by Dalia Hashad

The world's greatest sporting event will soon come to a close.  Long after the incessant honking of vuvuzelas cease, this World Cup will be remembered for its unique character.  Among the bright spots is that, for the first time, it has been staged on African soil in a country struggling to release itself from the devastating legacy of apartheid.  In addition, the U.S. team's energizing performance helped spark national enthusiasm for the long-neglected world pastime and brought us a bit more in step with the rest of the globe.  Unavoidably, the games had its lows.  In videos for all to replay, there are the now-famous mistakes and missed calls by referees.  And then there is "Les Bleus" France's national team, winners of the 1998 World Cup, the 2000 European Championship, and runners up of the 2006 World Cup. The team self-imploded and, humiliated, booked an early flight back home.  

French media pummeled the team. Hurling insults like " hoodlums", "scum" and "gang bosses" at the players who are largely black, African and Muslim, the oversized reaction smacks of French anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant racism. In France, the "race" problem is largely a religious one conflated with immigration and race due to its particular social, economic and political realities. These terms are frequently used in racist rants against Muslim immigrant communities from Africa and the Middle East.  The press reaction wasn't surprising given France's political climate.  (Just a couple of weeks ago, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in a historic address before the entire Parliament, warned, "the burqa is not welcome in French Territory."  Next week the French legislature is set to debate a draft law banning the niqab.)

What is unexpected, is the spillover of the French perspective into the news media. Instead of dissecting the more interesting story on why the French national conversation ties their team's failures to religion, race and class, a few U.S. journalists picked up on French biases and parroted the far-fetched assertions. In his analysis of the failings of the French team, Roger Cohen of the New York Times, like many in France, insinuates that religion played a key role.  His analysis resonates throughout French media and society but is out of step for U.S. readers who haven't suffered constant exposure to France's racial and religious struggles and slurs.

In "Feeling Bleu", Cohen starts with the undeniable premise that the breakdown of the French team is due to the failings of their coach, Raymond Domenech, "a disaster, a little man in a big job and one in need of a good smack."  No argument there.  But Cohen quickly moves on to say that "there's more to the demise of 'Les Bleus' than Domenech's incompetence."  He claims that "no middle ground binds the Muslim boys from the suburban projects and the clean-cut, middle-class French lad — Yoann Gourcuff of good Breton lineage".  The reference to Muslim players, all grown men, as "boys" juxtaposed with a "lad…of good lineage" serves only to create a derogatory comparison that has nothing to do with performance.  He points to three French players who converted to Islam and players coming out of the projects as being deficient in French "pride". The reader is left to infer that being Muslim or coming from a poor background makes a player less disciplined, lacking in professionalism and most of all, unwilling to play at his best. The French team underperformed because some players are Muslim?

In a team that was burdened with institutional problems, there was no reason to conflate the failure with France's religious struggles. Many journalists in France layered Les Bleus implosion with Frances religious struggles as opposed to seeing and reporting on the very obvious technical problems that would have sunk any team (including a team full of Gourcuffs).  Not so surprising of coverage in France.  A little more surprising when it spreads to this side of the Atlantic.  Cohen's column did not make a strong argument, which is especially disturbing when his implication is that religion is a problem.  Where was the evidence that this failure is due to religious discord?

If Cohen truly wanted to discuss what plagued the French team, there was no lack of material:  from the French Futbol Federation's horrible decision to keep Domenach as the coach to the terrible decisions in terms of team tactics and formation, including the decision to not start Thierry Henry, Djibril Cisse and Flaurent Malouda—all worthy veterans with plenty of World Cup and top club level experience.  

But oddly, Cohen bypasses all the technical futbol analysis, in favor of religiously biased reasoning and incomprehensible insinuations.  

It is no surprise then, that long before Cohen mentions Eric Abidal's marriage to a Muslim woman, saying that France has become a nation of "Fatima Duponts", he lost me.  Why is it even important to talk about religious identity when discussing these footballers and their team?  In her Newsweek article, "Soccer is Not a National Metaphor", Eve Fairbanks gets it right when she expresses exasperation with her colleagues' coverage, warning "investing so much meaning in a team can be not only silly, but dangerous. France needs a national identity crisis like it needs a hole in the head, and it really doesn't need one triggered by something as trivial as a grudgematch between a soccer player and his coach."

Interestingly, sports journalists' post mortems were generally more accurate sans the dramatic (and false) overlay of religion.  Journalists who understand the sport were able to see and depict the French loss for what it was:  soccer that fell apart not because of religion, but because of layers of strategic and technical blunders.  The team's failure at the World Cup isn't a direct result of France's religious and immigration problems, but the journalistic reaction sure was.

Dalia Hashad