Fact Sheet 12: A History of FIFA and the the World Cup Finals 2002 in Japan and Korea

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1. Introduction

1.1 The finals in Japan and Korea will be the first held on the continent of Asia. It was had been the custom of FIFA (the world governing body for football) to allocate World Cup finals alternatively on a four-yearly cycle between the traditional major power bases of Europe and South America. This had been the case since the first World Cup finals were held in Uruguay in 1930 up until the World Cup finals of 1994, which were held in the USA (see Williams and Giulianotti, 1994). FIFA recently took the decision to allocate the World Cup finals between all the major FIFA confederations on a much more 'even handed' basis than has been the case in the past. This is partly due to the expansion of FIFA and the ambitions of its 204 members, but also to the politics of FIFA Presidential elections, when the candidates tend to try to draw favour from the voting members by offering 'improvements' in the situations of those members who fall outside the traditional power blocks. South Africa was expected to host the finals in 2006 following this trend, but amid accusations of intimidation and intrigue, Germany actually won the FIFA vote for 2006. Africa is likely to host in 2010, followed by a South American finals and perhaps Asia again. It seems unlikely that the finals will be held again in Europe until at least 2020 - though UEFA, accounting for almost 90% of all the income in football, may well decide to press for a different approach inside - or possibly even outside - FIFA.

1.2 The finals in Japan and Korea will run May 31 - June 30, 2002 and they are the first World Cup finals to be co-hosted. This may become a trend in future because the costs of hosting the event and the 32 national teams which now take part are huge. Japan committed £4 billion to a stadium building programme to host the 2002 finals, while FIFA's marketing agent ISL maintained control of major sponsorship, marketing and advertising rights. In 1997 a new deal meant that all marketing rights reverted to ISL, leaving local organisers with little financial scope. Tadao Murata, head of competitions for the Japanese organising committee JAWOC, complained in 2001:

'The areas where we can do anything are very limited. FIFA has taken over things like marketing and finding the sponsors. We're left only with local sponsors, and the amount they want to spend is quite small. FIFA wants to make big money and leave none for us' (Daily Mail, 12 October 2001).

The number of countries now competing in the finals is also testimony to the power of the newer members of FIFA to lobby for more opportunities for competition at the highest level.

Figure 1: The 2002 World Cup finals

1.3 The amount of money awarded by FIFA to the eventual winners of the World Cup has been increased by 70% from the amount paid to France after their 1998 win. Initially, FIFA planned to give £400,000 to each team competing in the World Cup finals, and then a further £550,000 for each game played within the tournament. "But each team will now be guaranteed £2m, even if they are knocked out after their three group games". (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport) The amounts will then increase depending on the progress made, from £700,000 for getting through to the second round to approximately £5m for actually winning the World Cup itself. Such figures are dwarfed, of course, by the total income raised by the finals and the sponsorship and other rewards for the country which emerges clutching the World Cup trophy in 2002. Sponsorship and marketing analysts in England, for example, predicted a £50 million windfall for the England national team the FA and individual players if England just for qualifying for the finals of the 2002 tournament (The Guardian, 6 October 2001).

2. Commercial partners

2.1 Commercial partners are now a crucial feature of events of this kind and their presence signals the changing nature of international sport but especially the changing philosophy and role of FIFA in the World game. Britain's Sir Stanley Rous, the then president of FIFA, warned as recently as the finals in Germany in 1974 of the dangers of excessive commercialisation around the finals, but Brazilian media magnate Joao Havelange, who ousted Rous as the new president in the same year, seemed much more commercially driven in his outlook. Adidas and Coca Cola became key partners of FIFA under Havelange in spreading the world game - and raising the profile and income of FIFA (See Sugden and Tomlinson, 1998, Ch. 4). For the World Cup finals in Argentina in 1978 six major sponsors were contracted to FIFA, including Coca-Cola, Gillette and Seiko.

2.2 In 1983 ISL (International Sport and Leisure) was set up by FIFA to handle merchandising rights and rights to stadium advertising for both FIFA and UEFA. This signalled both the increasingly commercial thinking at FIFA and the growing view of sport as a means for global corporations to better connect with customers and global opinion formers. The European Football Championships in France in 1984 offered exclusive perimeter advertising for sponsors for the first time. Since Argentina in 1978 Coca-Cola have sponsored every World Cup finals. Mastercard have been involved since 1990, as have Gillette. ISL assumed complete marketing and sponsorship rights for FIFA events from 1997 for £100 million over four years - despite an alleged much larger bid from Mark McCormack's IMG group. It was suggested that the ISL deal was preferred by Havelange because ISL would campaign effectively for the election of Havelange supporter Blatter as the next FIFA president.

