Q&A with Soccer Expert Tom McCabe
For the past month, soccer aficionados around the globe have been watching the UEFA Euro 2012, a tournament that occurs every four years, starts out by pitting the best 16 European national teams against each other and culminates in the final match to choose the winner this Sunday, July 1st.
We asked Professor Tom McCabe, who teaches a popular course in the History of Soccer, to share his thoughts about the tournament and the game.
Why teach soccer?
Soccer is the world's most popular leisure activity. The game is played and watched by billions so it is truly the global game. Teaching soccer allows one to look at the world through a particular lens, and in the academic setting, we can explore issues of power, nationhood, race, class, gender, and ethnicity. It's all there!
You also teach a history of cities and suburbs, and race & ethnicity – do these relate to soccer as well?
"Everything relates to soccer, and vice versa, so soccer has particular histories in certain places. In most places around the world soccer is an urban game. Here is the United States it started in places close to the Rutgers-Newark campus like Kearny and Harrison, and of course, in Newark's Ironbound. The game came here because immigrants from Britian brought the game with them when they came to work in the mills along the Passaic River. Nearly one hundred years after soccer arrived in this area, it started spreading to the suburbs during the era of the New York Cosmos and the North American Soccer League. I'm a child of that soccer explosion - a suburban kid who played more soccer than football, basketball, and baseball."
Who are your favorites for the final on Sunday?
At the beginning of the tournament I picked a Spain-Germany final, and I'll stick by that still. I think Germany may well break Spain's impressive run of winning the 2008 Euro and 2010 World Cup.
Any general comments on this year’s tournament?
Until the knock-out rounds the quality of play has been positive and open and attacking. There were lots of good goals, but as the pressure mounts and only one team can advance, the games get tighter and more conversation, defensive play wins out unfortunately. The tournament always features top players so it's exciting to watch.
Any surprises?
Portugal has been a pleasant surprise and has played the top teams very closely. I love watching Portugal games in the Ironbound because you can see the passion that they have for their national team. It makes the tournament all the more enjoyable. I enjoy going to places to watch the games and people. I took my kids to the Polish National Home in Harrison for the opening match, and then we watched Germany beat Greece at a beer garden in Hoboken. New Jersey is the world, so you can always find people watching their national team and celebrating their culture.
Do you think soccer is gaining in popularity in the US? How would you answer someone who says the game “isn’t exciting enough?”
One has to concentrate while watching the game to see all the small battles on the field. Then you take a 15-minute break and then watch another 45-minute drama. It's over after 90 minutes. There's tension, excitement, drama, all the things that make it exciting. Three-hour marathon games of American football with tons of commercial breaks is what's really boring, or a pro basketball game only gets exciting in the last ten minutes, and of course, baseball is a long, drawn-out affair. If Americans want excitement, I'd recommend soccer!
If a student could only take away one thing from your class this summer, what do you hope it is?
That they are a citizen of the world, and soccer is often an esperanto, a universal language that they can use to meet and understand people from different backgrounds. It's a passport to the world.
Tom McCabe is a Visiting Professor in the History Department at Rutgers University-Newark. The award-winning teacher and author teaches surveys in U.S. History, History of Newark, and History of Soccer. McCabe received his PhD in American History from Rutgers University in 2006. Currently, he is working on a history of soccer in the West Hudson (Kearny, Harrison, and Newark).
