The politics of sport coverage

Faculteit der Maatschappij- en Gedragswetenschappen Graduate School of Communication

The politics of sport coverage How are political discourses reflected in sport news?

Master thesis Supervisor: Fadi Hirzalla Student: Roderick Burger Student number: 5679184 Date: 25-04-2012 Word count: 9584

The politics of sport coverage

Abstract This thesis investigates how political discourses are communicated through the sports media when two countries, the United Kingdom and The Netherlands, compete with each other.

Since sport and sport media are becoming increasingly popular, social scientists should be aware of the presence of political discourses in the sports media and of this potential research field of sport and political communication. Especially during international sport competitions, nationality and identity become increasingly important and could affect the perception on events during the game. This means that journalists could make use of political discourses in their sport reportages, which could influence their ‘inattentive’ (un-concentrated and unprepared for the political message) audience. Results of this thesis indicate that sports media use two political discourses in their reports. The first political discourse embodies a sentiment of fraternization, which tones down nationalistic views. The second political discourse expresses national feelings and unity, which evaluates their own national country as positive and the opponent as negative. Politics and sport are part of society and therefore the politics of sport coverage is an intriguing and upcoming research field.

Key words; Sport, political discourse, sports media, national identity.

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The politics of sport coverage

Introduction Sport is a well-established institution in society and part of our everyday lives. There are many associations and clubs, which make the influence of sport in our lives undeniable (Van Bottenburg, 2007). People learn through the media about sport events, that they have not experienced themselves. The importance of nationality during international sport matches raises some interesting questions regarding the coverage of sport news. A journalist could have a preference for his own national team, because they share the same nationality. Another influence could be the involvement of the journalists with the athletes, i.e. their sources of information. For instance, it is a ‘preserved silence’ that doping exists in the cycling world.

Sports journalist Juliet Macur, a reporter from the New York Times explains this situation: “As a sports writer you want to believe in people, just like a regular fan. You want to believe, that there is one guy out there, even though the rest of the peloton is doping, even though most of the other guys who’d ever finished near the top of the tour the France including the guys second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth to Lance, have all been caught or admitted it. I mean, part of you really wants to think that maybe Lance Armstrong did it” (Macur, 2011, January 10, Nieuwsuur). As Macur describes, sports journalists are supporters too and are likely to ignore sensitive issues, because it would otherwise mean a loss of informants. Also the development of the sport press to become more entertaining could jeopardize certain journalistic codes, i.e. ‘objectivity.’ One could imagine that this has a certain effect on the coverage of the sport news. Since sport is strongly associated with rules and values one could argue that with a decreasing importance of ‘objectivity,’ these norms of sportsmanship are applied selectively in the media. This could mean that, for instance, Dutch journalists are judging German or English athletes differently than the athletes of their own nationality. It is therefore likely that journalists, like politicians are used to do in their practices, might communicate their national team’s superiority in comparison to their rivalry opponent

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The politics of sport coverage (Lowes, 2004). Therefore I chose to explore the concept of political discourse within the Sports media. According to Van Dijk (1997) a political discourse includes/expresses (political) power relations or relations in terms of dominance. Interestingly, a political discourse is not only a message, opinion or perception expressed by politicians. There are also people outside the political field, like journalists, who describe a social practice or event from a particular political perspective. As Van Dijk explains how political discourses are used, “we may further expect the typical positive evaluation of us and OUR actions in positive terms and of THEM and THEIR actions in negative terms” (p.28). International sport events involve for instance rivalry which could stimulate certain nationalistic beliefs to establish a superior image of their team. Therefore sport provides the context to express political discourses.

Regarding the use of political discourses in the field of sport news, one might ask how do journalists use political discourses in their reports on athletes of their own nationality, in comparison to competing athletes of a different nationality? To answer this question, a comparative content analysis of quality and popular papers between the United Kingdom and The Netherlands will be conducted. News articles reporting about ten encounters between the United Kingdom and The Netherlands will be analysed to see whether newspapers use political discourses in their reports.

In the first section the relevance of sport news in society and politics will be described.

The character of sports media and their inherent problems regarding ‘objectivity’ and the presentation of ‘reality’ will be made clear in order to show the characterization of sport news as soft news. This section will show how sport media on the one hand could contribute to political relations between countries and on the other hand stimulate nationalistic sentiments.

After the theoretical foundation of this thesis, the purpose of this research will be presented, followed by the methodological chapter, explaining the used methods, sample and analysis of

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The politics of sport coverage the data. In the fourth section the results of this research will be presented and classified. The final section will summarize the conclusions and discuss the implications of the results.

The politics of sport coverage Many people watch and read sport news on a daily basis. The sports section within a newspaper is a combination of information and entertainment, i.e. infotainment or soft news.

Sport is also part of everyday life and represents certain important values, like the norm of sportsmanship. The youth should for example be more participating in sports, because it is believed that it is an effective learning environment. Engaging in sport could learn them the desired values, beliefs and desirable character traits, like self-discipline, sportsmanship, competition and goal attainment (Aicinena 1999, Frey & Eitzen, 1991). In addition, sports journalism could communicate these values in their articles, because journalism has a mediating role. Considering that sport news is covering almost every sport event, it is interesting to see how journalists are using political discourses to establish for instance a superior image of their national team or an inferior image of the opponent.

Why sports journalism is so popular Sports journalism takes a different place in journalism and it is often regarded as the ‘poor little brother’ or ‘toy department’ of professional news journalism. When researching sports journalism, Rowe (2007) found that the sports press are not meeting the same professional standards as hard news journalism. An example for this statement is the reduced importance of ‘objectivity.’ ‘Objectivity’ is a problematic concept, because it is a goal journalists created for themselves. Without clearly defining ‘objectivity,’ journalists still aim for this concept in an attempt to make their work comprehensible. Rowe found that sports journalists are passionate about sports. As they travel with the sportsmen and operate within a 4

The politics of sport coverage closed circle they become intertwined within this world (Rowe, 2007). Lowes (2004) found a similar result as he addresses the question of ‘objectivity’ in his study. As he formulates: “Maintaining a broad and diverse network of sources on a sports beat pays off in terms of generating news material of the sort not likely to be revealed by a major-league sports organization of their own accord. Consequently, reporters must be careful they don’t slash their own wrists by offending and alienating any of their routine official sources” (Lowes, 2004, p. 73). This relation between the journalists and athletes is most likely based on trust, which could have an effect on the reporting. According to Lowes, reporting on sensitive issues could mean a loss of contact persons. Thus, the preservation of silence regarding certain issues is just as important for the athletes as for the press. This issue could be analysed with the study of Donsbach (2004), who stated that the idea of ‘objectivity’ is legitimated by a ‘shared reality.’ This means that when other journalists reproduce this reality, this reality becomes the ‘true reality.’ Or as Lowes formulates it: “Newswork is the act of constructing reality rather than recording it” (Lowes, 2004, p. 5).

