Obscure Football Legends: Jules Rimet

Jules Rimet (left) presenting the 1930 WC trophy to Uruguay.

During this summer lull (Fizzy Pop league in just over a month!), we have decided to dust off some features that have slipped away. Today, I renew the "Obscure Football Legends" series with a man who never played football in his life. Huh?


Jules Rimet was born in Theuley-les-Lavoncourt (France) in 1873 the son of a grocer, and would grow up to become a lawyer. His impact on the world, however, would come as president of the Fédération Française de Football (FFF; 1919-1945) and of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA; 1921-1945). It was Rimet who gave us the World Cup.

Convinced that sports could unite the world, Rimet founded the Red Star sports club in Paris (1897) and, crucially, opened membership to anyone. Sensing that football was growing on the world stage, he and others spurred the beginnings of FIFA (1904) in order to promote chivalry and fair play within international football. Becoming the head of the FFF and FIFA within two years of each other, after having seen football play a part in WWI, Rimet began to push the idea of an international competition solely for football professionals, in opposition to the amateur football staged as part of the Olympics.

Rimet was finally successful in 1928 when FIFA decided to stage the first World Cup. Uruguay had offered to pay all expenses, and so the affair was held there. Many European countries (particularly England, as the FA was opposed to the idea) declined to participate, as travel abroad was only possible by boat across the Atlantic. Only France, Romania, Yugoslavia (look it up, kids!) and Belgium made the trip. The host country won the tournament, beating Argentina in the finals, and Rimet was there to present the trophy (as seen above).

Rimet continued to push the World Cup as a vehicle for peace, but his efforts were marred by the next two World Cups, with 1934 in Italy having fascist overtones and 1938 in France having to deal with 1 qualifying country (Germany) conquering another (Austria). Despite this, Rimet was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1956 but his nomination was rejected by the panel. Strangely enough, no Nobel Prize was awarded that year and Rimet had passed away by the end of the year.

In the interim, Rimet had been rewarded by FIFA, as the World Cup trophy was renamed in his honor in 1946. Unfortunately, after having been awarded permanently to Brazil in 1970 after their 3rd WC championship, the Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen in 1983 and was never recovered.

While it is difficult to say that football has achieved his ideals of chivalry (Ronaldo, anyone) or unity (racism and fascism still play a role among supporters and players alike), it is clear that is has become the world's game. And it is the efforts of Jules Rimet that made football's largest stage a reality.

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David vs. Goliath: Beckham & Obama Lead World Cup Charge

The English footballing galaxy packed into Wembley this morning for the ceremonial unveiling of the country's latest bid to host the World Cup. FA Chairman Lord Triesman is organizing the effort, which will be stamped over with David Beckham's golden grin.

Sadly though for trophy-starved Ingerland, there is at least one equally magical genius of international acclaim standing in the way of their proposed hospitality.


Said President Obama, vouching for Sunil & Co., in a letter to FIFA's Septic president:

"As a child, I played soccer on a dirt road in Jakarta, and the game brought the children of my neighborhood together... As a father, I saw that same spirit of unity alive on the fields and sidelines of my own daughters’ soccer games in Chicago.”

By contrast, England frontman David Beckham sought to remind the world of his homeland's priapismic hard-on for the beautiful game:

"The passion doesn't just stop at Premier League level. It's from the grass-roots and the amateur leagues right through every league, including the dark recesses of League One, where the Norwich City Canaries will fight fate and push for a return to the Colaship in 2010." (I made up those last 18 words)

The happy-ending scenario being bandied about by the English press involves the Americans and English teaming up (like in Iraq!), with each country backing the other as England targets 2018 and the U.S. sits back for 2022.

Here are some relevant (and informative) links:

*Football's Coming Home!-- Err I mean, Please, football, come visit for a few weeks nine years from now!

*Breaking down the existential threats to plans for an Anglo-American Axis of World Cup hosting... Greedy Spanish thieves!

*Hey, who let Shrek in the shot?? The game report from Wembley.

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Quick Throw: 2018 World Cup. Who Wants It?

The deadline passed yesterday and today FIFA announced the 11 teams who fancy a crack at hosting the World Cup in 2018 and 2022. Those who will spend millions on fancy drawings, scale models, super models AND footballing superstars to plead their case are as follows...England, Australia, Russia, Japan, Mexico, Indonesia, a joint effort from Portugal/Spain and the U.S.A.

