ABSTRACT
Questions of national identity are intimately linked with football in France. France's national team competes in the international arena with other countries and is seen as representative of the nation itself. Wahl notes that it was in the early days of international football, which coincided with the rise of chauvinism in Europe before the Great War, that the national team's performances and style started to be identified with the fortunes of the French people. 1 This awareness of common nationhood is further reinforced by the symbolism of French football. Before international matches, the Marseillaise, the national anthem, is sung. Supporters wave the national flag, the famous blue, white and red tricolour, and are able to see these national colours reflected in the kit worn by the team itself as France is unique among the nations examined here in that its strip exactly replicates the colours of the country's flag: blue shirts, white shorts, red socks. This symbolism is carried over into French sports media discourse as French national teams are often referred to linguistically as 'the Tricolours' and 'the tricolour team' (for instance, Libération, 12 October 1997). Finally, the French Football Association (the Fédération frangaise de football or FFF), has as its emblem the national bird of France, the Gallic cockerel, which duly appears, crowing with some pride of late, on top of the letters FFF on the shirts of the national team. It is not our intention here, however, to discuss further these examples of what might be termed banal nationalism. 2 We are more interested in the ways in which the discourse of football writing in sections of the 'quality' daily press fashions a specific and readily identifiable portrayal of France which is grounded in the French self-image. What are the principal features of French autotypification and how are they communicated by football match reports and related articles? As we shall see, the picture painted is somewhat complex and not entirely static.
