Korea - The Final Word in Basketball Diplomacy

As I'm blogging about a new place, I like to keep an eye on the news coming from that country - generally, things are pretty quiet and it makes you realise that, political hot-spots apart, not much happens in other parts of the world that would catch the attention of the international media. Not so with Korea, especially North Korea - which has been constantly in the news in the past few weeks. 

Whether it's the 60th anniversary celebrations, the wrangling over the Kaesong Industrial zone, or the South Koreans shooting dead a man trying to cross the border to enter the North - Korea is one of those places that easily makes the news headlines. 

Basketball coaching in Pyongyang by Scot Byrd

One of the weirdest news stories I've read about North Korea in the past few weeks, involves the US basketball player Dennis Rodman who has, quite famously, made two trips to North Korea this year - he is believed to be the first American to meet North Korea's new leader, Kim Jong-un and, being interviewed at the airport in Beijing, declared that 'He [Kim Jong-un] is my friend for life - I don't care what you guys think about him'

Rodman has quite a reputation for (what people in England would call) eccentricity, back in the States - he's probably just as famous for his piercings and ever-changing hair colour, as he is for his basketball legacy and awards, not to mention dating Madonna and appearing naked with basketballs on the cover of his autobiography, Bad As I Wanna Be. 

I can see what's in it for Rodman - perhaps a genuine desire to do something useful, backed up with the need for continued celebrity, now that his heyday as a basketball player is over.  But what's in it for Kim?  Does he even realise (or care) how all of this is perceived in the West? 

North Korean kids playing basketball by Scot Byrd

I'm also wondering why sport is increasingly seen as a major political arena for the big issues of 21st century life?  Sure, sport can bring people together, despite its competitiveness, it's something that's enjoyed the world over - the Olympic games, the FIFA World Cup, ping pong, cricket, even basketball can create wonderful opportunities for cultural exchange.  But sport can also be divisive - North Korea boycotted the Seoul Olympics in 1988, a real missed opportunity for both Koreas to welcome the world and celebrate the Olympic games together.

But does sport really have all the answers?  To homophobia in Russia?  To racism on the football fields?  To nuclear weapons in Pyongyang?  And is someone like Dennis Rodman really the best person to manage diplomacy with an erratic regime like Kim Jong-un's?  Will his attempts to bring NBA players to North Korea really bring Americans and North Koreans closer together, or will it backfire, when Kim Jong-un realises what a circus this whole thing is?  Who knows - but it'll be interesting to see what happens next in the Rodman/North Korean story!

Image credits:

I found these wonderful images by Scot Byrd (aka byrdsiz) of young North Koreans playing basketball on Flickr and they have been shared with us using the Creative Commons license.  It looks as though Scot travelled to North Korea with a basketball initiative known as Project uNKnown - which looks like a genuinely ground-breaking initiative to use basketball as a way of overcoming cultural boundaries and getting to 'know' each other.   Thanks Scot for sharing these images with us. 

Barbados - Winning at Cricket in Babylon

Writing this blog gives me an opportunity to research unfamiliar topics.  As I’ve been learning about Barbados, I’m beginning to understand the cultural importance of cricket, not just to this tiny island nation, but to other former British colonies in the West Indies.  It has been interesting to learn how this most English of sports was once dominated by the West Indies, just as the sport is dominated by other ex-British colonies today. 

Cricket is not a sport I grew up with.  Although Ireland has a national cricket team, it’s all very low-key and the game carries an association with England and colonisation that is much more negative than it appears to be in the Caribbean or India/Australia/Pakistan.  Even in England, it seems to be somewhat of an upper-class game and I find it very quaint, when walking in the English countryside, to see the cricket teams in their white flannels whiling away a summer’s afternoon.

Fire in Babylon

Cricket on the beach by Republic of Avalon Radio

As part of my research I watched a fascinating documentary called Fire in Babylon.  The documentary was released (in the UK) in 2011 and, even if you have no real interest in or knowledge of cricket (like me), it’s well worth watching.  The film tracks the history of the West Indian cricket team and explains how they came to dominate Test Cricket (ie. International cricket matches) in the late 70’s and during the 1980’s. 

The movie also explains how winning at cricket has been incredibly symbolic for the ex-British colonies in the West Indies. By becoming a dominant force in world cricket and defeating England on their home turf, the people of the West Indies were able to restore a sense of pride to their culture and competed with their ‘ex-masters’ on an equal footing.

Cricket - a violent game?