Figure 2: Major Sponsors of World Cup 2002

2.3 These sponsors - fast foods, snacks, drinks, cars, electronics, financial services - constitute: 'the classic evocations of a predominantly masculinist realm of consumption' (Sugden and Tomlinson, 1998: 93). Since the late 1970s the finals have been largely shaped by the politics of FIFA and its presidential conflicts, but also by the 'golden triangle' of football, television and sponsors. Sponsorship goes right down the commercial football food chain, of course - especially for the World Cup finals. In April 2002, for example, ITV were still looking for a sponsor for their TV coverage of the finals, at a rate of £4 million.

2.4 In 1998, the Swiss-born Sepp Blatter was elected president of FIFA following the retirement of Havelange but amidst accusations - strongly denied by Blatter and his supporters - that some delegates were bribed to vote for the new president in opposition to UEFA candidate, Lennart Johansson. In 2001 FIFA's marketing partner ISL then collapsed in a financial scandal which scuppered FIFA's new World Club Championship competition and which, according to Sepp Blatter's opponents, left the world game in crisis. FIFA's debts were reported to be £21.4 million because of ISL's collapse. Others hinted at $100 million of football income disappearing into an ISL Liechenstein bank account (Daily Mail, 24 April 2002). His followers claim FIFA had sufficient reserves to cover these debts, but his critics argue the real debts are possibly 10 times this sum and that FIFA is on the brink of bankruptcy, already borrowing from banks on the basis of money it expects to raise from World Cup 2006 in Germany (The Guardian, 9 March 2002).

2.5 It was suggested an Independent Audit Committee (IAC) investigate the finances of FIFA, as a new opponent, Issa Hayatou from the African confederation (CECAFA) challenged Blatter for the FIFA presidency in 2002, with the support of the powerful UEFA lobby. This combination of the 'political' influence of the African nations and the economic power of UEFA is an interesting partnership and raises the prospects for a new direction in the policy of the world game. Figure 3 shows the obvious tensions here. The most powerful confederation economically, UEFA, has World Cup places broadly in tune with its economic strength but voting power which is much below that. The CONMEBOL (S. American) confederation has finals' places for almost 50% of its members. Hayatou vows to change this, cutting CONMEBOL places from 4.5 to 3 and offering the AFC, CONCACAF and Oceania confederations each half an extra finals place. However, Blatter supporters claim that 'block votes' from some confederations for the current president - who has strengthened the hand of the less powerful nations, much to the frustration of UEFA - will render the challenge from CECAFA/UEFA impotent. Blatter halted the IAC investigation in April 2002 alleging IAC leaks to the press. By this time many of his own supporters seemed to be turning against him. One journalist in Britain, Martin Lipton (Daily Mail, 24 April 2002) suggested that Blatter, 'heads a regime so mired in Corruption that it cannot see anything wrong with its dealings and will stoop to any depths to prevent the true picture emerging.'

Figure 3: FIFA Confederations, Membership and World Cup Final Places Allocations

2.6 In early 2002 Blatter's position as FIFA president is clearly under threat. The collapse of longstanding partner ISL, and the challenge of Issa Hayatou means that if Blatter he won the next round of elections he would still have to pursue a remit to reform FIFA. The problem here is that currently everyone who is close to Blatter is: 'an insider, a beneficiary, a club member' (Tomlinson: 2002: 18) Tomlinson further warns that, as in any corrupt dynasty, 'Blatter won't mind who goes down with him' and that he will have always known that, 'it is much safer for a Prince to be feared than loved' (Tomlinson: 2002: 18). Reform will not be easy, but football probably deserves better than recent FIFA regimes have had to offer.

3. FIFA: some history

3.1 The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in Paris on 21 May 1904. France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland signed the foundation act. The first official international matches under FIFA took place on the continent of Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century. The idea of founding an international federation began taking form. In general terms, the intention of FIFA was to recognise the leading role of the English in the game, who had already founded their Football Association in 1863 and the Football League in 1888. Thus, Carl Anton Wilhelm Hirschmann, secretary of the Netherlands Football Association, turned to the English FA for initial guidance and support.

3.2 Ratification for a new European-based football governing body was predictably difficult to obtain from the FAs of the 'home nations' in Great Britain. Instead British arrogance and isolationism and their dominance of the International Football association Board - the rule-making body of the sport - meant tense relations between the British and FIFA until after the Second World War. FIFA started up without the British, who then joined and soon left FIFA over concerns about Germany's involvement after WW I and because of differing definitions of amateurism among FIFA officials. Belgium faced France in the first official international match played under the auspices of FIFA in Brussels on 1 May 1904 - though England and Scotland had actually met in the world's first international match as far back as 1872. Europe dominated the FIFA presidency up until 1974, as Figure 3 shows. The one-country-one-vote election rules today also make it less likely that a European candidate will succeed in future.

