By Peter Alegi | December 13th, 2011 | No Comments
Stryker-Indigo New York, a private multi-media film and print production company, has announced the acquisition of a major collection of 1950s-1960s 8mm and 16mm soccer films.
The film footage, featuring both university and international teams playing in American cities, contains rare home movie images of the history of the game in the United States. For example, there is footage of the first leg of the 1961 U.S. Open Cup Final between United Scots of Los Angeles and Ukrainian Nationals of Philadelphia at Rancho La Cienega Stadium in LA (now Jackie Robinson Stadium).
According to the Stryker-Indigo web site, its Futbol Heritage Archive houses nearly 9,000 historic photographs, slides, newspaper clippings, postcards, trophies, jerseys and artifacts. Following the closure of the US Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, NY, researchers have lost access to an archive of more than 80,000 items, including the North American Soccer League archive and the 1994 World Cup archive. It is hoped that private collections such as Stryker-Indigo’s film footage will be made accessible to soccer researchers and aficionados so that the history and culture of the game can be properly recorded and disseminated.
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Thanks to David Wallace for inspiring me to write this post.
By Peter Alegi | September 20th, 2011 | No Comments
The Football Scholars Forum launches its 2011-12 season this Friday (Sept. 23, 3pm EDT) with Brenda Elsey’s new book Citizens and Sportsmen: Fútbol and Politics in Twentieth-Century Chile (University of Texas Press, 2011). It’s a fresh look at life in twentieth-century Chile through an exploration of how fútbol clubs integrated working-class men into urban politics, connected them to parties, and served as venues of political critique. You can join the conversation online via Skype. For more information visit the FSF website.
By Peter Alegi | June 9th, 2010 | 1 Comment
Melissa Block of NPR’s ‘All Things Considered’ interviewed me about soccer’s long history in Africa. Soccer was brought to Africa by British colonials in the mid-1800s. The first documented game on the continent was played in South Africa in 1862, a year before soccer’s official rules were codified. As I argue in African Soccerscapes, soccer has been an important sport in Africa for as long as it was played in Europe.
Click here to listen to the interview and read a transcript.
Was also interviewed by and quoted in this New York Times article: Soccer Returns to its Roots in Africa
By Peter Alegi | May 2nd, 2010 | No Comments
There’s nothing like this: the German Academic Exchange Service’s ‘Extra Time’ soccer lecture series. It links the two host countries of 2006 and 2010, and celebrates the first ever World Cup on African soil. Featuring German, South African, and international scholars, the eight lectures aim to inspire public debate on the social and cultural dimensions of football. The events take place in World Cup host cities which are also university cities.
On Friday, 7 May, the focus is on ‘Soccer and History’. I will speak about African Soccerscapes, Philip Bonner (Wits University) on the game’s past in the Johannesburg area, Sedick Isaacs on soccer in Robben Island prison, Christiane Eisenberg (Humboldt University Berlin) on the history of FIFA.
The event is free and open to the public. It kicks off at 9:30 a.m. in the Senate Chamber, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban Westville Campus.
Click here for the complete schedule of the German-South African Soccer Lecture Series.
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The Football Scholars Forum launches its 2011-12 season this Friday (Sept. 23, 3pm EDT) with Brenda Elsey’s new book Citizens and Sportsmen: Fútbol and Politics in Twentieth-Century Chile (University of Texas Press, 2011). It’s a fresh look at life in twentieth-century Chile through an exploration of how fútbol clubs integrated working-class men into urban politics, connected them to parties, and served as venues of political critique. You can join the conversation online via Skype. For more information visit the FSF website.
