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This week’s “Video Of The Week” is from the “More Than A Game” Series, and focusses on the history of football in France, as seen through the prism of immigration. As Jean-Marie Le Pen seemed singularly unable to grasp, much of the success that the French national football team has had has been at least partly due to to immigrant players. This documentary, which was screened in Britain as part of the “World Cup Stories” series during the run up to the 2006 World Cup finals documents the history of a national team which gave the World Cup to the game and then took almost seven decades to win the competition.
It charts the expansive, almost romantic nature of French football and looks – perhaps naively, perhaps not – from the team that reached the semi-finals of the 1958 World Cup to the 1998 World Cup winning side, which was packed with immigrants and the children of immigrants, ad asks the question of whether this might finally change the public perception of immigration in a country that has had more than its fair share of divisions along racial lines over the years. This is a YouYube video, so it is divided up into five handy ten minute bites.
I hope the british public will have the chance to watch this clips and know the impact that immigrantion brings to thier country and stop the mourning of immigrants.
Look at the sports wide of this country and see if is only british citizen who do it for them on the internation level of sports.
Immigrants are not just here because we want to be here, but we have come to be part of this country to show that in every way we aslo have a role to play for doing our best as we can to support this nations.
Some of us have children born in this country who even doens’t know the thier parents are from and will one day rise up and say we are proudly british by doing what they can do best for land of the queen.
God Bless the Queen and the british. Thank you all
This documentary is absolutely mindblowing. It really depicts the climate at that time. I was actually a volunteer during World Cup 98 and lived this amazing moment from the inside. Yes, the country was united, yes there was a wave of tolerance (Black, Blanc, Beur) in the nation. I believe only football can affect the society at this depth. But what is left from this in 2010? I would say almost nothing if we do have a strong scrutiny on what is going on in France at the moment….
As someone (I believe Olivier De Los Bueis) pointed out in the documentary, French easily forget their “heroes”. Only looking at how Dugarry, Karembeu, Petit etc have been treated in 2000-2003, and how Henry more recently has been trashed in the medias, the french amnesia and lack of respect is appalling.
Finally, the journalist made a mistake. He wrongly said that Janvion is from North Africa. He is actually from Martinique. A great guy!
Great documentary, I think I will tap into this topic on my blog soon!
Karl