Figure 4: Presidents of FIFA, 1904 -

3.3 The following points were determined by the new FIFA in 1904: the reciprocal and exclusive recognition of the National Associations represented and attending; clubs and players were forbidden to play simultaneously for different National Associations; recognition by the other Associations of a player's suspension announced by an Association and the playing of matches according to the Laws of the Game of the Football Association Ltd. Each National Association had to pay an annual fee of FF.50. Already even in these early days, there were thoughts about staging a big football competition and Article 9 stipulated that FIFA alone was entitled to take over the organisation of any international competition for national teams.

3.4 The first FIFA Congress held 23 May 1904 elected Robert Guérin as President. Along with his colleagues Guérin set out to create new national football associations, to attract new members and to convince especially the reluctant English to join. The second FIFA Congress took place in Paris in June 1905. By this time, the Football Associations from Germany, Austria, Italy and Hungary had joined FIFA. At the same time there was talk about an international competition to take place in 1906. Plans were put forward for a four groups, then knock-out, competition, with Switzerland in charge of organising the semi-finals and the Final. Without British involvement , however, it had only limited success.

3.5 On other fronts FIFA was gaining more power and influence. When the 'English Ramblers', an improvised English football club, wanted to play games on the continent without the authorization of the English Football Association, FIFA forbade its own members from playing against this team. This uncompromising procedure impressed the British Associations, and at the next FIFA elections in 1906 an Englishman, Daniel Burley Woolfall, was elected the new FIFA President. Under his guidance, English and continental football became a little more united. Moreover, Woolfall also launched an inexorable battle for international uniformity in the Laws of the Game.

3.6 The idea for a major international football competition was still up in the air and so the Football Association assumed the responsibility for the administration and organisation of a tournament that took place within the context of the Olympic Games in London in 1908. Some problems arose in the organisation, which were still unsolved four years later in 1912, when the same tournament took place in Stockholm. This new sport of football was regarded suspiciously at the Olympics and was considered as a show or entertainment and not a true sporting competition. Key here was the issue of professionalism in football - a thorny problem that would roll on for decades in the relationship between the Olympics and football. Eastern European countries, for example, would eventually send their full international teams to the Olympics, claiming these players were workers - for example, members of the army - rather than professional sportsmen. In the mean time, England won both the 1908 and 1912 Olympic tournaments.

3.7 The first members from overseas joined FIFA in the following order: South Africa in 1909/1910; Argentina and Chile in 1912; and the USA in 1913. After the interlude of World War One, and the death of Burley, Carl Anton Wilhelm Hirschmann carried out his tasks as Honorary Secretary from his offices in Amsterdam and carefully kept the organisation alive. A Frenchman, Jules Rimet became the third FIFA president on 1 March 1921 and up until 1954 (excluding the Second World War) Rimet helped increase the population of FIFA to 85 nations and oversaw five World Cups from 1930 onwards. The first Olympic tournament held under FIFA approval in 1924 had 24 national teams entered - but not the English. The Americans were there and a team representing faraway Uruguay showed the best of the new South American football, much to the delight of the European football public. Uruguay's results were astounding: 7:0 against Yugoslavia, 3:0 against USA, 5:1 against France, 2:1 against the Netherlands. 60,000 spectators followed the Final between Uruguay and Switzerland, which was won by the South Americans 3:0. Uruguay also won the first FIFA World Cup, which was held in that country in 1930, and the South Americans were clearly a powerful force in the world game during this period. Unpopular with the Europeans who faced a difficult trip abroad, only four European teams set off on the long journey: France, Belgium, Yugoslavia and Romania. The first World Cup was opened at the Centenary Stadium in Montevideo on 18 July 1930.

Figure 5: Four Stated Objectives of FIFA

3.8 Sweden and Italy applied at the 1932 Congress in Stockholm as candidate countries for the second series of the World Cup finals in 1934. The Executive Committee decided on Italy. Qualifying matches had to be played in order to arrive at the 16 finalists. Right from the start, the knock out system applied and so, the national teams from Brazil and Argentina already had to return home after their first defeat. Once again, the home country prevailed: Italy won the Final against Czechoslovakia in extra-time. For the first time ever, the World Cup Final was transmitted live on the radio, a precursor to the huge, global TV audience which follows the event today.

3.9 In 1946 saw the return of the four British Associations to FIFA. This was again thanks to the diplomatic work of Jules Rimet, who found in Arthur Drewry and Sir Stanley Rous more farsighted partners in the British football establishment. Both would head FIFA in later years. Moreover, the event was celebrated with a match between Great Britain and 'Rest of Europe XI' played at Hampden Park, Glasgow on 10 May 1947. Titled 'Match of the Century' by the chauvinistic British press, the match was attended by a total of 135,000 spectators and receipts amounted to £35,000. As a sign of goodwill, this sum was placed at FIFA's disposal in order to help the latter get over financial difficulties brought on by the war years. The British won 6:1.

