Footballers as Soldiers. Rituals of Masculinity in Twentieth-Century Germany: Physical, Pedagogical, Political, Ethical and Social Aspects

Abstract

Since the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries, football squads have defined themselves as exclusively male domains with explicit military characteristics. The rules and tactics of football used to be interpreted in categories of battle orders. Furthermore, football language is full of concepts and ideas which derive directly from the terminology of the military. This issue extends to various aspects of German football culture. Early textbooks of football training, dietetics and hygiene understood the physical constitution of football players in terms of tough, soldierly masculinity. German squads used to practise tough, masculine rituals of initiation, comradeship and discipline. Some of the fundamental rituals in this context were derived from the everyday life of the barracks. The military-athletic masculinity of football and the crude ideals and rituals of German student fraternities reflected important social differences between these groups. Military connotations are an important reason for the long-lasting exclusion of women from football culture - not only in Germany. Like the military terminology of football, the moral representation of the players as national heroes who are prepared to accept subordination within a team of fighters can also be found nowadays. This paper will describe the roots of the soldierly, athletic paradigm that inspired football culture even after the Second World War.