Cricket player by Alister667

One thing I hadn’t realised about cricket is how incredibly violent it can be.  Fire in Babylon documents the way the Australian team changed cricket in the 70’s, by introducing ‘fast bowling’, an incredibly dangerous form of bowling that can see batsmen injured or even hospitalised.  The Australians thrashed the West Indies team during the 1960’s, until the West Indies decided to do some fast-bowling of their own and got their revenge, defeating England in 1973 and Australia in 1975. 

The West Indies team has produced some of the world’s most formidable fast bowlers and I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for their opponents to bat against balls that were bowled at up to 95 miles per hour!

The Calypso Cricketers

The documentary also explains the racism faced by the West Indies' cricket team, initially a patronising racism, referring to the West Indies team as the ‘Calypso cricketers’ when they played in Australia in the early 60’s, the racism became more hostile, as the West Indies started defeating the white European and South Asian teams.  All of this was happening at a time when the Civil Rights movement was in full swing in the United States and the Apartheid regime was at the height of its power.

Babylon v the Rastafarian movement

The name of the documentary refers to the Rastafarian term for ‘non-African nations’, ie. Babylon.  Rastafarianism exists all over the Caribbean and espouses a return to African culture and pride.  Its most famous proponent was the Jamaican, Marcus Garvey, but I’m sure Barbados has had its fair share of Rastafarian thinkers. 

West Indian unity through sport

What’s also quite interesting about the West Indies cricket team is that the sport managed to unite the West Indian nations in a way that has never been possible politically.  Political unity was tried out, when West Indies Federation was formed - a short-lived political union that lasted from 1958 to 1962.  When the chance came, the British islands of the Caribbean preferred to choose their own paths and independence. 

Famous Bajan cricketers

George Headley, the 'black' Bradman

Barbados has produced a fair share of the West Indies’ best cricketers.  I watched part of another (Australian-made) TV series, Legends of Cricket, which included a few episodes about famous cricketers of the West Indies. This included Bajan players such as, George Headley, known in Australia as ‘the black Bradman’ (although Bradman is known in the West Indies as ‘the white Headley!).  Also, Sir Frank Worrell, who is considered to be one of the most graceful players in cricket history.  There was also the ‘rock star’ of Test Cricket, Sir Garfield Sobers, who learned to play cricket on the beaches of Saint Michael. 

Something that really struck me about the Australian-made documentary was the deference paid to the West Indies cricketers by the modern Australian (white) sports commentators and cricket-players, who were interviewed for the show.  It’s unusual to see white people talking about their ‘black heroes’ and it would seem that the West Indies cricket team earned the respect of a white audience that might, otherwise, have been incredibly racist and hostile.  

Is West Indian cricket in decline?

I guess I’m beginning to understand how cricket can be a great source of unity for countries located on opposite sides of the world.  True, it’s incredibly exclusive and there is a limit to the number of national teams that can play Test Cricket.  Unlike rugby, the French haven’t really taken up the sport and neither Scotland nor Wales are not represented in Test Cricket, which makes it feel like a very English game.  Still, it is an important part of English culture and a positive link with parts of the world, like Barbados, that share a lot of history with England.

By all accounts, the popularity of cricket is waning in Barbados and other West Indian nations.  Young Bajans, Jamaicans and Trinidadians are looking more and more to the United States and basketball as an opportunity to express themselves through sport.  It would be a shame to see West Indian cricket go into decline, but I guess it's natural for young sportsmen and women to find those opportunities that are most relevant to their generation.  I wonder if cricket in England is facing the same competition from other more 'high-profile' sports such as football (soccer)?

Image credits:

The image of the young boys playing cricket on the beach in Barbados is by flickr member Republic of Avalon Radio aka Jim Fidler who is from Newfoundland in Canada.  You can see more of Jim's images on his photostream.

The image of the cricket player is by flickr member Alister667, aka Ali Jackson.  Again, you can see more images by Ali on his photostream.

The image of George Headley is from Wikimedia Commons and is in the public domain (and therefore copyright free).  You can see more information about this image at its description page on Wikimedia. 

Wisconsin - Packers and Steelers at the Super Bowl

One of the first subjects that has come on to my radar, in relation to Wisconsin, is the Green Bay Packers.  At first I thought they were some kind of food company (I'm still looking for a good Wisconsite recipe!), until an American friend told me that they are, in fact, a very famous football team and have just won the Super Bowl (Homer-Simpson-style, doh!).  My knowledge of football (or American football, as we call it in Europe) is pretty sketchy.  Despite having watched a million American movies or TV programmes, with references to quarter-backs and touch-downs, images of heavily-clad players wearing helmets with visors, I'm none the wiser.  I need to start with the basics of American football and try to figure it out as I go along!

