be allowed sex on any day they don’t play.
Violence
Soccer violence on the field ranks well below hockey or rugby, but more people see it when it happens. I watched the final World Cup game in 2006 between Italy and France. An estimated 715 million other people also witnessed the altercation between France’s Zinédine Zidane and Italy’s Marco Materazzi. The two had exchanged words on the field when Zidane suddenly rammed his head into Materazzi’s chest, in full view of the global television audience. The ensuing penalties allowed Italy to take the game and the cup. Zidane was ejected from the game, but went on to further fame as an internet meme.
Comments (27)
Comment
- subscribe /
- give a gift /
- terms of service /
- about /
- contact us /
- write for us /
- ad info /
- subscriber services /
- press /
- privacy policy /
- rss /
© 2012 Mental Floss Inc. All Rights Reserved. Mental Floss is a registered trademark owned by Felix Dennis. mentalfloss.com is a trademark owned by Felix Dennis.
Disclaimer: All submissions made to mental_floss become the property of Mental Floss Inc and may be used without further permission by the submitter and without compensation to the submitter. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not submit anything to mental_floss.
What the hell is a ‘goaltender’!!! I’m guessing you mean goalkeeper? Really, you should pay more attention.
posted by Ben Gipsat on 6-1-2010 at 11:11 am
I must abjectly apologize. I am not familiar with most sports.
posted by Miss Cellania on 6-1-2010 at 11:13 am
I’ve heard people say “goaltender” before. Maybe the difference has to do with nationality?
posted by Fruppi on 6-1-2010 at 11:26 am
While goalkeeper is more common, it’s not like we didn’t know what you meant. Ben’s just being a pedantic jerk.
posted by Brad on 6-1-2010 at 11:35 am
Goaltender is a perfectly legitimate term. Ben is just being melodramatic.
However, goaltender is generally used in reference to ice hockey, whereas soccer generally uses the term goalkeeper.
posted by stevo933 on 6-1-2010 at 11:41 am
The deadliest soccer sin of all- BOREDOM!!!
posted by cajun bob on 6-1-2010 at 12:19 pm
Wow, Maradona and Argentina make a shameful number of appearances on this list.
posted by n2y2 on 6-1-2010 at 12:42 pm
France was not leading Italy when Zidane headbutted Materazzi. The score was tied going into added minutes. (The video also shows a 1-1 score.)
posted by Transplanted New Yorker on 6-1-2010 at 1:02 pm
Does anyone know what the exchanged words were with Zidane? I always liked him and have wanted to know what would drive him to do that.
I like how you wrote “soccer violence on the field.” In the stands, it’s crazy!
posted by Kristy on 6-1-2010 at 1:13 pm
I believe Materazzi said, “I prefer the ah, trollop that is your sister.” (I don’t know what Mentalfloss’s posting regulations are.) I agree about the violence; soccer players aren’t violent, they’re passive-aggressive wimps who act like they have perpetual inner-ear problems.
posted by Transplanted New Yorker on 6-1-2010 at 1:19 pm
Zidane claimed after the game that Materazzi was making derogatory remarks about his mother and had been saying other things all game. Italians are known to smack talk a lot and they are kings of the nut punch when your hundled together for a corner or free kick.
posted by Soccer Fan on 6-1-2010 at 1:59 pm
Like the sin about alcohol, I would protest too if they tried to serve me Bud in Germany. If I was in US, I would pray some other country took the beer sponsorship besides any of the macrobrews. haha Actually Bud, Miller and Coors are now all owned by non-US investors anyway.
@cajun bob – Agreed! that is why I need a good beer.
posted by rccola20 on 6-1-2010 at 2:53 pm
wrt Zidane, the story I heard was that Materazzi was pulling on Zaidane’s jersey throughout much of the game and Zidane commented that if he wanted his shirt so much, he would give it to him. Materazzi replied (as TNY above noted) words to the effect of “I’d rather have your sister.”
posted by Sarah K on 6-1-2010 at 4:11 pm
I really wish that soccer would add a second ref so that they could catch some of this stuff that a single official misses.
Also, would it kill them to design a watch that has a wireless connection to the broadcast booth. That way everyone watching would know when the game is supposed to end. The “best guess” method that this sport employs might have been fine a 100 years ago, but why do we put up with it now?
posted by n2y2 on 6-1-2010 at 4:59 pm
Soccer= who cares?
posted by Mike on 6-1-2010 at 10:10 pm
a big issue in international futbol matches is racism.
posted by Genaro on 6-1-2010 at 11:34 pm
Neat article, Miss Cellania! I’m heading off to South Africa in a week for the World Cup and am very excited, so this was a fun article to read. I never knew about the Peruvian team maybe throwing that match.
