FOOTBALL AS A POLITICAL AGENDA: A Study of a Politically-Manipulated Sport. The case of Algeria-Egypt 2010 World Cup and African Cup Qualification

Abstract

This workattempts to highlight the influence of political agendas on the discourse of sport thatgoesaroundit and the impact of thisdiscourse on the social (re)construction betweenAlgeria and Egyptin 2009. It studies the political manipulation thatmarked the 2010 World Cup qualification matches. It aims at highlighting the reasonbehindchallenging the peoples’ collective identity (the common-sense of belonging to a social group) thatwassocially-determined and politically-bewildered by the politicalSpecial Elite (NoamChomsky’sconceptualization of the powerful leaders). Critical DiscourseAnalysisisusedthroughout the wholework in order to provide a criticalanalysis of events and actions, and establish a linkage betweenthem for the sake of highlighting the concealedpolitical agendas thatmanipulated the 2010 World Cup Qualification Matches. The theoreticalframeworkstudies the arena of football in the Arab World as an arena of politicalclashingdiscourse, as well as the conditioning of the atmospherethatpushed the discourse of sportingcompetitioninto a salientpoliticaldiscourse, whichapproached the diplomatictiesbetweenAlgeria and Egypt to their end. This studyprofoundly examines the scope of Sub-Arabism, as a new ideologicaltheory, and the politicalpolarization of thisideologicalapparatus to fulfil dominant political agendas. The practicalsideinvestigates the effects of thisdiscourse on the re-framing of a social identity, and highlights the concealedpolitical agendas thatmanipulatedthisidentity. The studyassessestwenty-one newspaper articles, official reports, such as presidential speeches, and four videos. Thus, it examines the nuances thatdifferentiatebetween the respond to/of individualswithpolitically-manipulatedidentities, and that of /to thosewhotrulyrepresenttheiridentities. The politicalpolarization of football as a social institution challengednaturally-existing social identities, leading to the affiliation of EgyptianOurnessand Algerian Othernessthroughdiscourses of magnification and vilification. Thelatterwereproducedviatheideology of Sub-Arabism, which defines whothetrue Arabis. Thisideological propaganda concealedmajorpoliticalinterests, main of whichwasDjamalMubarak’sinheritance of theEgyptian rule, and thepolitical (re-)construction of the Algerian and Egyptian socio-politicalorder