Germany, pride through football
Germany, pride through football By James Crowe
Wollongong, August 8, 2014: Sixty years after the end of World War II and Germany as a nation has made a historic turn around. The country has rebuilt itself in terms of infrastructure, national identity and now has one of the strongest economies in the world. Despite this national and economic resurgence it was still considered, until as recently as 2006, somewhat of a faux pas to be openly proud of being German. This lingering vilification from WWII is not just the perception of outsiders, but also how Germans see themselves. “Nobody ever had black, red and gold hanging from their house before 2006, you’d get named a Nazi right away” said Ben Jeff, a medical student from Ludwig Maximillian University in Munich. The exception to this aversion of national pride comes when the German football team competes in major international tournaments, in particular, the FIFA World Cup. Every four years the people of Germany have relished the chance to show their pride before folding up their flags in wait for the next tournament. According to AnnaLena Miano, a nurse from Frankfurt, it was okay to be proud of Germany for a few weeks before and after a big football tournament: “I wish it was like that all the time” she mused. Even though Germany was crowned champions in 1954, 1974 and 1990 and finished runner up to Brazil in 2002, it was not until they hosted the finals in 2006 that a lasting sense of national pride began to take effect. This has been steadily building through football and has finally taken effect when Germany was crowned world champions at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Germany didn’t just win a game of football when they defeated Argentina in the World Cup final last month, nor was it merely a world championship that they took home. That night, in front of a packed out crowd at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio with over 700 million viewers worldwide, the German football team won the right for their entire nation to be proud of their home country. ##
Wollongong, August 8, 2014: Sixty years after the end of World War II and Germany as a nation has made a historic turn around. The country has rebuilt itself in terms of infrastructure, national identity and now has one of the strongest economies in the world. Despite this national and economic resurgence it was still considered, until as recently as 2006, somewhat of a faux pas to be openly proud of being German. This lingering vilification from WWII is not just the perception of outsiders, but also how Germans see themselves. “Nobody ever had black, red and gold hanging from their house before 2006, you’d get named a Nazi right away” said Ben Jeff, a medical student from Ludwig Maximillian University in Munich. The exception to this aversion of national pride comes when the German football team competes in major international tournaments, in particular, the FIFA World Cup. Every four years the people of Germany have relished the chance to show their pride before folding up their flags in wait for the next tournament. According to AnnaLena Miano, a nurse from Frankfurt, it was okay to be proud of Germany for a few weeks before and after a big football tournament: “I wish it was like that all the time” she mused. Even though Germany was crowned champions in 1954, 1974 and 1990 and finished runner up to Brazil in 2002, it was not until they hosted the finals in 2006 that a lasting sense of national pride began to take effect. This has been steadily building through football and has finally taken effect when Germany was crowned world champions at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Germany didn’t just win a game of football when they defeated Argentina in the World Cup final last month, nor was it merely a world championship that they took home. That night, in front of a packed out crowd at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio with over 700 million viewers worldwide, the German football team won the right for their entire nation to be proud of their home country. ##