Now if only all the commenters approached the subject with the same friendly open-mindedness… But no, I see the typical American complaints about boredom and wimpy players who take dives.
I personally find American football boring, mostly because I’m not knowledgeable enough to appreciate it. But I don’t comment on Super Bowl articles to say that I think football is boring and all the players are thugs.
Instead, I do this thing called moving on to something that I don’t find boring, so I can actually add something to the discussion … You guys should try it sometime!
posted by Megan on 6-2-2010 at 12:47 am
@n2y2 you cant do that the center ref keeps the time at all times it is at his discretion. I have seen games where he say 5 mins of stoppage even though the line judge says 3 ….. he is the main ref can do just about anything he wants
posted by Soccer Fan on 6-2-2010 at 12:48 am
Soccer Fan,
Yes, I know all that. But the main ref keeps track of time on his private stop watch. With today’s technology, why can’t we all know exactly how much time is left? It is trivial to install a wireless connection.
With all the ref scandals there have been in soccer, it seems that more openness would be welcome by all.
posted by n2y2 on 6-2-2010 at 1:44 am
@ Megan…I doubt anyone would mind if you shared your opinion on any subject covered here.
posted by Mike on 6-2-2010 at 7:35 am
n2y2 – since the clock counts up, not down, you are asking the ref to stop watching the game for a few seconds in order to push buttons on his watch, while it’s much simpler for him to communicate to the line judge.
Plus, it’s rare that they end a game mid-play, usually the ref waits til a stop in the action, so a game may run a bit longer than the added time shows.
posted by Stephen on 6-2-2010 at 4:31 pm
i have to agree with Megan- typical american comments about the game.
i love soccer- it’s almost non-stop, unlike american football which is start.stop.start for a second. stop for five. etc.
the other thing i can’t stand about american football is that there are so many overpaid players who are *awful* people and get away with it. you can be a puppy killer, rapist, thug, abuser- but if you throw the football well, then the NFL doesn’t care. they’ll pay you a ridiculous amount because it puts butts in seats.
i’m not saying there aren’t jerk soccer players too, but the game on the whole isn’t dominated by that type of behavior. if you’re getting paid that much you should have to present yourself in the manner of your station. if a teacher beat broke the law like a lot of NFL players, they’d probably go to jail, and most certainly would never be allowed to teach again.
posted by Emmiline on 6-3-2010 at 5:30 pm
You know what I love about soccer? That mostly the players are very classy. There’s not a whole lot of fouling and cheating, I mean seriously it’s a huge deal to do what Zidane did. I can’t imagine doing that on an international scale. I believe the words were about mothers…
But soccer fans are INSANE! It’s fantastic. Like people have died at soccer games in the stands because it gets SO heated. But if you’re not a soccer fan you probably won’t understand it at all.
posted by Tessa on 6-7-2010 at 12:39 pm
And to Mike, who says soccer=who cares. Uh apparently most of the world cares. Soccer is HUGE in the rest of the world. I wish it was bigger in America. It’s a great sport that’s so much more classy than football
posted by Tessa on 6-7-2010 at 12:42 pm
Why does everyone say soccer players are wimps? I mean, first of all most players play straight for ninety minutes, no line changes, no time outs, no start stop, no oxygen at the sidelines (unlike football!); Most players are far better conditioned than football players. There’s so many painful injuries that you can sustain and only someone who doesn’t understand and has never played soccer before would say players are wimps. We’re just more subtle about our hits, and there’s a lot that goes on under the radar.
I love the American comments about this, it’s sad. They truly have no idea about how important soccer is to the rest of the world. Also, they clearly don’t understand the game or they wouldn’t make ridiculous comments.
As to the person who mentioned the “guessing” time, the center keeps track of time with his line refs. They are in sync and because unlike some sports the time in soccer rarely stops it’s silly to have some sort of wireless system. Basically watch your watch, ninety minutes after it starts it will probably stop.
Maybe ya’ll should WATCH some soccer.
posted by sarah on 6-7-2010 at 12:50 pm
@cajun bob. Most people who think soccer is boring have short attention spans. They usually like more “action” in their sports. Soccer has more skill and sheer excitement and suspense than most other sports.
posted by Roger T on 6-8-2010 at 10:23 am
Having fun browsing through your articles. A bit random but I read an interesting bit of trivia, were you aware that 6,352 soccer players have so far featured in WorldCup squads, a quarter (1,545) of whom actually never were on the field.
posted by Nathan Cup on 6-18-2010 at 6:55 am