Qatar and South Korea applied to bid for 2022 only.

FIFA will now accept bidding agreements and a 24 man panel will announce that England, I mean U.S.A, I mean the winner in 2010.

The next World Cup is being held in South Africa next year, Brazil will host the event in 2014.

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Marco Materazzi Wins Damages, Still a Tw*t

Really, wouldn't you believe that this douchebag made a racist comment?

Everyone knows the story of what happened between Zinedine Zidane (Zizou) and Marco Materazzi (Matrix) in the 2006 World Cup final between France and Italy. After some shirt-pulling and some pleasant conversation, the Les Bleus legend unleashed the headbutt heard 'round the world. On that day Materazzi was able to use his skills as an asshole to rattle Zizou and affect the outcome of the match in Italy's favor. But everyone wondered exactly what he had said to cause such a reaction.


Several prominent newspapers printed that Materrazi had called Zizou, who is of Algerian heritage, "the son of a terrorist whore." Given the tense nature of post-colonial relations between France and Algeria, along with increased global perception of Muslims as terrorists due to America's "War on Terror", this was a particularly grievous insult. These newspapers (sic) hired lip readers to review video of the match, had alleged witnesses (who? the ball boys?) to the incident, and generally felt comfortable with their assertions. Unfortunately for them, it was eventually revealed that Marco had simply said that he preferred Zizou's "whore of a sister" rather than the Frenchman's jersey, which Zidane had sarcastically offered to give him after Materazzi had repeatedly grabbed it.

Eventually the Matrix realized that he had been so scarred by his treatment at the hands of these newspapers that he needed to go "full American" and file lawsuits for libel. Because, really, who could ever believe that Marco Materazzi, of all people, would do something outside the rules of the game?



After successfully suing the Daily Star, from which he received a formal apology and damages, as well as the Daily Mail, from which he also received damages, Materazzi was able to complete his British trifecta this week when The Sun agreed to a "six-figure settlement."

I've got a finger I would give him. Oh, they said figure? Nevermind.

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Who Will Host World Cup 2018? 2022?

The most important question that I did not take into account was which country will give us the best female footie fans. The answer to that would have to be Spain/Portugal with the Netherlands/Belgium a close second followed by Russia.

Thirteen whole countries decided it was worth their time to submit a letter to FIFA by February 2 expressing interest in hosting the world’s biggest sporting event in either 2018 or 2022. (Belgium and The Netherlands, however, submitted a joint letter of interest. I bet the Belgians made the Dutch write the letter, in 5 languages.)

I can’t imagine the trouble these countries went through to draft the letter.

Dear Herr Blatter,

We are interested in hosting the 2018 and/or 2022 World Cup.

Sincerely,


The US of A.

Without further ado, the complete list of countries submitting letters of interest—Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands, England, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Qatar, Russia, Spain and Portugal, and the United States.

Now let’s handicap these potential suitors to the Golden Orb. Since it’s early on, I’m just going to put them into tiers.

Tier 1:

England – The motherland for soccer has to be high on the list for everybody. It would certainly be well attended and much of the infrastructure is already in place to support the event and given the current economic situation, it may be difficult to come up with funds for large infrastructure improvements for other countries. Downside: It’s really expensive in England and people sometimes don’t like fait accompli.

USA – 1994 was a huge success and I think the soccer world still wants to try and develop the soccer market in this country. Plus, the infrastructure is there to have a hugely games at every venue. In 1994, this country was just getting to know soccer. With the advent of the internet and the concomitant increased exposure of soccer in the US, the event will be even bigger. Downside: Hosted the event in 1994. Not a huge soccer country. And, it is America. We are not well liked even with President Obama.

Mexico – North America will likely get one of these bids since, Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America have all hosted since 1994. Also, CONCACAF President and FIFA Vice President Jack Warner wants to bring the World Cup back to North America and will likely play the USA against Mexico to his advantage (read: line his pockets). Mexico is a soccer mad country and hosted in 1986 so it has at least an aging infrastructure for the event, and is currently building 13 stadiums. Downside: It would be really freaking hot down there.

Tier 2:

Australia – FIFA is always trying to increase it’s footprint and Asia is one of the main places it has been focusing its efforts. Now, Australia isn’t technically Asia, but it’s geographically close. It’s also the one inhabited continent that has never hosted a World Cup. Everybody loves Australia and wants to visit. Downside: It’s a long ways away from everything and it would be the third consecutive WC in the Southern hemisphere.

