Today the 2014 soccer world cup starts in Brazil and to be honest as a long term light hearted soccer fan I am largely disinterested. Nowadays the world cup is largely controlled by corporate business and sponsorship interests. Demonstrations in Brazil against the expenditure on the stadium confirm this theory as they appear on television to be brutally put down by
the police.
The first world cup that I can really remember was the 1966 world cup in England which of course England won. The story of England winning the 1966 world cup was back page sports news headlines not front page. However nowadays England activities in the world cup will be front page news in the printed news media and quite possibly news headlines on television. The reason for this is I feel as George Orwell and Noam Chomsky have mentioned is to create a false consciousness amongst the masses and to take their mind off serious issues in the world. Also the world cup is used by the ruling class in all countries to create a phoney nationalism and ‘national unity’ amongst all social groups during the world cup. This is the reason why I only really like club soccer as this attracts the real fans. During international soccer competitions phoney fans jump on board for nationalist reasons.
Of course many of the players taking part in the 2014 world cup will be quite tired after a very long club season so they may not give their best during the tournament. Of course many of the players earn huge amounts during the season. Often one hundred thousand pounds per week. To me it seems absurd why working class people earning say twenty eight thousand pounds per year can look upon people earning such large wages as heroes. This is surely false consciousness.
In conclusion I would urge real soccer fans to ignore the 2014 world cup and also to start supporting their local non league soccer club or lower league club and thus boycott the major corporate controlled clubs.
kevinclarion 