[...]... the ‘mysterious dispositions of global capital’, analysis needs to examine the payments to local players, and the endorsement the local game attracts from brands both local and global This inevitably raises issues of sponsorship, agents and entrepreneurship, and how such economics produce cultural transformations in Maltese football Mediascapes: the images of world football are to a huge degree a creation... footballing institutions and their personnel Regarded with contempt by many local club ‘big-men’, he is seen to have worked consistently for the benefit of the MFA against what they perceive to be those of the local clubs and the local game If the figure of Joe Mifsud brings us from the local to the global stage of footballing ‘big-manism’, the final two chapters return to the issue of globalisation and. .. conglomerates Able to disseminate commodities and personalities, they are also essentially responsible for football images and football ideas The marketing of the game is thus crucial to any inquiry into local and global aspects of the game Ideoscapes: the ideologies of the state and the counter-ideologies it provokes are crucial to an understanding of sports and the nation, be it the building of stadiums,... welcome a migrant player and which do not Technoscapes: the global configurations of football- related technologies require an analysis of everything, from flows of football information to the importation of sports goods This would also require knowledge relating to and the financing of fandom, the financing of football clubs and the revenue streams of support for both domestic and foreign club sides 12... absences and the conversion of family ‘holidays’ into research trips in Malta To Hani Armstrong, Lennie and Phoebe, and to Hildi Mitchell, Polly and Elsie we are eternally grateful for everything Introduction Europeanisation and football In Malta football is a national obsession Social and political events come second to World Cup fixtures Those about to be wed in holy matrimony avoid clashing with football. .. temperaments (Bale and Maguire 1994, Houlihan 1997, Cronin and Mayall 1998, Armstrong and Giulianotti 1999) Sport has been integral to global processes since the nineteenth century Games have been disseminated and imitated for some 150 years for their intrinsic worth, alongside their extrinsic parallel globalising forces of commerce and communications (Allison 1986, Maguire 1999) Games and sports have... historically, politically and globally The game of football offers a variety of metaphors and facilitates many narratives (Giulianotti 1999) In an ideal world such events would be perfect settings for the peaceful articulation and celebration of beliefs people hold about themselves and others In the real world the game is and always has been used as a vehicle for nationalism, chauvinism, prejudice and loathing... (Armstrong and Giulianotti 2001) At the same time, football has been able to galvanise otherwise heterogeneous localities The local entity is inevitably Introduction 13 linked with the global via invitations to play friendly games, beyond that considered local In such scenarios the culturally exotic is visible Boundaries could be broken as much as stereotypes confirmed Football is confrontational and forces... in passion and its inland location saw attendances similarly fall Similar to football in pursuit of raising local standards, water polo players were signed from the 1970s from Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Italy The national team manager was at one time Romanian As with football, accusations of bias in those officiating abounded To combat such accusations, referees for major games were and are flown... are also determined by the political identities and allegiances of the football club presidents, or ‘big-men’; financiers and patrons who use their capital – financial, social and symbolic – to further their own reputation and those of their clubs Chapters 4 and 5 examine the Maltese preoccupation with footballing importations from Europe, which on the one hand are regarded as a panacea – a means of developing . show on television Andrew C. Billings Global and Local Football Politics and Europeanisation on the fringes of the EU Gary Armstrong and Jon P. Mitchell First. player migration • football corruption and ethics • the politics of sponsorship and TV deals • the global appeal of footballing ‘brands’ such as Manchester