3.10 Sir Stanley Rous had been a referee and an amateur player in England and he had also taught in Watford Grammar School. He was part of the new impressive service professionals group emerging in England in the 1930s and Rous helped to modernise the English FA promoting coaching and youth development. But his ambitions as president of FIFA after 1945 also involved restoring British prominence in the world game after the trials of WW2, while building upon the new international relations established during war-time (Sugden and Tomlinson, 1998: 33-5). Some of his ideas about the sport remained romantic and rather anachronistic, promoting the idealised, amateur ethos of international sport as 'recreation' or as friendly rivalry. Havelange's challenge to Rous in 1974 was successful because of the latter's aggressive lobbying and 'political' skills, but also because the new man was willing to offer developing nations more opportunities inside the new FIFA. Havelange was also much more in tune than Rous with the values of the new commercial era of international sports development.

Figure 6: Goalscoring and Attendances in World Cup Final Rounds 1930-1998

3.11 On 11 June 1974, Dr. João Havelange's installation in FIFA's headquarters heralded the dawn of a new, highly commercialised, era for FIFA. Previously, with survival depending almost exclusively on limited resources from World Championships at four-yearly intervals, FIFA had been a somewhat conservative and patrician organisation under Rous when it came to taking decisions. Administrative energy had been concentrated on consolidating and maintaining the status quo. In no time, Havelange transformed an administration-oriented institution into a dynamic, entrepreneurial enterprise brimming with new ideas - and with ambitious new commercial partnerships. The actual address of FIFA in Zurich has not altered but instead of the romantic Derwald Villa on the Zurichberg, where in 1974 a staff of twelve used to coordinate the fate of world football, there is now a modern office building housing almost 100 employees, who are coming to grips with an ever increasing workload.

3.12 Havelange trained as a lawyer but made fortunes in the chemical, insurance and transport industries. He was also a double Olympian for his native Brazil and was later the president of the Brazilian sports federation, transforming the Brazilian game in the 1970s. He was elected onto the International Olympic committee in 1963. Havelange realised that to break the European ascendancy at FIFA he had to appeal much more directly to the interests of the growing number of non-European FIFA members. He did this by pledging his commitment to more resources drawn from new sponsors to move into the developing global football arena. His 'manifesto' for the 1974 FIFA election included a determination to:

3.13 Havelange's success ironically married his appeal to the Third World and its determination to have a 'voice' in the global game with the market aspirations of trans-national commercial organisations whose roots were firmly in the capitalist camp of the First World. The newly found wealth of FIFA made it a very different kind of organisation from the one rather naively envisioned and led by Rous and earlier FIFA presidents. The new FIFA would be both highly commercial and much less in hock to the dominant Europeans. But, as we have already seen, it would also be more open to the sorts of politicising and financial problems which often plague relatively 'closed' and largely unaccountable organisations when commercial interests become so dominant.

3.14 Under Havelange and later his chosen successor Sepp Blatter, FIFA has grown to cover much of the globe and to include 204 member associations, thus making it one of the biggest and certainly the most popular sports federation in the world. Football - and its spread around the globe - is now very closely linked to global business interests. This victory at the 51st FIFA Ordinary Congress in Paris (France) elevated the Brazilian Blatter to president. At the Football Expo in 2001, Blatter announced his intentions to stand as president again, with a promise of the World Cup going to Africa in 2010. There are there possible bids being mooted at the moment, South Africa, Morocco, and Egypt. As cited earlier, it is an interesting irony that his closest rival for the 2002 presidency is actually an African, a Cameroonian. Blatter has clearly not been able to deliver everything to everybody - and his regime is now under close scrutiny.

Figure 7: The World Cup 1930-98: Winners and Runners-Up

4. Hosting the World Cup Finals in Japan and Korea

4.1 Football has featured in the school curriculum in Japan for many years, and the Japan Football Association was founded in 1921, with admission to FIFA coming in 1929. The staging in 1964 of the Tokyo Olympics and the quarter-final appearance of the Japanese team provoked a wave of enthusiasm for the sport in Japan and the launch of the Japanese Football League came soon after, in 1965. The Japanese won the Olympic football bronze in 1968, signalling the growth and development of the sport in Japan. The J League was launched in 1993 with corporations backing the major clubs. Football became very popular very quickly attracting higher TV audiences even than baseball (Birchall, 2000: 13). By 1996 all the 16 J League clubs had core sponsors and/or funding founders, and the Japanese target was already hosting the World Cup finals in 2002 in order to further stimulate improvements and local markets for football.

4.2 The partnership between Japan and Korea for hosting the finals has not always been a harmonious one. The tense history of relations between the two countries and major differences in economic, cultural and social development always suggested that a 'shared' World Cup was more likely to promote regional discord than it was to smooth over local differences. The countries have argued over the staging of particular matches and even over the order of the naming of the event - which tends to have the 'home' country first in both Japan and Korea. The stadia for the event will be breathtakingly modern and are reputed to have stacked up debt, especially in Japan. Here, 10 stadiums have been built to host the finals at a staggering cost of £4 million. J League crowds tend to be modest, so a 42,000 capacity arena in Kobe and a new 60,000 stadium in Yokohama is unlikely to be full of fans for league matches which follow. The Japanese organising committee admits that 8 out of 10 Japanese cities expect to make a loss during the finals - though all cities will have striking new facilities of a size which may be inappropriate to local needs. In the next few pages we provide a few details of the 'space age' stadia, mainly built for World Cup 2002.