American football seems to have grown out a college football game (which is probably why we see it so often in relation to high schools) - it's a mixture of rugby and soccer, with lots of new rules thrown in.  The team which is playing in offense needs to advance the ball into the opposing team (or defense)'s end zone, where they can score points, depending on how they've managed to get the ball there.  The best way seems to be by running really fast and crossing the line before anyone from the defense can catch you (a touchdown).



Football sticker from WHS archives

 In many ways, the Green Bay Packers is a good place to start.  They're the oldest professional football team in the National Football League (NFL), as they were set up in 1919.  They're pretty unique in terms of the NFL, in that they are the only major football team that isn't owned by an individual or corporation, but belongs to the people of Green Bay and Milwaukee, where the team originated.  The fans regularly sport fake cheeses on their heads, in keeping with their nickname, cheeseheads. It's also the only major team to be based in a small city - all other NFL teams are from one of the major US cities, eg the Dallas Cowboys or the New York Giants.  It's not the first time they've won the Super Bowl, in fact, they have won it more often (13 times) than any other team in the league, but it's still something of a victory for the underdog, when the only grass-roots team can bring home the Vince Lombardi Trophy, in defiance of the other, more commercialised, football giants.

There are 32 teams which currently compete in the National Football League.  In a combination of matches with rivals in their (more or less) geographical groupings, they finish the football season in early February with a final match called the Super Bowl, probably the largest televised sports event in the entire world!  The Green Bay Packers are grouped with the Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings and this year, at the Super Bowl, they faced off the Pittsburg Steelers 31/25 to claim the 2011 trophy.  Each Super Bowl is given a Latin number, rather than a year (which I guess adds a sense of drama) and this year was the Super Bowl XLV. 

It seems to be a massive event for most Americans and this year attracted a TV audience of more than 100 million and a physical audience of more than 100,000 spectators.  The game itself doesn't seem to last very long (not compared to cricket anyway!) and the mid-game entertainment at the Super Bowl has become a phenomenon in its own right - whether it's Gloria Estefan with Olympic Figure skaters or Justin Timberlake with Janet Jackson's 'wardrobe malfunction', the entertainment never fails to surprise, shock or, well, entertain!  This year it was the turn of the Black Eyed Peas to entertain the masses at the interval and the national anthem was sung by Christina Aguilera! 



Packer fans by drsethery

 With such a large television audience, it's also hardly surprising that the ads featured during the Super Bowl have also attracted a lot of attention.  Ridley Scott directed the famous Apple Mac ads in the early 80's.  This year, the car manufacturer, Chrysler, took centre-stage, with backdrops of Detroit and visuals of Eminem driving around the city!  It's such a big event that the major television networks (CBS, Fox and NBC) are given the broadcasting rights in rotation (this year was the turn of Fox).  Unlike the English FA cup, which is traditionally played at London's Wembley Stadium, the location of the Super Bowl changes from one year to the next.  Super Bowl XLV took place at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.  Next year it will be the turn of the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis to host the event.

All of this is completely new to me and, when the Super Bowl XLV took place last month on the 6th of February, I was blissfully unaware that it was even happening!  I promise to pay more attention next year, now I know the background of this league final.  It's also surprised me to learn how popular (American) football is in other countries.  There are 14 teams playing in the Irish American Football League, including the Belfast Trojans and the Dublin Dragons.  The British American Football Association (BAFA) has no less than 70 teams grouped into three divisions.  It's definitely a sport which is catching on here in Britain and Ireland, as well as many other countries in Europe, Asia and beyond!

Image credits:

The image of the Green Bay Packers sticker has been provided copyright-free by the Wisconsin Historical Society in their Visual Materials Archive, which is also available on their flickr photostream.  It's a fascinating archive and I think it's great when historical societies preserve images in this way and make them available online to educate future generations! 

The image of the football fans celebrating the Packers win at Super Bowl XLV was provided by flickr user drsethery aka Seth Carlson, a freelance multimedia designer who is originally from Park Falls in Wisconsin.  You can see more of drsethery's photos on his photostream. 

The sheer joy on the faces of the fans is surely worth all the hard work that a team like the Packers puts into the game?  Thanks Seth for sharing this image with us, using the Creative Commons license.