Although journalists construct reality, they are not always sharing the same perspectives on events, especially with sports. Denham and Desormeaux (2008) investigated the news reportage of English, Irish and Scottish newspaper of a serious foul during the World Cup Finale of 2006. The French footballer Zinedine Zidane head-butted the Italian defender Marco Materazzi. Denham and Desormeaux found that the Irish articles were the least critical of this foul and that the Scottish papers devoted a significantly smaller amount of articles to this event than the Irish and the English papers. English papers were focussing their articles on this form of physical aggression and used the act of Zidane as a metaphor to describe the French in general. This research is showing how different papers choose to report on and how to formulate a specific affair.

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The politics of sport coverage And, as Aicinena (1999) showed, sports reportages could also be one sided. In his research he found a dominance of poor sportsmanship, violence and immoral behaviour in the coverage of sports. The negative aspects of sports were more prominent in the media compared to the positive aspects. Sport is entertaining and interesting for the audience, yet there is also a ‘dark side’ of sport, according to Aicinena. He argued that when sportsmen engage in immoral behaviour or show poor sportsmanship, the media were intended to follow and to repeat this kind of behaviour several times, while examples of good sportsmanship were rarely mentioned. These academic journals show that negative or dramatic news seems to get more attention by the media (Carvalho, 2007, Cavender, 2004).

In contrast to ‘hard’ news, the more entertaining character of sport news could explain the trends in sport journalism discussed above. People seem also more motivated to read sport news, i.e. soft news. As Livingston and Bennet (2003) state in their research, the audience has shifted from their interest in hard news, towards more soft news, i.e. infotainment. And Prior (2005) argued that the audience enjoys soft news, because it is entertaining while hard news is not. People who read mainly soft news are less likely to learn about political issues, as Prior (2005) shows in his research. In addition, soft news has the ability to influence the audience, because the audience is inattentive (un-concentrated, unprepared for the message) as Baum (2003) shows. If there is a presence of political discourses in sport news, soft news has the ability to reach their audience more efficiently (Baum & Jamison, 2005). This effect may occur specifically when viewers or readers are not actively questioning the reality displayed by the media (Frey and Eitzen (1991). Lowes (2004) formulates the influential role of the media as follows: “The mass media, then, constitute a powerful ideological institution that largely fixes the agenda of public discourse – not telling us what to think, but rather what to think about” (Lowes, p.5).

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The politics of sport coverage Sport and diplomacy Sports and politics are not separated from each other. Sport is a reflection of everyday society and politics. For example the French minister of sport expressed her indignation about the poor performances of the French national football team during the World Cup of 2010.

The situation became politically susceptible, because these athletes were seen as role models representing France. Another example of the involvement of politics in sports is the effort countries make to bring the Olympic Games or the World Cup Football to their country. Such events bring international prestige and governments believe it will have also certain economic benefits. This section will describe how sport is a form of political communication in the sense that it functions as a political resource in international politics and has the ability to build bridges between countries.

Sport events or matches are used as a diplomatic tool to achieve informally political goals, when official political channels are problematic. Sport then has the potential to reach political goals, because its a-political image creates a sphere where dialogue is possible. This way, sport is a form of political communication, when other communication channels have failed (Hong & Xiaozheng, 2010, Merkel, 2008). This seems to be in accordance with the research of Martin (2005). He showed in his research that on the one hand football could enhance the feeling of a national identity and on the other hand it could increase a sense of a European identity. It was the exchange of players between European clubs, which created a certain familiarity with other Europeans. The ‘other’ was now becoming familiar. The introduction of these Europeans toned down certain nationalistic views, and created a more open-minded perspective towards Europe. As Martin formulated it: “Just maybe football has the potential to make a positive contribution to the overcoming of old identity divisions and the realization of a new vision of European identity” (Martin, 2005, p.364). More recently, it is ‘cricket diplomacy’ which seems to influence the political relations between Pakistan and

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The politics of sport coverage India. As Crick (2006, 2009) argues that cricket plays an important role, because it provides a meeting point for the people and politicians. During cricket matches politicians met each other and discussed political matters unofficially. Crick also believes that the more these two countries will meet in cricket, the bigger the chance that the stereotypes will break down.

“Nevertheless, if cricket can help break down the hatred and mistrust through increasing people-to-people contact then the constituencies that support such acts will shrink. The experiences of cricket fans during the 1999, 2004 and 2005 series are very different from the rhetoric promulgated by the media and politicians on both sides of the border. Unofficial dialogues ranging from cricket diplomacy to people’s forums can promote an environment through the education of public opinion, that would make it safer for political leaders to take risks for peace” (Crick, 2009, p. 77). Countries can use sport as an informal way to bridge the differences between them. Through contact it is possible to alter stereotypes and create mutual respect. The function of sport and the sports media described in this section is one of building bridges between two opposing countries. Sport has the ability, as Giulianotti (2005) argues, to stimulate social and political encounters and helps to break the ice.

Sport news as discursive practice Although these researches have illustrated this ability to build bridges, there are also researches that show that sports media promote nationalistic feelings and pride. A discourse consists of ‘constructions or significations of some domain of social practice from a particular perspective’ (Sterkenburg & Knoppers, 2004, p. 302). Moreover, a political discourse describes or constructs a social practice in terms of dominance. It would be interesting to examine the discursive practice of sport news, because journalists could praise their national team and credit victories to their national teams’ superiority. And at the same time the sports media would be denying the superiority of the opponent when their national team has lost.

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The politics of sport coverage This means that sports media could describe a sport match in terms of dominance (power relations) and evaluate their own national team positively and their opponent negatively. This would mean a clear presence of a political discourse in sports media, according to the definition of Van Dijk (1997, 2002). It is for example possible that sport journalists could use stereotypes during international sport matches and stimulate nationalistic feelings and pride.

