A look at a current news item through the lens of different Gale electronic resources.
By Michelle Eickmeyer
Boy, oh boy. American’s have an interesting relationship with soccer. For decades, soccer has held an unyielding grip on, well, every other country in the world. Though there have been the exceptional fanatic interspersed, soccer has largely remained relegated to a kid’s sport. Yes, most children play soccer. No, most adults couldn’t name 4 teams. Until 2014. (See my previous post here.)
During the 2010 World Cup, held in South Africa, 34% of American’s watched at least some part of a match. And we didn’t watch too much. (Source) But in 2014? We were ready. A lot of us watched, and we watched a lot of the matches. Thirty-nine percent more of us watched 33 percent more. (Source)
Why is soccer’s time “now” in America? One theory is that all those kids who grew up playing soccer, are now adults and are putting their time and money where their hearts have always been. Another believes American’s have begun to embrace the opportunity for a “great and exciting” game to end with a very low score.
When the U.S. led the charge to investigate corruption within FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, it raised a few eyebrows. Why is America getting involved was asked by several people, but with varying tone. ‘You don’t even like soccer’ on one side, and ‘finally but how come someone who cared more didn’t step up a long time ago’ from the other. The most frustrating response, in my opinion — as an American who likes soccer — was from Russian president Putin who said we were once again meddling in world affairs which were not our concern and somehow tried to get Edward Snowden involved. (Source) That is the sole statement I have read expressing this (paranoid?) opinion; let’s leave it alone. Other voices from around the wold have been more supportive, including this BBC article.
Obviously, no one at the DOJ consulted me when they planned this action, but there are several reasons which make it easy to understand how/why we chose to act when others did not. We like a fair fight. We aren’t afraid to say no or ask tough questions, even if we have to ask them of our friends. We don’t like being taken advantage of. And, perhaps most importantly, we can sometimes see things differently because we don’t have years of “just accepting it” like many other countries.
Here’s a look at soccer and corruption through four online resources from Gale.
Associated Press Collections Online: European Bureaus, Middle East Bureaus, U.S. City Bureaus Collection
We might not have been soccer super fans for long, but the coverage of soccer, it’s stars and events is not new to the Associated Press. With more than 1500 primary source documents in the European Bureaus, more than 260 in the Middle East, and two dozen in the U.S. City Bureaus Collection, users can assess the impact and reaction to this global sport.
Daily Mail Historical Archive, 1896-2004
With more than 57,000 results on soccer (or football – either term works when searching), dating from 1896 through 31 December 2004, the Daily Mail provides the most coverage of any resource from Gale. Game day accounts, fan fever, disasters, investigations, and the lives and times of stars and owners and more are available. With a style and humor reserved only for the British press, the Daily Mail tells it as the people saw it.
If you are looking for timely research materials on corruption, GVRL is the first place to look. (It’s the first place I looked – ha) Including new titles from ABC-Clio (Dirty Deals?: An Encyclopedia of Lobbying, Political Influence, and Corruption; 2015), John Wiley & Sons (Resisting Corporate Corruption: Cases in Practical Ethics from Enron Through the Financial Crisis, 2014), Greenwood Publishing’s award winner (Business Scandals, Corruption, and Reform: An Encyclopedia, 2013) among them, your students will surely find current examples and information.
Opposing Viewpoints In Context
Bribe v gift. Cost of business v. price of integrity. Explore both sides of the moral, ethical, and practical issues of business, negotiation, and politics through mixed media types, including links to original broadcasts and images. Each piece of content is noted as basic, intermediate or advanced, allowing users to easily determine if materials are appropriate.
[alert-info]
About the Author
Michelle is an “anytime!” traveler and language enthusiast. She has degrees in talking from Central Michigan and Michigan State University. She is currently becoming a runner and used to play golf in high school.
[/alert-info]Boots