A Cup Without a Country: The Pervasive Sense of “Other” from an American Football Fan

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“You should be ashamed,” hollered a woman in a white Stetson with a diamond encrusted “W” glinting off the front of it. “You’re unpatriotic,” she concluded. My sister and I heard that sentence over and over when we attended the second inauguration of George W.  Bush. That was politics. That was Washington, DC circa 2004. Flash forward to the present and I’ve heard nearly the same argument tossed my way when it comes to the World Cup.

Not being a fan of the U.S. national team has made me a target of disdain, ire and not a few rants on just how “wrong” I am, and that there’s no other country in the world where the citizens aren’t zealots about the national team.

I could fake it—I could chant, “U.S.A, U.S.A.,” with other fans, but it would turn my ambivalence into resentment. Note that my feeling for the team is ambivalence—not hate, or even strong dislike—as I have never felt connected to its players, fans or style. I am not disappointed if the U.S. team does well, nor do I plan to root against them in the World Cup. But for a country of people that cannot get behind the simplest of human necessities, such as healthcare for its citizens, it strikes me as peculiar that when a sporting event is on, we’re suddenly all supposed to care about America. The messages are muddled: If you’re an American, you need to care about sports, get behind the team and be a part of the collective—but you can’t care about your neighbor.

As a Liverpool fan, my interest naturally is in our players’ performances, and I plan to keep a close eye on their national teams. However, even if I didn’t support Liverpool, Spain would still be my favorite. The passion and prowess they’ve displayed on the field is undeniable and watching them over the past few years has been enjoyable. They are the Cup favorites for a reason. Similarly, I enjoyed watching the Netherlands in the last Euro and I’m a fan of Dirk Kuyt, so those matches will also be on at my house. One of the most anticipated matches, featuring three Liverpool players, is Saturday’s between the U.S. and England.

To root for either the U.S. or England would feel false. I must admit to a preference for Capello as a manager even though comparing him to Bob Bradley feels somehow unfair. Capello has a pedigree unavailable to American managers. The caliber of players also seems to weigh heavily in England’s favor, if I didn’t know how easy it is for England to underachieve and for the U.S. to defend its way through matches. Instead of a team, I’ll root for the game of football tomorrow; here’s to an inspired match.

Even writing this, I feel an overwhelming sense of “meh.” Why am I still unconvinced? Does it even matter? Does it really mean I am somehow wrong and unpatriotic?

Enter last Thursday’s U.S. flag burning by fellow Liverpool supporters, and then enter an article on the Fox Sports website by Robert Burns. Burns suggests that because two Liverpool fans burned the American flag, U.S. fans should “rally like never before behind our players and give them the support that those in England believe is beyond our grasp.” Granted, the flag burning incident is an embarrassment; I shuddered when reading about it. But I also thought it an incredibly stupid, uncreative and lazy gesture on the part of those fans. I also dislike “Yanks out” and the nonsense cowboy slogans. When visiting Liverpool in March, I must admit to experiencing a heightened awareness and discomfort with my nationality when interacting with fans. I never felt that way in the past. It was an “Oh no, I am one of them” type of feeling that usually portends some sort of altercation. If I am one of them—an American—that must mean I am not fully behind Liverpool, not a real fan.

Being a Liverpool fan has exposed me to more types of people—races and nationalities—and football is the language we share. How many Americans even know what Hicks and Gillet have done to Liverpool Football Club? Burns’s article doesn’t even say that was the day the “mutual consent” deal was announced for Rafa leaving the Club. I can’t imagine Texas Rangers fans are too happy with how their team has been managed and, living in Chicago, it’s unfathomable how fans would react if foreign owners decimated one of our beloved teams as Hicks and Gillet seemed determined to do to Liverpool. So to Robert Burns I’d offer that context is everything and this isn’t some chest-pounding rally behind America moment.