The World Cup 2002 Stadia

4.3 Despite the conflict between the two countries, 74.6% of Japanese and 60.9% of Koreans recently polled thought the World Cup would improve international relations in the area. The 2002 World cup will be the first to be held in Asia, and the first World Cup to be co-hosted. Despite the dominance of European and South American football, Asia has a footballing history of nearly 50 years. The Asian governing body, the Asian Football Confederation, is based in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia; it was officially formed and affiliated to FIFA in 1954. AFC covers countries that account for more than half the world's population, from Lebanon in the West to Guam in the Pacific Ocean to the East.

4.4 The 2002 World Cup will mean that a lot of attention is given to how the two host countries perform both in terms of organising the finals and on the pitch. Qualification to round two of the World Cup is required to show some definite progress for Asian football in recent times. Despite the success of some club teams in Asia, especially Sumon Samsung Bluebirds who won the 2001 Asian Club Championship, such clubs have not raised the popular profile of football in Korea like a decent World Cup campaign in the global glare of the footballing millions undoubtedly would. When Japan and South Korea were left as the only bidding nations for the 2002 finals, the Koreans, cleverly, argued that their involvement in hosting the finals might also produce a move to re-unification of the Korean peninsular. FIFA officials were attracted by the rather grandiose notion that the World Cup could be more than just a sporting event but, instead, 'a catalyst for world peace.' An agreement was reached in May 1996 for the co-hosting of the tournament - even though this was against the constitution of FIFA. On 1 April 2001 Chung moon-joon, South Korean FIFA representative told a gathering of foreign news media:

'The World Cup plays an important psychological role in economic recovery and in helping to regain confidence about the future of our country…More importantly, the experience of co-hosting the 2002 World Cup can bring Korea and Japan together and bring Koreans together by resolving all regional and social difference within Korea.'

4.5 When comparing the sport in Japan and Korea, the latter has tended to be ahead in terms of the quality of football played and the popularity of the sport. Korea actually established the first professional football league in Asia in 1983; Japan did not follow suit until ten years later when the J-League was established. Korea has played in the finals before Japan made its debut in France 1998. Since the J-League began the Japanese have shown their greater sophistication in marketing the league and in the entrepreneurial side of football development (Butler and Dabner, 2002). The J-League has also emphasised the importance of teams being connected to their community instead of, simply, to international companies; in this way they are better able to stand alone as independent bodies (Butler and Dabner, 2002).

5. TV Rights and World Cup 2002

5.1 For most people the World Cup is a media event. Kirchmedia a German based media group obtained the worldwide TV rights for the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups (Kirch are already in possession of the TV rights for Europe). All payments were made by the organisation by the agreed deadline of mid-January 2002. All payments amount to CHF 1.2 billion. 20 days after the end of the 2002 world cup another CHF 100 million is paid. (http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com) The TV rights to show the World Cup in the United Kingdom have been earned jointly by ITV and the BBC. These broadcasters jointly agreed to pay £160 million for the rights to show the 2002 World Cup and the 2006 World Cup in Germany. BBC and ITV had paid only £3.35 million between them for coverage of France 1998. Kirchmedia had bought the exclusive rights to the World Cup, which they had expected to sell on in a free market place to European media groups. Kirchmedia argued that this new situation meant the kind of sums paid for coverage of France 1998 would rise dramatically.

5.2 The British deal with Kirchmedia, was finalised in October 2001 after almost a year of discussions. These became quite heated. Kirchmedia wanted £170 million for British rights to cover World Cup 2002 only. However, there was no real scope for a market for a rights auction in the UK because British legislation means that the World Cup finals must be shown on terrestrial TV in the UK. As the BBC and ITV decided to negotiate with Kirch together - and with the satellite and cable companies effectively out of the picture - Kirch was in a difficult spot. In the first round of negotiations, £55 million was offered by ITV and the BBC for rights to World Cup 2002. In the end an overall price of £160 million was agreed for the rights to show both the 2002 and 2006 World Cups.

5.3 This deal - some way above what the British companies wanted to pay but way below what Kirch hoped to sell the rights for - did little to secure the long term future of the Kirch empire. Instead, early in 2002 Kirchmedia went bust, owing money to German football clubs. Interestingly, and in contrast to the ITV Digital issue in Britain, the German government immediately offered a guarantee to all those clubs involved for the money owed by Kirch and his associates. Meanwhile in the UK, with some matches kicking off in the early morning, British time, the government gave permission for pubs and bars to open in the early morning to host collective TV viewing of England matches.