For instance, Bishop and Jaworski (2003) researched the British press during the European Championship Football in 2000. They found in the reportage of the press that the journalists were using rhetoric of ‘us’ and ‘them’. They were also using military and war metaphors in order to make a clear distinction between the British and the Germans. Next to this, the British press was also using stereotypes trying to create an image of a cultural homogenous nation. Bishop and Jaworski argued that the media played an essential role in constructing the national identity as a unity, especially with sport matches or events. As Bishop and Jaworski conclude in their research: “In this way, the press are able to reproduce, maintain and police hegemonic social relations, in- and outgroup distinctions (on both interand intranational lines) and articulate a sense of what is considered normative in terms of membership to the national collective, which is predicated upon a moral discourse with anyone deemed to have violated this moral code of conduct systematically ‘othered’: vilified and marginalized” (Bishop & Jaworski, 2003, p. 267). Also Maguire (1994) stated that nations define themselves and underline their unity in international sport matches. Later Maguire and Poulton (1999) found in their study that the media was playing a dividing role rather than uniting nations with each other. They argue that the British press was reflecting and possibly reinforcing an anti-European sentiment. The press was making use of a cultural nostalgic discourse and were emphasizing their English cultural homogeneity. “As a result, such sport media discourse performed the function that Elias detected about national identity politics and socialization practices more broadly” (p. 27). This means that the press was

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The politics of sport coverage emphasizing national identity and national traditions during sport events. In addition, Anderson (1991) stresses the importance of newspapers, because a paper or any other form of print can lead to a ‘national consciousness,’ because one reads about their fellow citizens (although he or she does not know these people). Anderson also notes that use of a national language, the use of shared symbols and commentary which reflects certain national feelings or ideologies stimulates the idea of a nation (Carvalho, 2007, Frey & Eitzen, 1991). “Media are in a sense the creators of culture, conveying information about what is acceptable and unacceptable. (…) These media presentations can influence our ideas about sport, our perceptions of gender, race, social relations, and proper behaviours, and out adherence to certain values” (Idem, p. 507). This relation is understandable and confirmed by Sterkenburg (2011), who found that the media users were implementing this discourse into their own perception of reality, because sports media is very popular and perceived as a credible source of information. Or as Topi & Coakley (2010) argue: “Scholars in the sociology of sport have noted that sports, more than most other activities and spheres of social life, provide occasions for the public expression of national values, beliefs, pride, collective unity, and identity” (p.

374).

To conclude, sport media can be a place which can stimulate nationalistic feelings, especially during international matches and events, where the opponent becomes highly visible. According to Pope (2008) we may “analyse sport as a system of mutually reinforcing beliefs, rites, symbols, and emotions bonding people into communities” (Pope, 2008, p. 85).

Extending this notion to sport, identity could be defined especially in relation with others (Elias, 1978). One speaks in terms of “we” and “they.” This means that the notion of each other becomes rather important, especially during international sport games. The embodiment of the opponent becomes very apparent and the nationalistic feelings are increasingly expressed through a strong aversion of the opponent. This rivalry is expressed in ‘symbolic

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The politics of sport coverage terms’, by wearing a different shirt, in communicative codes and languages’, by songs and choral readers and to be part of a group sharing a national or social consciousness (Giulianotti, 2005). All these manifestations could lead to a negative evaluation of the opponent and a positive evaluation of their own national team.

Purpose of the study Concluding these theoretical considerations, a few things become obvious. Sport has the ability to unite nations or to build bridges between countries. On the other hand sport could stimulate national feelings and unity. The press could play a mediating role in these processes, when they communicate these feelings. A possible explanation for this role could be the journalists’ own favour for the national team or their close involvement with the athletes (Lowes, 2004, Rowe, 2007). Sport events are a socially constructed reality (partially) created by the journalists. The involvement of these journalists with their own national team and their position to determine how certain events are formulated makes this part of sport news an interesting dimension to explore. Within the sports press, the presence of political discourses could possibly conflict with the notion of ‘objectivity’ in journalism (Aicinena, 1999, Carvalho, 2007).

This article tries to contribute to the already existing academic publications by focussing on the presence of political discourse in sport news. Although sports journalism is outside the political field, sport events provide a context for journalists to express political discourses, because the nature of sport is about domination and rivalry. The exploration of political discourses within sport news is a new way of approaching sports journalism. The innovative contribution to existing research is the comparative approach. The comparison of quality and popular papers between the United Kingdom and The Netherlands will provide insight in the possible use of political discourses in sports media in both countries.

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The politics of sport coverage Because sport news is also becoming increasingly popular and entertaining, it is possibly gaining influence in shaping opinions and ideas of the inattentive audience. In terms of identity, journalists could be using political discourses to judge or characterize Dutch or English athletes more negatively and praise athletes of their own nationality. Therefore this thesis is trying to explore the following research question: how do journalists use political discourses in their reports on athletes of their own nationality, in comparison to competing athletes of a different nationality? In the following section the proposed research design and the steps conducting this research will be described.

Research method This thesis will focus on news articles reporting on sport events and investigate whether and how they reflect political discourses. The case study in this research contains news articles from British and Dutch papers reporting on six different matches, where these two countries competed with each other. This research is based on a qualitative content analysis in two stages. The first stage is a general characterization of the news articles in order to yield an overview of the issues that are covered in the selected news articles. These issues will be coded and used in the second stage of this research following the constant comparative method (Boeije, 2002). Subsequently they will be organised into clear themes, which will provide an answer to the central research question.

Sample The starting point for conducting this research was the encounters between The Netherlands and the United Kingdom in sport. This research compares news articles of quality and popular papers between the United Kingdom and The Netherlands. The focus of this research is how the British and Dutch press describe the same sport matches between these 12

The politics of sport coverage two countries. These news reports resulted in a case selection. The selection of this case study is based on the competition, because it is assumed that this rivalry between these two nations could stimulate the use of political discourse in sports media. The results of this case study do not provide any generalizations (Rowely, 2002).

The creation of these case selections was attained through two phases. The first phase of the case selection process consisted of examining the encounters of The Netherlands and United Kingdom. This shows that these two countries have contested each other in the period of 2006 to 2011 in 15 matches in 6 different popular sports. In cricket, baseball, hockey, football, water polo and tennis these two countries were each other’s opponents. In the second phase, I explored which matches were reported in the quality and tabloid newspapers, both in The Netherlands as in the United Kingdom. In total, 41 articles covering six matches were found in the LexisNexis database (a database which contains published news articles from Dutch and other International newspapers). The selection of these news articles was based on the match day and the day after. If the match day was on a Saturday or Sunday, the selection of the articles was extended to Monday, because newspapers are usually not distributed on Sundays.