When reflecting back to the inauguration in 2004, another incident stands out: an anarcho-punk-styled (I’m surprised he didn’t have a Crass patch sewn to the butt flap on his pants) young man strode up to us screaming “No blood for your oil war!” My sister and I looked at each other and practically broke into laughter as we, in tandem, said, “we’re on your side!” The young man ended up apologizing and hugging us over this case of mistaken identity. We’ve concluded that he judged us as being on the other side because we were nondescript in our black winter coats and hats, or because we didn’t look like him or a majority of the protestors. In spite of walking in the crowd with them, we still represented the “other” and certainly didn’t fit in with Bush supporters either.

It’s strange to be floating in that same limbo again, uncertain of how to navigate the space between belonging and not belonging, of how to provide satisfying answers to myself or anyone else about loyalties to club or country. Should I have to? Will I always be an outsider?

For the Liverpool fans that burned the U.S. flag, I can only yawn and say, “poorly done.” And for anyone in the U.S. calling for a rally over two people burning a flag or to those hollering at me or anyone who shares my feelings, I’d like you to come up with a better argument than “because it’s your country.” Can we quit predicating arguments on nationalistic obligation and start talking about “the world’s game”? I’ve been passive in many of the conversations on this subject, I’ve sat back and listened all the while wondering if the person even watched any U.S. qualifiers or could name more than a couple of players. I want to hear from someone that actually loves the team and is truly excited to watch them for any reason other than “it’s my country.” Talk to me about the style of play, convince me of their merit, and prove my ambivalence wrong. Or better yet, maybe the team will.

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17 Comments

  1. I’m curious as to how defining the US by its politics and presidents is different from trying to define LFC by looking at G&H. I think your characterization of Americans is pretty inaccurate, based on overly broad generalizations that very clearly change based on where in the country you are, far too pessimistic, and all in all are entirely missing the point.

    All nations have more than one political point of view. The US is moving forward. The question is more of pace. But I feel you’re overwhelmingly mistaken to take your political frustrations and direct them in such a way as to be unsupportive of the nation as a whole. That attitude exactly is what gives those whose politics you seem to be against and not identify with the fuel for their arguments. The whole “why should people who don’t love this country have a say in it” argument. If you want to see a change, love the country, support the country, and direct that energy towards trying to make it ever better than it was the day before. You can try to make changes from the standpoint of not feeling love for your country, but they will never have the same impact. Based on your post, I’d guess I share your politics. And I certainly share your passion for LFC. But yeah, when it comes to your support of your country, I am entirely on the side of everyone who tells you you’re wrong.

  2. I love this flag-burning thing – no-one in england gives a sh*t about it, but it seems to be an actual item of news in america. Even the article it has been taken from hardly focused on it at all. I’m 100% english, from liverpool, so i will be supporting our boys at this competition. For the next few weeks wayne rooney will be one of my favourite football players i think you should rally behind the US; stop pretending you care about spain, and realise how much you owe to your country. I don’t agree with many of the UK’s decisions in politics, but nothing means more to me than this competition.

  3. I’m an LFC supporter, but I’m American. I was born in America, and my father and grandfather fought for this country. I root for the USA. As I learned from hockey, it’s about the crest on the front and not the names on the back. Sure I love Stevie G, ‘Nando, and Kuyt, but they don’t play for my country, so as far as I’m concerned, I hope they lose, and I’ll keep rooting for them when they put on the red shirt again in a few months. If ‘Nando and Stevie were to transfer, would I suddenly root for the team they go to? Of course not.

    And just for the record, LFC fans who burn the American flag should grow up. Again, I had family fight for that flag and for our freedoms. Hicks and Gillette do NOT represent America, they represent corporate greed. Burn a Texas Rangers flag or Dallas Stars flag, but an American flag is ridiculous. As if an Englishman, Spaniard, or German with billions would do it any better just because of their nationality. There are plenty of brilliant business people in American who could make LFC a bastion of strength.

