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Franz Beckenbauer once observed that, in England, «war correspondents get their say whenever their team plays us.» In Crossing the Line?, Christoph Wagner surveys German football rivalry in the second half of the twentieth century as it was played out on the pitch and in the press. The Second World War undoubtedly cast a long shadow, framing the way in which matches were previewed and reported. The contrasting fortunes of the British and West German economies and British anxieties regarding German unification also impacted on sports coverage.
An intense Anglo-German international football rivalry was forged against this backdrop. Newspaper readers often turn to the back page first and first impressions are important. Press coverage helped to shape what the English thought of the Germans and what they thought of themselves. Crossing the Line? - which includes an important chapter on the German media - focuses largely on the part played by English newspapers in generating a simplistic sporting commentary heavily dependent on stereotypes before it overreached itself in the mid-1990s and the German popular press began to hit back. As English football pundits often remind their viewers: «You can never underestimate the Germans».
List of contents
Contents: Post-War: Anglo-German Football in the 1950s - 'Of course, a little chauvinism was in order': England and Germany in the 1960s - 'For the loser now will be later to win ...', 1968-1978 - 'Let's Blitz Fritz': England versus Germany in the 1980s and 1990s - The German Response.
About the author
Christoph Wagner gained his PhD at the International Centre for Sports History and Culture at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK. Having lived in England for many years, he now lives in Paris where he works as an online journalist reporting on football and cycling. He also teaches at Université Gustav Eiffel.
