A Culture of Memory Book presentation

A Culture of Memory:
Media, Rituals, & the Practice of
Remembrance, Commemoration,
& Oblivion in the World of Football
Markwart HERZOG
Schwaben Akademie
European Football & Collective Memory:
Transnational Media Events
FREE Conference
Universität Stuttgart, 22-3 February 2013
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Back in September 2012 the FREE-conference in Besançon had put the spotlight on a
vital topic connected to the culture of memory in football by choosing as its theme
“Origins & Birth of a Europe of Football”. And, right now the present FREEconference in Stuttgart explicitly discusses “European football & collective memory”,
which is unusual as a central theme for this kind of meeting. Albrecht Sonntag is right
when he called “the history of European football and its contribution to collective
memory” an “underestimated area of academic research” (Sonntag, 2012) in the
second FREE-Newsletter.
In 2012 Hans Joachim Teichler agreed with the sentiment expressed by Sonntag
when he declared that there was “still no specific study regarding the ‘culture of
memory in German sport’.” And he added: “Sport organises the here and now, it
plans for the future and – one is tempted to add with a certain resignation – it forgets
its own past.” (Teichler 2012a, 121) Teichler himself composed several articles on this
topic. His publications focus, nonetheless, strictly on the insincere
“Erinnerungsverhalten (commemoration behaviour)” (Teichler 2012b) of clubs,
federations, and of the people responsible during the time when the sport was
dominated by the NS regime and by the rule of the SED party in the days of the GDR
State. Therefore, Teichler left out the broad and rather diverse range of collective
memory of sport, that is to say its manifold “Spielweisen der Erinnerung (modes of
remembrance)” (Borsdorf/Grütter 2000, 48–52).
This methodological limitation is not untypical for the German sports history and
the scholarly exploration of the collective memory of sport which until the end of the
twentieth century either remained firmly in the context of the formulation of political
injustice under the two German dictatorships (cf. Krüger 2012) or focused on the
history of racism as well as on that of social exclusion and discrimination (cf.
Krüger/Wedemeyer-Kolwe 2009). There are only very few scholarly contributions
whose focus is less narrow and whose understanding of collective memory is not
limited to a mere political analysis but also includes themes and issues of cultural
history (cf. Herzog 2005; Herzog 2011; Herzog 2013c). Not to forget the wide and
important field of a rich and diverse sepulchral culture in football that also needs to
be included in this kind of discussion (for further examples of monographies dealing
with specific case studies see the bibliography Herzog 2013b, 62–69).
In the UK, to the contrary, several scientific studies have recently been published;
among them contributions by Anne Eyre, Liam Foster, Neville Gabie, Gary Osmond,
Murray Phillips, Maureen Smith, John Williams, Jason Wood, Kate Woodthorpe, and
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in particular the work of Mike Huggins (University of Cumbria), who is well-known
as the author of several studies in the field of cultural history particularly rich in
source material. Huggins moreover explored the commercialisation of the funerary
culture in British sport during the nineteenth century (cf. Huggins 2008; Huggins,
2011; Huggins, 2012; for recent studies see the bibliographies in the essays published
by Huggins; see also the excellent, popular book by Sharpe 2001, who was the first to
present a comprehensive collection of data regarding the funerary customs for
deceased sportsmen, functionaries and fans by way of scattering the ashes in British
stadiums, cf. Sharpe, 2001, 1–18). And, finally, we owe much to Dave Russell (Leeds
Metropolitan University) for his study which contains rich material regarding the
culture of memory in British football of the late twentieth and early twenty-first
century (cf. Russell 2006; Russell 2013).
The new book published by the Schwabenakademie (cf. Herzog, 2013a) which I
present today was released as volume seventeen by the publishing house W.
Kohlhammer and is part of the series “Irseer Dialoge: Kultur und Wissenschaft
interdisziplinär (Irsee Dialogues: interdisciplinary approaches to the arts and
sciences)” and has close ties to the afore-mentioned, detailed investigations. For the
first time a study in cultural history analyses the collective memory of football on
such a broad basis of single case studies: 18 authors present a range of examples from
ten European countries. After two introductory contributions, four separate sections
illuminate themes and issues related to media, to rituals and customs of
remembrance, commemoration and oblivion in the world of European football, as
follows:
I. the policy of commemoration of federations and clubs,
II. the significance of fan cultures as initiators and preservers of collective
memory,
III. stadiums and museums as places of remembrance and commemoration as well
as
IV. politically motivated cases of “social death” and the annihilation of memory
(“damnatio memoriae”), in particular under the two German dictatorships and in
socialist countries of Eastern Europe.
The aim of the essays is by no means limited to the mere analysis of the written
body of commemorative evidence preserved by the clubs and federations but rather
concentrate on numerous other forms and displays of memory and remembrance, for
example by discussing the following aspects:
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– ritualised performance/staging practices (fan choreographies, spontaneous
commemorative shrines),
– acoustic orchestration before the start of the match and during breaks (minute’s
silence, minute’s applause),
– the significance of club names, jerseys, logos and pins for the collective memory of
football clubs,
– the construction and performance of remembrance as a legitimising tool for
political systems,
– the monuments, commemorative plaques, and statues made from stone and metal
(monuments for fallen soldiers and military heroes, statues of footballers),
– the business model of the “stadium commemorative bricks” and of
“commemorative walls”,
– the commemoration of military events and of club members fallen in the wars by
federations, clubs and fan cultures,
– the unifying effect of celebrated sports celebrities, of charismatic coaches and
managers for the creation of collective memory,
– the visual expression of mourning and rites of condolence by way of wearing
specific clothing (commemorative jerseys, wearing of black mourning bands
during the match),
– burials in British football stadiums (sepulture of urns or scattering of the ashes of
deceased players, managers and fans),
– memorial services as well as funerals of football players and fans as particular
examples for the secularisation of the European funerary culture,
– instances of collective mourning of fan communities in the aftermath of
catastrophes in stadiums (for example the events at Ibrox Park, 1902 und 1971;
Heysel, 1985; Hillsborough, 1989) or after the sudden death of a popular football
celebrity (for example the German goalkeeper Robert Enke, who committed
suicide in 2009, fans from all over Europe condoled with his club on his tragic
death),
– fan cemeteries in Amsterdam (opened in 1996), Hamburg (2008) and
Gelsenkirchen (2012),
– German, Dutch and British undertakers appointed by football clubs with a special
licence for their services,
– the objects of the everyday material culture of football which are being traded and
auctioned on the market for sports memorabilia,
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– the virtual Halls of Fame of clubs and federations and the world wide web as a
forum for commemoration and mourning,
– last but not least, and this is the central focus, the book discusses football clubs
which constitute themselves – as an essential part of their corporate identity – via
the above-mentioned media, rituals and social practices as trans-generational
communities (cf. Herzog 2003, 196–203; Herzog, 2005, 183–192; Herzog, 2011,
163–167; Herzog, 2013b, 56f.).
This volume of essays presents itself as a first step towards the cultural-historical
exploration of the entire breadth and manifold variety of memorial and sepulchral
culture as an integral part of football. It is to be hoped that it will be followed by many
more such investigations. For the FREE-conferences concerned with commemorative
culture and with the collective memory of football the volume will be of special
interest as it presents a rich tapestry of connecting threads and points of reference.
References
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