Belgium and Netherlands – Who doesn’t want to go to the Netherlands (or Belgium, I hear it’s nice)? The upside to this bid is that it is in Europe and easily accessible to millions, strong soccer infrastructure, and it’s not one of the big European countries. Downside: Not big European countries and may not have the political pull.

Spain and Portugal – Another European destination with infrastructure and warm climes. Given Spain’s recent soccer success, some may be inclined to bump them up to Tier 1. I thought about it, but I just see this as a three-horse race for the two spots. They could play the spoiler but I don’t see it happening. Downside: Cristiano Ronaldo is from Portugal.

Russia – This is a tough one to place. The corruption in Russia is rampant and seeing how it is going in South Africa, I can’t see FIFA wanting to battle that again. Plus, the economic crisis has severely affected Russia’s wealth at the moment, so getting stuff built might be an issue with corruption and financial problems. On the other hand, FIFA may see this as an opportunity to extract reforms out of Russia. Downside: I have no idea how the Russian soccer infrastructure is currently situated. I don’t know how traveling in Russia would go, it is a very big place. Corruption. Could very well move them to Tier 3.

Tier 3:

Japan – Just co-hosted in 2002. Not a big enough country to host again so soon.

South Korea – Ditto.

Qatar – One of my cohorts thinks Qatar should be higher because they have dumptrucks full of cash to line the pockets of FIFA executives. That cash would also come in handy when building state-of-the-art stadiums. Downsides: While Qatar is safer country than some of the other Middle Eastern countries right now in regards to Islamic extremists, it is still located in the heartland of that activity. I say that is a con. Moreover, it’s a Muslim country so booze and hookers would be seriously limited. Finally, it’s hot as balls there all the time. Do you remember how much trouble the teams seemed to have in the 2006 World Cup when it got “hot”? It was Germany!!! Not as hot as Qatar.

Tier 4:

Indonesia – No way in hell. I’m sure they have no infrastructure. Plus, they have some issues with Islamic extremists. I don’t think that would sit well with some of the FIFA power players.

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Bad Ideas in Football Culture - World Cup Host Qatar

We've seen our share of wacky locations to hold the World Cup, and many also-rans. This one is no different, according to our friends at Reuters, Qatar is considering a Wolrd Cup bid. What will this do for the secondary economy that follows such large events? Is this something that can be taken seriously from a country that has given us a failed round of international trade talks? Qatar is claiming they have the physical infrastructure to host the cup, and what they don't have they can easily build I'm sure of it.

We have the stadiums and we have experience hosting top sports events. We don't want to rush into anything, we need to find out what the full requirements are, but we are interested.

Of course, the mid-east has cash - or had more cash before the fall in oil prices. They are desperate to show themselves in a different, pro-western light. But for every business opening in Dubai, there is a random cultural scandal.

The World Cup isn't just a juggernaut of moments of great football surrounded by days of poor passing, there is a large economic engine that surrounds it. From the open travel angle of the supporters, you also have the secondary economies of "entertainment". Food, Lodging, Alcohol, and for some not named Ronaldo, time spent between consenting adults is illegal. If any of you have been to a city during Super Bowl week can attest to the quality of "talent" that is brought into town. I'm betting the World Cup is not much different.

Qatar is one of these up and coming Muslim worlds, ala Dubai. They want to slide western, but they still hold the strict Muslim culture. They still like to randomly lock up folks - especially foreigners - for what we consider minor offense (public intoxication anyone?).

We're not here to bash other cultures - what people choose to do in their own country is their own choice, and I'm not one to generally mess in other people's affairs. But the World Cup has a larger agenda and a bigger picture to deal with. They need to find a country/countries that has the physical infrastructure - stadiums, lodging, transportation, security - for the teams, and their staff and fans. They also need to make sure the economic engine of the fans who travel, who bring the money to the host country to spend, will be able to spend it freely and easily.

I think South Africa has FIFA worried about a country making it happen and being successful, as they should well be. The host country process has undergone some changes in how they are being chosen, which is wise. However, when considering a host country, I can only hope that FIFA takes the extra-curricular activities of their fans and players into account. I'd hate to watch America lose in Group Stages, walk out into the street drunk and get thrown into some third world prison.

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