Hansford P. - The World Cup: Heroes, Hoodlums, High-kicks and Head-butts

Published in 2014 by Hardie Grant Books

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Copyright Paul Hansford 2014

Cataloguing-in-publication data available from the catalogue of the National Library of Australia at www.nla.gov.au

The World Cup: Heroes, Hoodlums,
High-Kicks and Head-Butts
eISBN 9781743582176

Cover designer Josh Durham/Design by Committee

For my dynamic duo, Lukas and Kasper.

Win or die!Benito Mussolini, 1938

Both are very hard to stay without [but] Im sure sex wouldnt be so rewarding as this World Cup. Its not that sex isnt good but the World Cup is every four years and sex is not.Ronaldo, 2002

Its not worth wasting your breath debating itthe FIFA World Cup is the greatest sporting event in the world. Every four years more than 200 countries fight it out for just thirty-one places (the hosts get a free pass, having bought all the food and booze) in the richest, most prestigious and keenly fought tournament on the planet.

Billions of football fans put their regular lives on pause for the month-long football fest, including an estimated 715 million who watched the final in 2006 and more than 3 million spectators who went through the turnstiles in 2010. (It seems FIFA are still counting viewers from the last final, as many fell into a deep state of shock after being traumatised by the Netherlands kick anything with a pulse tactics.) To belabour the point just a little longer, in South Africa 390,000 hot dogs and three-quarters of a million litres of beer were sold in the stadiumsadmittedly a bit of a disappointing figure, but my mate Andy and I had to return home after the knockout stages

The World Cups rivals dont measure up in comparison. The Super Bowl is too American, Wimbledon is too white (clothing and participants), the World Series isnt a world series and the Tour de France is a bit too dopey. Of course, there is the elephant in the roomthe Olympicsbut when you consider that the only Olympic events that come close to matching the viewing figures of the World Cup (the opening and closing ceremonies) are not even sport, then theres no need to even go into whether twirling a ribbon on a stick or walking really fast are actual sports.

Having covered three tournaments in my time working for Shoot! and Australian FourFourTwo, I have been fortunate enough to witness in person the drama, passion, hatred, violence and farce that is the World Cup finals.

Some of the most memorable moments of my time spent in France, Germany and South Africa include having bottles thrown at me by rioting England fans in Marseille, chasing a German kid whod stolen my bag through a train station at 3 am after Id nodded off on a bench, and witnessing a fellow journalist sleep through a World Cup Final in the press box because hed had a bit too much champagne in celebration of getting a ticket.

And thats even before getting to the football: Michael Owens goal against Argentina in 1998, Lilian Thurams second against Croatia in the semifinal of the same year, Tim Cahills heroics in Australias stunning come-from-behind win against Japan in 2006 and watching Ronaldo score, Beckham hit a free kick, Zidane pass, Iniesta move

My memories of watching the World Cup on TV as a youngster are just as vivid: the short shorts and big hair of 82, the spider-like shadow on the pitch of the Estadio Azteca in 86, the tears of Gazza and Nessun Dorma in Italia 90 and the humiliation of the missed penalty in USA 94 (Diana Ross, not Roberto Baggio). I can recall the exploits of Zico, Maradona, Socrates, Rossi and Lineker as if I were still the wide-eyed, ginger-haired kid who stayed up to all hours to watch every game of every tournament (even if I didnt know where Honduras was and couldnt pronounce Goikoetxea properly).

The reasons the World Cup stands as the ultimate sporting event are innumerable, but for me the allure of the World Cup is the memories it evokes. Of course, there are the football onesthe great games, players and goalsbut more important are the personal ones it creates: watching England games with my dad; recreating Paolo Rossis goals with my brother in the back garden (he was always the crestfallen Brazilian goalkeeper); and the lesson I was taught as a nine-year-old when Harald Schumachers assault on Patrick Battiston went unpunished, letting me know in no uncertain terms that the good guys dont always win.

So Id like to think of The World Cup: Heroes, hoodlums, high-kicks and head-butts as a stroll down footballs memory lane, shining a light on the great World Cup tournaments from not just the modern era, but from the eras of our fathers and our fathers fathers. Along the way you will be introduced to the legendary players, the greatest games, the biggest shocks and a whole host of weird and wonderful tales that help create the World Cups storied history.

Enjoy.

The dominant themes in FIFAs formation of a World Cup tournament at the turn of the last century are very similar to the governing bodys main motivations moving into the 21st century and beyond: to control the world game and make shedloads of money.

At the turn of the 20th century, a struggle was taking place in footballs corridors of power. The English Football Association (FA) ruled the roost; as the founding fathers of the game, they were the sports key influencers, principally through the organising of footballs jewel in the crown, the Olympic tournament.

However, across Europe there was a growing feeling that a global governing body was needed. European associations were placing pressure on the FA to become more involved in the international side of the game; but, having invented football, the English saw the game as their balland they were not going to let anyone else play with it.

Led by French journalist Robert Gurin and lawyer-turned-administrator Jules Rimet, the breakaway associations believed the FAs position was untenable in the long run and began work on the formation of a world body. Recognising the importance of involving the FA, Gurin approached them to become involved, but, not for the last time, the FA maintained an isolationist positionwith a heavy serving of arrogance on the sideand told Johnny foreigner to leave their game alone, responding that they couldnt see the advantage of the proposal.

Not put off by a few snooty Brits, on 21 May 1904 representatives from the football associations of France, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Spain gathered to agree on the formation of the Fdration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and installed Gurin as its first president. In a two-fingered salute to the FA (which actually gave its blessing to FIFAs formation and joined a year later), the most significant statute agreed upon that day was as follows: The international Federation is the only organisation with the right to organise an international competition. Englands ball had been kicked over the fence and the Europeans werent about to give it back