The selected papers are considered either as a ‘quality’ or as a ‘tabloid’ paper, because of their ideological character, quality and tabloid papers show a differences in their reporting on same events. For example quality (professional and progressive) papers seem to endorse climate change, while tabloid papers (conservative and sensationalist) have a tendency to deny this (Carvalho, 2007). Following the circulation numbers, the Daily Telegraph (circulation of 635.967) and the Times (circulation of 44.684) seem to be the two largest quality papers (pressgazette.co.uk, 2011). The Daily Telegraph is a serious newspaper and tries to stay away from sensationalism. The Times is a famous and authoritative newspaper (LexisNexis). These two quality papers are distinct from the Sun and the Mirror, which are

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The politics of sport coverage with a circulation of 2.846.905 for the Sun and 1.168.664 for the Mirror, the two largest popular tabloid papers. According to the circulation numbers, the Sun and the Mirror are top selling tabloid newspapers. These tabloid papers are focussed on sensationalism and entertaining stories (see appendix A for a full table with the articles used in this research reporting on the encounters between the United Kingdom and The Netherlands).

The selected Dutch newspapers followed the same selection process of the British papers in this research. However, this research includes also a free paper, named Spits. The largest quality paper in The Netherlands is de Volkskrant. de Volkskrant has a circulation of 791.000. The two popular tabloid papers in The Netherlands are de Telegraaf and the AD (Algemeen Dagblad). These two papers focus more on the sensationalistic side of news stories and are in general more entertaining than the quality paper. De Telegraaf has a circulation of 2.136.000 and the AD has a circulation of 1.531.000. The free popular paper Spits reaches 1.582.000 people. This research included the Spits, because it is almost provided in every public location in The Netherlands and therefore reaches many people. The ‘Spits’ is displaying short popular and sensationalistic news, generally without much background information (Bakker & Scholten, 2009).

The following table gives an overview of the selected articles in this research. This overview shows per event how many articles have been found. It displays as well how much articles from popular or quality papers have been found for the United Kingdom and The Netherlands. In total 11 British and 15 Dutch articles from popular papers, and 9 British and 6 Dutch articles form quality papers have been found. This table also presents how much articles have been found per event. The article number between the brackets in the table corresponds with the article number given to the news articles in the Appendix A.

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The politics of sport coverage

Table 1 Selection of Articles per Event

Event

Who won?

Football Draw match (’06)

British Papers Dutch Papers Popular papers Quality papers Popular papers Quality papers 2 articles found 1 article found 2 articles 1 article (article no. 2,3) (article no. 1) found(article found no.21,22) (article no.

23)

Total

1 article found (article no.26) 1 article found (article no.

29)

6

6

Tennis match (’07)

UK

2 articles found (article no. 5,6)

1 article found 2 articles found (article no. 4) (article no.24,25)

Cricket match (’09)

NL

2 articles found (article no.

8,10)

2 articles found (article no.7,9)

2 articles found (article no.27,28)

Football Draw match (’09)

2 articles found (article no.

12,14)

2 articles found (article no. 11,13)

3 articles found (article no. 30, 31, 33)

1 articles found (article no.

32)

8

Hockey match (’09)

NL

1 article found (article no. 16)

1 article found 3 articles found (article no. (article 15) no.34,35,37)

1 article found (article no.

36)

6

Cricket match (’11) Total

UK

2 articles found (article no.18,20) 11

2 articles found (article no. 17,19) 9

1 articles 8 found(article no. 40) 6 41

3 articles found (article no.38,39,41) 15

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Analysis The analysis will try to explore the main themes in the articles. These themes or classifications create a coding scheme and they provide a general picture of the contents of the article. Every article will be examined according to the coding scheme. After data collection, every theme will be analysed to see which ideas they produce. This could be done with MAXqda, a computer programme used for textual analysis. By selecting one of the codes this research could examine which segments of the various articles are related to this code. This

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The politics of sport coverage way it is possible to find any similarities and differences between the articles regarding the same codes (Bryman, 2008, Marshall, 2002, Mayring, 2000).

This research follows certain steps as suggested by Boeije (2002) in order to conduct the constant comparative method. The first step analyses the message of an article and whether this message is consistent throughout the whole text. In the second step there will be a comparison between the texts within the same group. This would mean that articles from popular newspapers will be compared with each other or articles between countries will be compared. This comparison makes it possible to work out certain themes, which makes it better to systematically compare the articles. “By comparing it becomes evident that some interviews can be grouped together because they are similar with regard to certain criteria” (Boeije, 2002, p. 397). The third step compares the different groups with each other with regard to the themes found in the previous step. This will give insights in the formulation of events or issues from both (the United Kingdom and the Netherlands) perspectives. The final step in this research is to compare the articles from different perspectives. All these steps and comparisons build up to a complex image of the compared news articles which provide an insight in the different perspectives (Boeije, 2002, Bryman, 2008).

To analyse the political discourse it is important to follow the definition as formulated

by Van Dijk (1997). This way it is possible distinguish the expressions of power relations or dominance. These relations may be recognised by the positive evaluation of the journalists’ own national team and a negative evaluation of their opponent. For example two headlines regarding the cricket match in 2009. The Sun opened with, “CLOGS..1 CLOTS…0” and the headline of the Times followed, “England left stunned by Dutch courage.” These two papers formulated the action of winning differently. One could interpret the reference to clogs as a Dutch national symbol, but also as a stereotype to describe the opponent. The use of stereotypes typifies for example a country negatively.

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The politics of sport coverage

Results This section presents the results of the analysis of the articles. ‘To lift the data to a conceptual level’ the analysis of the data will be presented according to two clearly identifiable themes (Suddaby, 2006). In the exploration of this research, it appeared that there were some themes which are in compliance with the definition of a political discourse. This means that reports about the sport matches were described within power relations, as well as admitting as denying these relations. The political nature of these themes is firstly reflecting the discourse of fraternisation or building bridges between countries. And secondly, the expression of the political discourse of national superiority, that stimulates sentiments of national unity. In other words, sport provides here a context to express two political discourses. Journalists could reflect and reinforce sentiments and beliefs that possibly communicate a political discourse, which could bond people nationally or tries to overcome differences between people between nations. The results will be presented in two themes, namely ‘admitting opponents’ superiority’ and ‘denying opponents’ superiority.’ Every theme will be presented in a separate paragraph, whereby the citations from Dutch papers will be translated in this section. The themes with their sub-themes are presented in the following hierarchal diagram.

Political Discourse in Sport Coverage Denying opponents' superiority

Admitting opponents' superiority

Emphasizing own national team's good qualities Figure 1 Political discourse in sport coverage

Emphasize opponents' 'good' qualities

Admit their own national team's 'poor' qualities

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Emphasizing the opponents' poor qualities

The politics of sport coverage Theme 1: Admitting opponents superiority The first theme that became clear in the analysis was news articles admitting the (superior) qualities of the opponent. Newspapers did this in two ways. The first way was to emphasize the opponents’ good qualities or strengths in the match. The second way was to admit their own national team’s ‘poor’ qualities. Sometimes news articles followed both ways to admit the opponents’ superiority. For instance, regarding the friendly football match in 2009 the quality paper The Times was criticizing their own national team and praising their opponent. The Times emphasized the English individual errors and lack of team play, while the article acknowledged the Dutch qualities, for instance: “[H]e (Kuyt) set the tempo for a Holland team, who seemed intent on swamping the opposition, pressing them so high up the pitch that mistakes would be forced and, in this mood, punished” (Kay, 2009, August 13, Friendly football match on 12 August 2009, The Times).