6. Security, Ticketing, and Hooliganism

a) Security

6.1 The events of September 11th 2001 have complicated the procedures for the 2002 World Cup. Security over printing and distribution of tickets had to be stepped up, meaning no tickets would be available on the day of any game. The number of people to visit Japan for the World Cup is estimated at 443,000, about twice the average number of visitors to the country in June. Japan's transport ministry projects that 3.08 million people will travel to the 10 venue cities in Japan to see matches. Of this number, 1.6 million are expected to travel by train, 1.1 million by car, and 360,000 by air. (http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com)

6.2 To try to prevent terrorist attacks during the tournament "a no-fly zone will be rigorously enforced over our stadia during the tournament and we have also set up a database of potential terrorists who will be denied entry to the country". (Byung-Talk, Korean spokesman for foreign media) Another problem that exists because of the September 11th events is the security of the teams taking part in the World Cup and their arrangements for travelling to Japan and Korea. Security has been intensified, especially in Korea, where the United States plays all their group matches. As soon as the draw was made for the World Cup police and officials in Japan and Korea began preparing themselves for the possibility of terrorist attacks.

6.3 No earlier World Cup has been the target for events like these - though at some earlier tournaments civil unrest has been brutally quelled by governments desperate to present the tournament as a success for a tranquil and unified nation. Because of these unusual circumstances, insurance cover for the World Cup has proven to be a problem. AXA were due to cover the 2002 World Cup, charging £590 million for the service, but AXA cancelled this proposed coverage because of the danger of the threat of terrorism. FIFA had been paying instalments of £12 million to be insured for the tournament. Despite the fact that AXA said they were confident they could cover the World Cup, they withdrew their offer and a new insurance company from the United States (National Indemnity) agreed a new insurance contract with furious FIFA executives.

6.4 FIFA have decided to make an extra £5.5m available for security measures taken out by the teams because of the events of September 11th. According to Sepp Blatter, "This is the most expensive World Cup that will ever be organised. It is one World Cup with the expenses of two World Cups."(http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport). Certainly, in the post-September 11 world, all mega-events will be potential targets for protesters and people with political or cultural aims to satisfy.

b) Ticketing

6.5 For the World Cup supporters have been restricted to a maximum of four tickets each to prevent a black market developing like at France 1998. In the past there have not been any restrictions on the number of tickets that a person is allowed to purchase. Every ticket this time can be identified by FIFA and therefore traced back to the original owner. Names and addresses had to be given when people wanted to buy tickets. FIFA began planning how to stop tickets getting into the wrong hands as soon as the World Cup draw was made. The black market that existed in the 1998 World Cup was arguably because only one third of the 2.5 million tickets were made available outside of France. For the 2002 World Cup 50% of tickets were made available to the host nations and 50% to all other countries involved.

Figure 8: Ticket Prices for World Cup 2002

('A' seats= 50% of stadiums capacities 'B' seats= 20% 'C' seats= 30%)

6.6 FIFA's official ticketing office based in Manchester, Byrom Consultants, and the two host nations are the only places where tickets were sold. The hope here was to avoid another problem that occurred in France and that is multiple versions of the same ticket emerging. The general secretary of the Asian Football Confederation, Peter Velappan, argued, "Ticketing would be the biggest challenge in the build-up to the finals". (Warshaw, 2001) The price of tickets has been highlighted as a further area of concern. The average ticket in Korea and Japan costs £97, a price that is arguably very high for the 'average' football fan - though minimum club ticket prices in England are probably higher at the moment than anywhere in the world. The average ticket in the 1998 World Cup cost just £37, so tickets for the 2002 World Cup show a dramatic price rise.

c) Hooliganism

6.7 Arguably, the threat of hooliganism rather than terrorism is the major concern for officials in Japan and Korea. Not only has either country simply never accommodated travelling football supporters on this scale before, but also they have never had to deal with the threat of the European football hooligan. It has been suggested that because of their relative inexperience in dealing with hooliganism, police may not know how to handle the problem appropriately. It has been reported in the British press that the Japanese authorities have planned to use a 'secret weapon' to deal with hooligans, a gun that fires 'restraining nets.' The Japanese authorities have bought forty of the guns. With the England v Argentina group match being one of the high-risk games in the first phase the guns may be seen for the first time in a major sports tournament.

6.8 The reputation that England has for exporting hooliganism has led to plans to increase the number of police officers at England matches in Japan. The expected number of police officers for England matches is now 500-700; this would be the highest number used in the whole first phase of the tournament. For any football hooligans convicted in Japan of serious violence arrangements are being contemplated which will allow such offenders to serve their sentences in the UK. The Japanese have accepted the suggestion that those people who are convicted of an offence which demands a four month sentence or longer, can serve their sentences in their home countries. The costs of dealing with foreign offenders is one of those things which deters home governments from seeking convictions against foreign nationals.

