ABSTRACT
Since its introduction to Israel/Palestine in the late nineteenth century, soccer has been an arena where contested identities, loyalties and struggles are manifested. From ‘mixed’ leagues and teams during the early years of the British Mandate to contemporary Islamic leagues, racist fans and bombed soccer fields, the game has reflected and shaped perceptions and realities of class, nationalism and gender. This study examines the way soccer has expressed some of the larger political and social aspects of the conflict, and how these are presented in fiction, poetry and film. In addition to literary treatments, several recent films are examined: ‘Goal Dreams’ (Maya Sanbar and Jeffrey Saunders, 2006) about the struggles of the Palestinian national soccer team under occupation and its fostering of national unity and identity; ‘The Team’ – about a student and player living in a West Bank refugee camp (Nabil Shoumali, 2009); ‘We Too Have No Other land’ (Jerrold Kessel, 2006) which follows the Galilee team of Sakhnin; ‘Cup Final’ (Eran Rikles, 1991) about the 1982 Lebanon war and the game’s potential and limitations as a common language between enemies; And ‘Forerunners’ (Pazeet Ben Hayl, 2004) which documents three members of the Israeli national women’s soccer team – a Mizrachi Jew, a Russian immigrant and a Palestinian citizen of the state – and elucidates the nature of the Israeli state and inter-group dynamics.