  4. What im scared of is the elite grup of bankers running the federal reserve attempting to control the world. lol

  5. A very well thought out piece which, overall, I agree with. I’m from Liverpool and a lifelong Red and I have no affinity whatsoever with the England team (or Team London as I call them since they moved back to Wembley). As far as I’m concerned, international football is where LFC players go to get injured, and if I had my way the only shirt they wore would have a Liver Bird on it.
    Regarding Hicks & Gillet, the fact that they are Americans just makes people (media, protestors) lazy. They are two men who have done extreme damage to our club. Where they’re from is immaterial (can you imagine what it would be like if they were German? WWII references all over the place). There’s enough to complain about those two without resorting to racial stereotypes.
    While flag burning is no big deal in this country, I know how offensive it is in the US – it would be up there with spitting in the face of the Queen – and I knew that this is what would get reported in the States. I don’t care that H&G are American, they could come from Scotland Road for all I care, I despise them for what they’ve done to our club. As I said earlier, the fact that they’re foreigners just makes people lazy and go for the easy option.
    I’m sorry that you felt out of place when you last came to Anfield, that is just wrong. You are RED, you are ONE OF US. YNWA

  6. Melissa, you have to realize that all countries’ governments are two-faced when it comes to expecting support. They ignore the voter’s demands yet want it in something trivial as supporting a national sports team. Its not just unique to America sweetheart. As for the flag burning and ‘Yanks out’ protests, it was done in context and DIRECTLY aimed at the two cowboys. It was not aimed at America in general. The frustration is just boiling over, and a way to try and offend Hicks and Gilett personally is to burn the flag. As for support, well I support South Africa, and then teams with Liverpool players.

  7. For the record, as an English fan I was dismayed and embarrassed by the flag burning. True, it was barely mentioned in the British press, but you can bet if it had been the other way round the tabloids would have been all over it…

    Given what I’ve read from fans of the American teams Hicks has virtually destroyed, this is not a case of England v USA, but rather sports lovers vs Hicks.

    On the national team, I can’t imagine not supporting England – just not wired to do otherwise! But I do know some English footie fans who are vervent Spain or France supporters…

  8. As someone with an American mother and English father (and being born in England) I honestly don’t get how someone can support a country they have no connection with. I support England because I always have, and could only name a few US players, etc. I just don’t get it when people who are about as Italian as the cast of Jersey Shore go on about “Italia” and stuff. I want the US to do well, and it is quite a buzzkill that the first game has to be my two countries against each other. I’m not going to attack you for supporting Spain (I plan to keep an eye on them if they last longer than the US or England) because of all the LFC players past and present, I’m just saying I don’t get it.

    Unfortunately if you don’t have connections to the country you support, you will always be an outsider. A club is different from a country. A club is a collection of players (few of whom are from the city in question) who make up a global brand. I have never been to Liverpool or even seen a match in person (hoping to change that this summer) but I don’t feel like a fake because I crawl out of bed early on the weekends to watch the matches and care about the team. I have more of a connection by virtue of being English than many who support this team or want to play for it. But with a country it is different. A country is why I have respect for Rooney and disgust for Ronaldo. A country is a people, not a company.

  9. It’s got nothing to do with nationalism, it’s about Capitalism, Globalization and the moves made from there on football (soccer). Our club got ‘leveraged’ & conned, just like Kraft did with the Cadbury’s workers here (you should google that one). Politically & ethically – have a real think. Regards the flag burning; go to Bill Hicks & learn, lets burn the Union Jack too – it’s ok. More will be made in Taiwan – lighters too. Don’t get all muddled & victimized in the middle ground you’ve invented for yourself. As for the beaut above talking about ‘our boys’ – you are Eng-er-land, you are a bank clerk, you need to live in Stoke Pogis, you are the ‘barmy army’, god save your queen & you. Tit.

  10. I did’nt see the flag burning but Im sure the same as most scousers we do not hate yanks per say, but we do hate G & H, but that aside not a bad article, I also feel the same about supporting Engerland after growing up in Liverpool thru the Thatcher years any Englishness that I had was beaten out of me, although as a Socialist I do belive the Flag of St George should be wrestled from the far right. ps I think the Woody Gutherie song “This land is my land is my land” should be the US anational Anthem

  11. Thanks for reading everyone. It is rather difficult to capture your thoughts and emotions for a particular moment in time within a few hundred words and I appreciate your time reading and commenting.