6.9 It was anticipated that up to 10,000 English fans will travel at some stage to the finals in Japan. Of these, it is likely that very few will be committed hooligans. Unlike venues in Europe for example, Japan is difficult and expensive to reach, offers no opportunities for short stay visits, and offers little of the 'beach, sun and drinking' culture which seems to be part and parcel of attractive venues for England fans who might be willing to get involved in 'trouble' at international tournaments. What is more concerning, perhaps, is the way the Japanese authorities might react to 'normative', northern European non-hooligan supporter styles. The collective street drinking, singing and carnivalesque displays of European fans will be very unfamiliar to the rather more publicly reserved Koreans and Japanese. Already in the build up to the finals TV documentaries on hooliganism were very prominent on Japanese TV. Hooliganism from foreigners may well be a problem in Japan - but so too, potentially, is police overreaction to the exuberant behaviour of football supporters drawn from different cultures. Hosting the world Cup is partly about welcoming and enjoying cultural diversity - within the law, of course. There is a danger that cultural difference at football can provoke problems when tolerance to difference might be a better bet.

6.10 If there is hooliganism in Japan and Korea, it is likely to come from a limited number of, largely, European sources. So, despite the serious hooliganism in their domestic club football, there is little prospect of hooliganism in Japan from Italian fans - though racism might be a problem here. Italian 'ultras' do not typically follow the national team. Nor will there be hooligans travelling from France, Spain, Portugal or from many other of the major European football powers. Few hooligans travel from South America for tournaments in Europe, even though the hooligan problem in Argentina for example is a serious one. Heavy drinking is connected, by many, with hooliganism, but the Danes and the Irish will drink more than most in Japan - but will also be among the friendliest fans there. Real attention will focus on the English and on the Germans. Fans from these countries are normally at the centre of any very serious hooliganism problems at major tournaments. English fans often claim now that they are provoked into trouble when abroad, and it is certainly true that the reputation of England fans precedes them and often stirs local youth into a challenging and aggressive 'welcome' for the English.

6.11 As always, the role of the media will be crucial in setting the agenda for the finals. The British media normally precede finals such as these with stories about police preparations and the 'planning' of hooligans to cause trouble. There are usually reports too in the British press about the 'hot' welcome which lies in wait for any British fans from local 'hooligans'. All of this produces a climate of expectation that 'something might happen' and risks the self fulfilling prophecy that predicting trouble will lead to increased expectations and eventually real problems as both sides expect the worst. These days, too, being an England fan often feels like being on the set of a major movie. When the English appear, so too do the world's film cameras and journalists. Some fans now attack members of the media because they claim the media themselves help 'cause' some of the problems at major tournaments.

7. The World Cup: the opportunity for a new national identity for England?

7.1 To try to offer a different perspective on England supporters - and also to offer help and assistance to England fans in Japan - the Football Supporters Association Fan Embassy will operate throughout the England stay. The embassy tries to help with enquiries about accommodation, tickets and other matters, and is also a voice to which the media can turn for a 'fans' perspective' on difficulties during the England stay. For some time the FA has been trying to change the image of the English fan abroad and there has been much intelligent debate about 'Englishness' and football (see, Perryman, 1999 for examples). As soon as England qualified for the Japan and Korea World Cup fears were raised about the behaviour of the English football fan. As Chair of the England Members Club and academic researcher Mark Perryman (2002) discusses ways of trying to change how England football fans are viewed. He puts forward a number of interesting recommendations on how to develop a new 'national community' for support of England which will ensure that England has the 'best fans in the world'. Briefly, some of his ideas include:

1. Football Tourism should be promoted. Through inviting match ticket holders along to travel forums, fans could be highlighted to officials from abroad not just as hooligans but as people who are interested in other aspects of the cities they visit. Perryman argues it would give a 'sense of majority' that English people who travel to the major tournaments are amongst the best, not the worst, supporters. He highlights the fact that not many people would be likely to have visited Hungary, Italy, Sweden, and Moldova in the last few years, and those supporters who do travel to these places usually go for a few days and take in the sights, food, and nightlife of the place where they are staying. This side of following England should be highlighted to promote the England supporter. "For the majority a trip to the beach, taking in the landmarks and markets, sampling the local delicacies and tipples can easily become part of a new mix of attractions of England away. It broadens the appeal too, without diluting the commitment to seeing the side win". (Perryman, 2002)
    
2. Love Football Love England. Because of the greater numbers of foreign players playing at every level of the game in this country the link between nation and loyalty is not as strong these days, contends Perryman. Wanting England to win and all others to lose should not be exclusive. 'Love football, love England' is about encouraging people of other nationalities to see England as their second team. Perryman suggests that it should be a message for fans and players to wear on their shirts and take to the World Cup. "It says we want to win, but we want to be liked too, and why should we allow others to turn that into a contradiction in terms?" (Perryman, 2002)
    
3. Flying the Flag. The St George flag draped around somebody with a shaven head is often an image publicised on television and in the newspapers. However this isn't the whole picture, four fan-led initiatives have highlighted the 'friendliness' of the St George flag.
    