The England players who scored were described as ‘superbly’ and ‘bravely beating’ the opponent, while the opponent enforced and punished the mistakes England made, while in fact they represent the same actions, namely scoring a goal. The following section will show the results of articles primarily emphasizing the opponents’ ‘good’ qualities.

Sub-theme 1a: Emphasize the opponents’ ‘good’ qualities In numerous cases, news articles emphasised the opponents’ good qualities.

Experience and strength or words representing more or less the same meaning seemed to be adequate words to describe the opponents’ dominance. The Dutch papers AD and de Volkskrant described the English team after the friendly football match of 2006 as too strong or too experienced. For instance the article in the AD reporting on this match clearly emphasised the qualities of the English team and specifically Steven Gerrard: “What a technique, what a power during the duels and what a passion.” Meanwhile the AD defined the 18

The politics of sport coverage Dutch players after the same football match as lacking rhythm and creativity. And according to de Telegraaf, also regarding the same match, it was a surprise that England gave the Dutch more space, resulting eventually in the equalizer.

In terms of the Davis Cup tennis match in 2007 the English paper The Times saw the potential of the young Dutch player Robin Haase in the future. The Times writes:

“He (…) can expect a bountiful future if his self-possessed manner and shot selection of yesterday remain at his beck and call” (“Henman back up”, 2007, April7, Davis Cup Tennis on 6 April 2007, The Times).

The Times seems to be more positive about Raemon Sluiter, the Dutch tennis captain, than the Dutch papers. The Times described him as a dynamic player who came just in short of Murray’s qualities. The Dutch paper de Volkskrant paper criticised Sluiter and described the English team as too strong, too experienced and tactical very mature.

Papers used different ways to describe the opponents’ ‘good’ qualities. The popular tabloid The Sun described for example the opponent as capable of an equalizer (friendly football match 2006) and stated that England survived a huge scare to beat Holland (cricket math 2011). Also, the popular Dutch paper de Telegraaf described those actions leading to a goal after the friendly football match in 2009, equally mentioning the efforts and errors on both sides.

Sometimes newspapers used imagery language to describe the opponent. For example de Telegraaf described the England football team in 2006 as a superpower and their defence as a great white wall. And also, The Daily Telegraph described the Dutch team, regarding the same match, as a torture museum leaving the English players in despair. Since the Dutch team seemed to put pressure on the English team The Daily Telegraph wrote: “Holland were sharper to the ball, hounding England relentlessly” (Winter, 2009, August 12). According to

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The politics of sport coverage The Daily Telegraph, Capello rescued the England football team from the torture museum in Amsterdam.

However, the papers had sometimes trouble with recognising the superiority of the opponent. For instance, de Volkskrant wrote, regarding the friendly football match in 2006, that the opponent was not dominating the game and yet at the same time they were winning the duels and did not lose possession. de Volkskrant even concluded that the England team was better on every front. This seems to be in contradiction with the statement that England was not dominating.

Sub-theme 1b: Admitting their own ‘poor’ qualities More than emphasising the opponents ‘good’ qualities, papers seem to be focussing on the unfortunate performance of their own national team. For instance the popular paper The Sun described after the friendly football match in 2009 the English team as “always failing spectacularly.” This comment could be placed in the context of the English team which has great players, but never won a tournament or even approaching the final stages of a tournament. The Sun blamed the team of suffering from self-delusion making basic mistakes and blunders.

Occasionally the papers explained the poor performance because certain ‘important’ players were absent. After the cricket match in 2009 The Sun mentioned that England was not at full strength, because one of their best men suffered from an injury, suggesting that with his presence England would have made a chance to win. Although they mentioned the Dutch qualities, which led to the victory, The Sun ended the article with: “There was no doubt England missed Pietersen’s power. If his injury keeps him out of the next match, England are extremely unlikely to progress” (Etheridge, 2009, June 6, World Twenty20 cricket match on 6 June 2009, The Sun).

20

The politics of sport coverage Regarding the cricket match in 2011, the British papers were not afraid to write about the poor performance of the British team. In fact, they showed a tendency to emphasize the calamitous play. At the same time, they did not write about the ‘good’ play of the Dutch, but instead ascribed the Dutch resistance to one player, Ryan ten Doeschate. However, this paper concluded that minnow nations, in other words countries that do not belong to the top, should not be rejected from world cup tournaments, something which could be ascribed to the efforts of the Dutch team. For example The Daily Telegraph wrote:

“A calamitous fielding and bowling performance that Andrew Stauss admitted left England feeling “shell-shocked” was pounced on by Ryan ten Doeschate, who scored a brilliant oneday hundred to suggest there is a place for the minnows in this tournament after all (…) Even though humiliation was ultimately averted by a well-paced run chase, they will have to improve fast (Hoult, 2011, February 22, World Championship cricket on 22 February 2011, The Daily Telegraph).”

Also, the Dutch papers explained after the friendly football match in 2006 the poor performance due to the absence of players. de Volkskrant and de Telegraaf judged the Dutch Football team and claimed that they were lacking creativity and inventiveness and were very insecure, because some important players were absent, who would bring experience, quality and power to the team.

In other occasions the newspapers analysed the team critically. The Dutch quality paper de Volkskrant argued after the Davis Cup match in 2007 that the tennis team was in decay. The other players of the Dutch team were too young to be of any influence in the match against England and the players were taught a course in effectiveness and intelligence.

According to de Telegraaf the victory was not within reach for the Dutch tennis players, because of the lack of experience and the oldest player (Sluiter) was too nervous to play well.

Regarding the World Cup Hockey Match in 2009 the quality paper AD described the Dutch as mentally weak. The players did not show obstinacy in comparison to players from 21

The politics of sport coverage other countries. The quality paper The Sunday Times described this match as the worst game of the tournament for the England team. According to The Times, the Dutch gained renewed hope and fought back. This seems to be consistent with the report of de Volkskrant, who described the Dutch as ‘blatant’ in the first half and ‘destroyed’ the English in the second half.

Newspapers also describe their own national team’s position in terms of dominance.