    For the record, this is most definitely not about me not liking my country, which I like very much and appreciate on many levels. Obviously I wouldn’t be the person I am had I not grown up and lived here. This is about me not feeling connected to my country’s team within a sport I am VERY much connected to.

    Thanks again for reading and discussing. It is always wonderful to read a variety of opinions.

    And Ken, many thanks for your kind words.

    YNWA

  12. Dave I was born and bred in SA. My old man however is scouse- so I was brought up to support Liverpool,hate the Mancs and laugh at Everton. And like many old-school Liverpool supporters, he refuses to support England. Makes sense, look at how the LOD and English media hate Liverpool-they are always on a hate campaign against the club. So the question should be asked, why the f**k support England when the English media hate Liverpool? Yes its great our lads are in the team and that Stevie is captain, but do you really want to see that self confessed Liverpool hating prick and former Blue Nose Rooney lifting the trophy?

  13. I thought we only had to prove how red-blooded American we are to other Americans. The tea bagger party in the US would be so proud their ideology has gone global.

    It’s both bizarre and naïve to assume that someone doesn’t care about the place they live in because they are ambivalent about a particular team. Where does one pick that up? The ambivalence is not written based on some sort of condemnation of the place they reside, but on the type of team. By someone who actually knows about the game and players, and understands the background. I’m also from the US, and I can guarantee you that the only things we seem to be able to rally around these days in any demonstrable ways are sports teams. Anything else…not so much. See: Gulf of Mexico clean-up. All of this says volumes. And by the way, in the US, our Supreme Court has decided a company now possesses the individual rights of a person. So I guess a country can now be a company.

    Is there a mandatory ‘love of your country’ test we don’t know about in order for someone to follow the World Cup? If from the United States, does it require blind passion for the US team? If so, is that the only requirement? And how does one go about proving that? Running down the street screaming “USA!!!…USA!!!!”? I guess the requirement that one must only support their designated country proves the point Melissa was trying to make…who cares IF one actually cares about the place and people within a nation’s borders, or even knows about the team they are fielding. Ironically, I still don’t see anyone here actually talking about the abilities of US team.

  14. Interesting write up. I feel much the same way. There is very little connection to the US team for me. I only know a handful of players and I can’t say I really follow the team outside of their major competitions. When I look at teams like England and Spain, I know every player and how they play. Still though, I root for the US because of the underdog factor. Today, I supported the US team, along with Stevie, Carra, and Glen.

    Do I care who wins the World Cup? Not really. I will support Spain, Netherlands, and England throughout their campaigns; not just for their Liverpool contingency too. I will also support the US but I won’t be gutted when they bow out. I do hope the team has a respectable showing though.

    On another note, is it wrong for me to feel annoyed when Americans from Mexican decent have undivided support for Mexico? These are people who are often several generations removed from Mexico and don’t even follow soccer until Mexico or Beckham play. These people are American through and through except when Mexico takes the field. I guess it is probably similar to the Italy support in Jersey. Annoying or am I just a hypocrite? My girlfriend is 100% Mexican so I see it a lot first hand.

    To wrap it up, I don’t blindly support anything “just because” and I don’t think anyone should. I would love it if the US one day developed into a soccer powerhouse with some of the world’s premier talent and actually had a chance at winning the tournament, but until then I will accept our status in the world and wish them the best.

    Oh, and health care isn’t a “necessity” let alone a right. Just because I don’t feel the government should mandate health care for everyone doesn’t mean I don’t care about our people. That’s like saying if you don’t support the war you are unpatriotic ;) Nothing is free, especially health care, and we are broke…

  15. This entire article (& comments) is very much a moot point. If you want others to question your politics, try HATING soccer and the world cup.

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