Exercise 4: Sport, patriotism and public discourse
Duration: 30 min
The aim of the exercise: to show students that discourse concerning patriotism can take on unexpected forms and may cause controversy
Methods: analysis of audio-visual material, discussion
Instruction for teacher
Discourse concerning patriotism may sometimes take on non-obvious forms. Some events may appeal to patriotic values or historical events with only few words, attracting attention of the public to certain important questions. The exercise is composed of two parts: analysis of films’ content and discussion. Starting the exercise, invite students to watch two short films presented below. The comments presented below may turn out to be helpful in understanding the films. First of the films shows the All Blacks rugby team of New Zealand performing the haka before the game with Australia. The haka is traditional Māori war dance (of tribal origin). It is usually performed in a group as a display of its power, unity and strength. The lyrics are in the Māori language which since 1980s experiences its revival but before that time in many ways it had been supressed. The All Blacks consider performing the haka an important part of their heritage – in terms of both sport and national heritage.
The All Blacks haka: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3gbneDt-S4
The second film shows a performance created by fans of Legia Warszawa football team at the beginning of the game with FK Astana on 2 August 2017. The show relates to the Warsaw uprising (from 1 August to 3 October 1944) – a military resurgence of the Poles against the German occupation of Warsaw which is considered to be one of the most important events in the history of Poland of the XX century. Each and every year on 1 August at 5 p.m. the sound of an alarm siren commemorates those who lost their lives in the uprising. In the performance, the sound of a siren is followed by singing of the national anthem of Poland.
The fans’ of Legia Warszawa performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfXksecv0JE
After watching, ask students to reflect on the films.
Their task is to analyse its content and discuss the following issues:
- Do you consider the behaviour of the rugby players and football fans to be patriotic?
- What is the context of these actions?
- To what elements of social, political and cultural life do these behaviours refer?
- What results may such behaviour bring (e.g. for countries of the players, fans, rivals)?
- What kind of controversy may such behaviour cause?