This means that often the status of a country, for instance a traditional cricket nation or the current (European) champion, is mentioned. Dutch papers used this theme to put their own national team down. For example, the Dutch tabloid paper Spits put the Dutch qualities in perspective in comparison with England. Spits mentioned that the English team took the match really serious, because of their lost match against The Netherlands in 2009. Again the qualities of the English team were recognised. The article suggests that their previous loss in 2009 stimulates their drive to win this match.

Moreover, after the World Cup hockey match in 2009 de Volkskrant article tried to describe the ‘current’ contrasting relationship between the Dutch team and the British team.

The article mentioned that England was the European champion and started the World Cup spectacularly. The Dutch team struggled this whole tournament as well as the European Championship and only played with passion in the second half of this match. Following the cricket matches in 2009 and 2011 the British papers tried to show the contrasting relationship between the Dutch and the British team by mentioning the amateur status of the Dutch in contrast to the professional players of the English team. The Mirror focused on the fact that the Dutch players were only ‘part-timers’ and mentioned that the Dutch player Mudassar Bukhari works in the Burger King. The Dutch paper AD also mentioned that England is one of the top countries in cricket and that they should not have had any problems with the Dutch team. The AD concluded:

22

The politics of sport coverage “Yesterday in Nagpur, England, one of the top countries, should not had any difficulties with the Netherlands considering the relations within the cricket world” (Klippus, 2011, February 23, World Championship cricket on 22 February 2011, AD).

Finally, papers sometimes used imagery language to criticise their own national team.

The English quality paper The Times focussed their article after the World Championship cricket in 2011 on losing the match and the fact that England played like “headless chickens” and that they were unable to finish the job (Kidd, 2010, March, 14). Also the Dutch quality paper de Volkskrant wrote after the Davis Cup tennis match in 2007 more critical, saying that the ‘magic’ of the captain (R. Sluiter) was gone and that he cannot be the brave knight that conquers the world for The Netherlands. Portrayals such as ‘headless chickens’, ‘shaking up the headquarters’ sensationalise reality.

Theme 2: Denying opponents superiority/effort The second theme is the denial of the efforts of the opposing theme, which is characterized by the assumption that their own national team was just simply better.

Newspapers do this by emphasizing their own national team’s good qualities, describing their own national team as dominating the game or when their team has lost, the emphasis shifts to ‘giving’ the victory away like a present. For instance, The Times argued that England should have won the cricket match of 2009 and reasons that the lack of effort lost them the game and that it is not the effort of the Dutch team, which led them to the victory.

Sub-theme 2a: Emphasize their own national team’s good qualities If every paper emphasises their own national team’s good qualities, it creates a rather contrasting view of the match, for instance the Davis Cup match in 2007. According to the AD the Dutch tennis players gave, despite their brave, magnificent play, the victory like a present to the English players. Giving the victory away is not what the British papers argued 23

The politics of sport coverage in their articles. The English quality paper The Times described the English team as superior or exquisitely without blemish. And the tabloid paper The Sun admitted that Dutch player Raemond Sluiter played good tennis, but the British players dominated, outclassed the Dutch and won comfortably. The popular British paper The Mirror wrote about how easy the British tennis players won their games.

A different perception between the British and the Dutch papers was also noticeable after the cricket match of 2011. Where the British papers criticized the poor performance of the England team, the Dutch papers emphasized the Dutch dominance in the game. According to the AD, ‘The Dutch made an impressive score, which made the English sweat with fear.’

Although the Dutch team lost this game, de Volkskrant did not acknowledge the superiority of the opponent. In fact, the newspaper emphasized the magnificent and sparkled style of the Dutch players in the cricket world cup match. This following citation is saying that the Dutch put the English professional players with their high salaries on the rack, i.e. referring to a medieval torture device.

“Oranje [other word for the Dutch team] put the professional players with their high salaries and with the help of a swinging Ryan ten Doeschate on the rack in the opening game of the World Championship” (Kramp, 2011, World Championship cricket on 22 February 2011, De Volkskrant February 23).

Some papers knew eventually to recognise the opponents’ efforts. In the beginning The Times argued that England was, during the friendly football match in 2006, more disciplined than the Dutch and should have been rewarded with a victory.

“England at least looked like a team that actually knew what it was supposed to be doing (…) a far more disciplined England performance that should have been rewarded with a moraleraising victory” (Hughes, 2006, November 16, Friendly football match on 15 November 2006 The Times).

The article of The Times described their team after the friendly football match in 2006 as better than their opponent stating: “We deserved to win,” but eventually did admit the ‘poor’ 24

The politics of sport coverage defending by England in the final minutes of the match, which gave the Dutch a chance to score. Also the Dutch tabloid paper de Telegraaf admitted after the cricket match in 2011 in the end the dominance of the opponent. de Telegraaf writes in the following citation that the Dutch players were not a match for the English batsmen and that Strauss and Pietersen laid the foundations for the win because of their superb start: “The Dutch bowlers did not seem to be able to cope with the British batting force (…)

England had an excellent start with Strauss (88) and Pietersen (39). They laid the foundation for the victory” (“Dicht bij sensatie”, 2011, February 23, World Championship cricket on 22 February 2011, de Telegraaf).

A final recognised trend was that when their own national team had lost, it was reported as giving the goals/points away or the opponent stole the goals implying that it is not due to the effort of the opponent. For example, during the World Cup Hockey 2009, The Sunday Telegraph described England as dominating the game, however the Dutch stole the goals.

“Dominating the early play, England came close to scoring before Teun de Nooijer stole a goal (…) England could not respond and Hoffman went on to steal the decider (Rowley, 2010, March 14, World Championship Hockey 2010, The Sunday Telegraph).”

In the same way as in the previous themes papers liked to use imagery language sometimes, for example de Telegraaf reports after the cricket match in 2009 that The Netherlands shook the “headquarter of English cricket to its foundations” (without mentioning any difficulties the team had with their English opponent, like other Dutch papers did). Also during the Hockey World Cup in 2010 de Telegraaf described the Dutch team as an ‘orange offensive’ which overwhelmed the England team.

Sub-theme 2b: Emphasize the opponents’ poor qualities Popular papers like The Sun, The Mirror and the de Telegraaf were explicitly mentioning the shortcomings of the opponent. The description of the dominance of the papers 25

The politics of sport coverage own national team seems to be done predominantly by praising or emphasize their own national team’s good qualities and to a lesser extent by focussing on the opponents poor performance. For example, the Dutch tabloid paper de Telegraaf emphasised after the cricket match in 2011 the flaws and shortcomings of the British players.