   1. Raise the Flag - this can be seen at nearly every England home game. It is the red and white cards being held up by fans to form the St George Cross flag, it is a positive image of support for England.
       
   2. The St George Cross Banner - flags with the place of their owner printed across the middle, on show at all England matches.
       
   3. The Supporters' Band - playing the famous Great Escape tune it has nearly become as popular as the national anthem as a way of identifying with England.
       
   4. The Fan Embassies - Organised and run by the Football Supporters Association (FSA), they accompany England to all games. Information and advice is provided by them and they publish a free fanzine entitled Free Lions
       

   Perryman argues that these four fan activities should be encouraged and supported to create a new picture of what and who England fans are. Although very different to following a league club every week, following England can mean a fan culture which develops along the lines of those that we witness every week in league football.

4. Anybody Need Tickets? A 'fair tickets campaign' with the FA demanding that 15% of tickets go to the two countries who are playing in the match. At present the figure is only 8%. Perryman suggests that championship games must be played in stadiums where public sale of tickets does not fall below 40,000, and capacity alterations which lead to decreases in space should come out of corporate spaces."This would not only unite most England fans with the FA. It would also connect these supporters with a continental and global fans' community of interest". (Perryman, 2002) The community would develop through the common understanding that football would not be the game all supporters love if the two teams playing did not have a reasonable number of fans in the stadium.
    
5. All Roads Don't Lead to Wembley. Perhaps not so surprisingly this proposal highlights the massive successes that have been witnessed through England playing at various football grounds around England. From St James' Park in the North East to White Hart Lane in London the majority of fans support this touring of the country even though fewer tickets are available than what would have been the case if Wembley was still being used.
    
6. In the Name of St George. National emotions increase considerably when a major football tournament is taking place. Football becomes dominant in sport debates but also makes main headlines in the news. Perryman argues that football should highlight 'the good of St Georges Day'. At all levels of the game from school football to Premier League football, a day should be spent "celebrating football as part of the national community". A reinvention of what the community of football means; highlighting the fact that it is not just men and it isn't just whites. A 'softening' of the symbolic ideas associated with the flag could be undertaken through highlighting the good that football can out into the world on April 23rd, St George's Day. However, a recent Mori poll commissioned by England football kit makers Umbro found that only 46% of people knew that the 23rd April was St George's Day. This figure then fell to 31% was those aged between 16 and 24.

7.2 Perryman's ideas about creating a 'new' England are important and interesting. They promise ways of reshaping our ideas about the sorts of people who follow the national team. Critics have argued this agenda focuses too much on more 'middle class' fans - though who want to sample local cultures - and that there is more than a hint of English chauvinism in the 'Love Football, Love England' idea. Nevertheless, Perryman offers a new way of seeing the England supporter abroad. He promises to set a new footballing agenda for England, to follow on the successes of the relatively hooligan-free 'Three Lions' Euro Championships held in England in 1996. Perhaps this can be the starting point of a new era of England support abroad?

Bibliography

Birchall, J. (2000) Ultra Nippon, Headline

Butler, O. and Dabner, G. (2002)'Football Rising in the Far East' in Football Business Issue 3, March 2002.

Harris, N. (2000) 'World Cup prices will exploit ordinary fans' in The Independent 15th December 2000.

Hughes, R. (2001) 'On a Sunny Island in Korea, Security Envelops the New Stadium' in International Herald Tribune 5th December 2002.

Nixon, A. (2002) 'Extra police at England games' in The Independent 10th January 2002.

Perryman, M. (ed) The Ingerland Factor, Mainstream books

Perryman, M. (2002) Ingerland Expects: Football National Identity IPPR and World Cup 2002

Robert, K. (2002) 'Blatter Sets Out FIFA Goals' in Football Business Issue 3, March 2002.

Sugden, J. & Tomlinson, A. (1998) FIFA and the Contest for World Football, Polity Press

Tomlinson, A. (2002) 'Must do better' in When Saturday Comes, May 2002

Verkaik, R. (2002) 'Japan may send English hooligans home to jail' in The Independent 4th March 2002.

Warshaw, A. (2001) 'FIFA to target black market' in The Sunday Telegraph 2nd December 2001.

Watts, J. (2002) 'Hooligans to hit the back of the net' in The Guardian 15th January 2002.

Williams J. and Giulianotti R (1994) 'Born in the USA?' in R. Giulianotti and J. Williams (eds) Football, Modernity and Identity, Avebury

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport)

(http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com)

(http://www.2002worldcupkorea.org)

(http://www.fifa.com)

Fact sheet compiled by James Lowrey and John Williams, 2002.

© University of Leicester

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