“Even panic broke out among the England team (…) The fielders made mistakes, the bowlers were not successful in placing their balls correctly. A lot happened, but not much good” (“Dicht bij sensatie”, 2011, February, 23, World Championship cricket on 22 February 2011, de Telegraaf). de Telegraaf mentions in this citation that the English team panicked, the fielders made mistakes and the bowlers were not successful in placing their balls correctly. They concluded that much happened, but nothing good for the British players. The emphasis on the opponents’ poor qualities was also clearly visible in the article of the tabloid The Mirror after the friendly football match in 2006. According to this article, the Dutch stole the victory which was cruel for the England team, stating that: “Holland were so poor that they had to improve but England were able to cope comfortably enough” (Lipton, 2006, November 16).

British newspapers used sometimes stereotypes or metaphors to describe the opponent or their actions, while this has not been found with the Dutch papers. The most recognizable stereotype was used by The Sun who characterized the Dutch team as ‘clogs and tulips’, referring to Dutch national symbols. The Sun wrote: “Clogs..1 Clots..0 (…) The tulips could stand proud and tall” (Etheridge, 2009, June 6). The Sun used the stereotypes to describe the victory of The Netherlands. Within this context referring to the Dutch as tulips could be seen as teasing, because they also used terms as ‘impressive’, ‘spirited’ and ‘superb’ to describe the Dutch team. Another well-known stereotype refers to the tolerant drug environment in The Netherlands. After the friendly football match in 2009 The Mirror wrote, “several of Capello’s men looked like they had spent the previous evening in one of Amsterdam’s famed coffee shops, sampling the local ‘delicacies’” (McDonnel, 2009, August 13).

26

The politics of sport coverage

Discussion Journalists are in the position to determine how sport news is formulated. This research explored these formulations and whether they contain political discourses, i.e. how journalists describe actions or events during a sport match from a particular perspective, which refers to a political ideology or process. This means that simple actions in sport, like scoring a goal, winning or losing, could be formulated as such that a political discourse is reflected. In other words, journalists could praise their own national team and credit victories to their own national team’s superiority and deny the opponents’ superiority, when their own national team has lost. Sport could provide a context to express beliefs, stereotypes or nationalistic feelings, because different nations often compete with each other. Because sport is so popular, people could easily implement the discourses in their perspective (Baum & Jamison, 2006, Prior 2003, 2005, Sterkenburg, 2011). Journalists are as well part of a cultural group and could reflect and reinforce these shared values and beliefs of this group (Van Dijk, 1997, 2002, Baumann, 1999). Therefore, this research tried to explore how journalists use political discourses in their reports on athletes of their own nationality in comparison to the competing athletes of a different country.

The explored case studies in this research demonstrate that there are two political discourses present in the sports media. The first political discourse expresses the fraternization between two countries, i.e. making a positive contribution in order to overcome differences, as Crick (2009) also found. The ideology of fraternization is in this research denominated as admitting the opponents’ superiority. This result shows that journalists are able to recognise the ‘good’ qualities or performances of their opponent. They are expressing their appreciation/respect of the opponents’ efforts and sometimes use imagery language to describe their achievements or actions (Bishop & Jaworski, 2003, Maguire & Poulton, 1999, Sterkenburg, 2011). Also, newspapers tried to describe the current relationship between the 27

The politics of sport coverage two countries by expressing the relationship in terms of dominance or power relations as Van Dijk mentions in his article (1997). By mentioning that the opponent is a European Champion or a traditional cricket nation, news articles admit the current superior status of the opponents.

This expression is used to tone their team down in comparison to the opponent or to describe the magnitude of their own loss. The English papers mentioned for instance the amateur status of the Dutch cricket team to show how unlikely and painful their own loss was.

The second political discourse in this research expresses nationalistic sentiments, which has been denominated in this research as denying opponents’ superiority. Newspapers were keen on presenting their own national team’s good qualities or performances, even when their team lost. Sometimes news articles contained imagery language, like the cricket team ‘shook the headquarters of English cricket,’ to increase the importance of the victory. In case of a loss of their national team, it was often argued that the victory was given away. Giving the victory away implies that the opponent did not make any effort. However, it could be argued that this is a common expression, a phrase journalists regularly use in their news reports. Thus, journalists make a positive evaluation of their own national team and describe the opponent in negative terms. This is in accordance with the definition of a political discourse (Van Dijk, 1997). The presence of this political discourse could stimulate the sentiments of national unity and superiority.

This research also found articles expressing the opponent’s poor qualities. News articles mentioned explicitly the shortcomings (“not placing their balls correctly”) of the opponent, as well as using imagery language (“playing like headless chickens”). Another interesting result within this theme was the use of stereotypes. The use of stereotypes or imagery language sensationalises reality. A journalist typifies a country in a negative sense when he is expressing stereotypes, which could contribute to a simplified image of that

28

The politics of sport coverage country. This use of political discourse could also stimulate sentiments of national unity and superiority.

To conclude, this research tried to answer how do journalists use political discourses in their reports on athletes of their own nationality, in comparison to the competing athletes of a different nationality? Concluding the results for the first use of political discourse found in this research, the news articles show a message to bridge the differences between two different countries. These articles mentioned the sportsmanship, achievements, and respect for the opponent. Interestingly, the use of this political discourse shows that a (direct) relation between the nationality of the journalist and content of the articles is not unambiguously indicating that nationalistic sentiments are present in the sports media. The theoretical importance of this use of this political discourse is that it could tone down nationalistic views, alter stereotypes and create mutual respect. This means that journalists are able to evaluate or describe the opponent in a positive way, i.e. to show respect. This could stimulate the fraternization between two countries, because these articles show an open minded perspective (Martin, 2005). Thus, this perspective produces/communicates positive sentiments about the opponent and has the ability to overcome differences (Crick, 2009).

At the same time, the second use of political discourse in this research seems contrary to the first use. Here, the preference of the journalists for their own national team is expressed in the news articles by showing their own national team’s dominance, even when their team lost. This resulted in emphasizing the good qualities of their own team and sometimes in the use of stereotypes or imagery language in order to deny the opponents’ superiority. When denying the opponents’ superiority, news articles communicate a message of ‘we are better than the opponent.’ The use of rhetoric of ‘us’ and ‘them’ and the use of metaphors or stereotypes is to make a clear distinction between the two countries, which is in accordance with Bishop and Jaworski (2003). The theoretical importance of this use of this political

29

The politics of sport coverage discourse is that a comparison of us and them is a discourse which is also omnipresent in contemporary politics, for instance between countries, cultures, groups or ideologies. In other words, journalists reproduce these political and social relations and construct identity as a unity. They use beliefs and emotions to stimulate nationalistic sentiments, which bonds people into a national unity.

This thesis tried to answer the research question following a qualitative method.

Although this kind of research has its disadvantages, insights into the politics of sport coverage could only be acquired through qualitative research. According to Lacity and Janson (1994), “[t]hrough language, researchers study the use of power, discrimination, decision processes, norms, and virtually any other social actions of interest” (Lacity & Janson, p. 145).

A recommendation for future research is observing and experiencing the profession of sports journalists. The observation of the news room might provide an understanding in the social processes. And experiencing the news room by working their as a journalist will give insight into the shared values and beliefs of this social/cultural group and how one copes with reporting on one’s own national team. With this ethnographic research method researchers may acquire further understand of journalists’ ways of thinking.

A final recommendation for future research is to explore confrontations between other countries. This research assumed that the context of a sport match provides the expression of political discourses. It could be argued that different confrontations stimulate the nationalistic feelings and political discourses, for instance sport matches between Brazil and Argentina, Portugal and Spain, Italy and France or The Netherlands and Germany. It would be interesting to see how those newspapers from other countries use political discourse in their sport reports.

In the end, politics and sport are just as equal making part of society and therefore the politics of sport coverage is an intriguing and upcoming research field.

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The politics of sport coverage

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The politics of sport coverage

Appendix A Table2 Selection of British and Dutch newspapers/articles according to event Event Article Event 1.

1 Friendly football match on 15 November 2006 2 3

Event 2. Davis 4 Cup Tennis on 6 April 2007 5 6 Event 3. World 7 Twenty20 cricket match on 6 June 2009 8

9

10

Event 4.

Friendly football match on 12 August

11

Popular/Quality Quality

Country United Kingdom

The Sun Whacky Maccy The Mirror Joe saves Mac’s skin; Holland 1 England 1 Macca’s relief with lions promising end to dire 2006 Cole shows real Dutch of class as England go close to win.

The Times Henman backs up young successor to put Britain on verge of victory The Sun Hats off to Andy

Popular Popular

United Kingdom United Kingdom

Quality

United Kingdom

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United Kingdom

The Mirror Lawn tennis: Tim’s off to a flyer.

The Sunday Telegraph Forecast for home side looks gloomy - on and off the field; England’s crunch match.

The Sun Clogs..1 Clots..0; Dutch humble Colly 'n Co The Times England left stunned by Dutch courage; Only victory over Pakistan can save hosts from early elimination The Mirror Welcome to slogwarts; Twenty20 World Cup England back in the contest.

The Daily Telegraph Holland 2 England 2: match report

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United Kingdom

Quality

United Kingdom

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United Kingdom

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United Kingdom

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United Kingdom

The Times McClaren draws hope

38

Quality

The politics of sport coverage 2009 12 13

14

Event 5.

Champions Trophy Hockey 2009

15

16 Event 6. World Championship cricket on 22 February 2011

17

18 19

20

Event 1.

21 Friendly football match on 15 November 2006 22 23 Event 2. Davis 24 Cup Tennis on 6 April 2007

The Sun You can't defend our sloppy defence; International friendly.

The Times National Edition The tale of two stooges is no laughing matter for taskmaster that is Capello The Mirror Our golden oldie Becks proves he’s got World Cup in him.

Holland 2 England 2, friendly, Amsterdam.

The Times Scotland England suffer third narrow defeat; Hockey The Mirror England given a Dutch clogging.

The Daily Telegraph Cricket World Cup 2011: England v Holland match report The Sun Strauss Furious.

The Times Courageous Dutch almost turn England's world upside down The Mirror February ORANGE DISORDER; WEDNESDAY 23.02.2011 ICC WORLD CUP AD/Algemeen Dagblad Nederland –Engeland Seedorf heeft als creatieve geest na 2,5 jaar afwezigheid geen geniale invallen - Oranje luidt jaar 2006 mager uit De Telegraaf Fletse rentree de Volkskrant Oranje hapt voortdurend naar adem in doods duel AD/Algemeen Dagblad 'Ik miste het geluk om het zo'n topper moeilijk 39

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United Kingdom

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United Kingdom

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United Kingdom

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United Kingdom

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United Kingdom

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United Kingdom United Kingdom

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United Kingdom

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The Netherlands

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The Netherlands

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The Netherlands

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The Netherlands

The politics of sport coverage

25 26 Event 3. World 27 Twenty20 cricket match on 6 June 2009

28 29 Event 4.

Friendly football match on 12 August 2009

30

31

32 33 Event 5.

Champions Trophy Hockey 2009

34

35

te maken.' Raemon Sluiter - Oranje hoopt op wonder De Telegraaf Oranje aan dun draadje de Volkskrant Britten overklassen tennisteam AD/Algemeen Dagblad Oranje zorgt voor sensatie op Lord's - WK Twenty20 Nederlandse cricketers verrichten sportwonder en verslaan Engeland op heilige grond in Londen.

De Telegraaf Historische cricketzege de Volkskrant Cricket scoren op Lord's AD/Algemeen Dagblad Sterkte en zwakte Oranje aan het licht – Balans Het Nederlands elftal kan ook tegen een sterke tegenstander, zoals Engeland, scoren. Maar de ploeg geeft de doelpunten ook te gemakkelijk weg.

De Telegraaf "Dit is géén oefenpotje!"; Hans Kraay jr. over prestigeduel OranjeEngeland de Volkskrant Oranje hapt voortdurend naar adem in doods duel Spits Engeland is land om rekening mee te houden op WK AD/Algemeen ‘Andere koers is nodig bij Oranje’ – Directeur Bunnik baalt van uitschakeling.

De Telegraaf Hockeyt met het hart; Nederlandse hockeyelftal knokt naar brons ter ere van Guus Vogels 40

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The Netherlands

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The Netherlands

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The Netherlands

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The Netherlands

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The Netherlands

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The Netherlands

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The Netherlands

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The Netherlands

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The Netherlands

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The Netherlands

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The Netherlands

The politics of sport coverage 36 37

Event 6. World Championship cricket on 22 February 2011

38

39 40 41

de Volkskrant Hockeyploeg is ondanks brons aan revisie toe Spits Van den Heuvel en Vogels komen goed weg India Ric Charlesworth leidt AustraliĂŤ naar Wereldtitel.

AD/Algemeen Cricketers laten Engelsen zweten

Quality

The Netherlands

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The Netherlands

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The Netherlands

De Telegraaf Dicht bij sensatie de Volkskrant Oranje laat Britse profs huiveren Spits Britse angst voor nietig Oranje

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The Netherlands

Quality

The Netherlands

Popular

The Netherlands

41