The Love of Soccer Pg.4
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World cup Edition
Golden Goal or Flop Pg.8
Table of contents Letter From The Editors
Page.3 The Love of soccer
Page.4 Golden Goal or flop
Page.8 4
Letter from the editors Dear Readers, Our magazine started out as a 4 person project then one by one we lost two of our members. Although we didn’t start off on the best foot we continued to work on our magazine and it really has been a blast. You can’t go wrong talking about soccer and writing a world cup magazine, during the World Cup. In just a short 6 weeks we were able to finish a magazine. If you truly do like soccer this would be a great magazine to read for you. Soccer is a big part of many peoples lives including ours and we hope you like it. From, Hayden Griffin
Contributors Griffin AncipinkGriffin developed his love for soccer at a young age. He started playing at only 4 years old. His dad, who played semi-pro for the San Francisco Seals, introduced the game. Free time: Play soccer, FIFA 13 on Xbox, watch soccer Favorite team: Arsenal Gunners Contributions: Golden Goal or Flop feature story, Letter from the editors, and Cover Page Hayden AbrevayaHayden has been a soccer loving fan for quite a while now and he started playing soccer at the age of 7. One of his favorite things is watching the World Cup. Free Time: In my freetime I like to play soccer, bike, watch TV, and play video games. Favorite World Cup Team: U.S.A Contributions:Table of contents, Letter from The Editors, The Love of Soccer feature story, and the Cover Page
July 2014
The love of soccer How one man has recorded hundreds of soccer games
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t the age of 10, Dave Wasser was growing up in New York and he had just began to start watching soccer. The New York Cosmos was his favorite team at the time and that’s what started him off in the soccer world. ”I just caught the soccer fever along with everybody else,” Wasser said. Wasser isn’t just an ordinary soccer fan though. He has recorded almost every big soccer game ever since he was in college and he loves the history of soccer and the World Cup. ”I love the sport and I feel like years from now I’ll want to look back and watch a game,”Wasser said.” Occasionally I will just pop in a DVD from 20 to 30 years ago and it means a lot to me.” Wasser and an estimated 3.5 billion fans have been in love with the sport for quite some time, Wasser’s decision to record games stemmed from a desire to relive some of his favorite memories. ”I just wanted to see games that I watched growing up” Wasser Said For some it is just hard to get to a World Cup. However, television has made it possible for people like Wasser to keep up to date with the world cup. “You know in 1994 the World Cup was in the United States but I just wasn’t able to go to any of the games and the USA wasn’t playing in any of the cities I was liv-
The U.S in the 2014 world cup in Brazil. Courtesy of mollyfletcher.com
ing in and, you know, I didn’t get to go,”Wasser said. Wasser just had to find a small bit of soccer’s fan base and eventually he worked up a pretty large collection of videos of soccer games. “Fortunately I had found a lot of people who had recorded the games but even I’m surprised at how many games were recorded off the air off of early VCRs,”Wasser said”It is kind of surprising that some people had the foresight to record them.” Wasser’s hobby has actually grown into a mini business and he sells and trades with like minded fans. All the trading comes from a website he made called www.davebrett.com. Along with listing the hundreds of recordings he also has many stats on the world cup games. “ I’m sort of a video store for soccer matches,” Wasser said. Soccer has seen different levels of popularity in America and Wasser has been through it all. He also has many of the games
Host Coutries
Date
4
Uruguay
Italy
1930
1934
Hayden Abrevaya
France
1938
Brazil
1950
Switzerland
1954
Sweden
Chile
England
Mexico
1958
1962
1966
1970
West Germany
1974
on record that he grew up with. For him, it is just a reminder that the soccer atmosphere is always changing. “The thing is in the 1980’s soccer kind of lost popularity in the country and then in the 1990’s it picked up again,”Wasser said “The weird thing is here soccer has had its ups and downs. But the good thing is right now soccer is as popular as its ever been.” Although soccer has had its ups and downs, soccer fans will still do anything to watch the games of the teams they love. In the 2002 world cup many had to. The World Cup was at such a weird time that people had to be really passionate fan to watch the games. “The World Cup was in South Korea so the games were on in the middle of the night because of the time difference,”Wasser said.” That was one of the things so interesting about it you would be up at
2am watching a soccer game but if you were a dedicated fan you found a way to watch it and I mean it was kind of a bombing experience for soccer fans because everyone is in it for the sport and you’re willing to stay up late”. The World Cup has been a long standing sporting event starting in Uruguay in 1930, every 4 years it attracts the attention of millions and recently concluded with Germany being crowned champions. One of Wasser’s favorite events is the World Cup. Along with many other fans he likes to watch the US team. “The United States is kind of the underdog team,”Wasser said.” We’ve never won the World Cup and that makes it exciting.” Another World Cup fan and owner of the soccer post, Chris Murphy has a lot of fun with the World Cup and it helps his business a lot. They sell hundreds of world cup jerseys and balls.
Picture of world cup final ball and trophy. Courtesy of sportlocker. Taken by Tom Gatehouse.
Argentina
Spain
Mexico
Italy
1978
1982
1986
1990
United States France South Korea Germany South Africa Brazil
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
July 2014
Fun Facts 1. Only 32 out of the 196 countries actually get to play in the world cup. 2. The worst defeat in world cup history was ten to one with El Salvador being destroyed by Hungry. 3. The U.S got third place in the first world cup ever. 4. 16% of people plan to call in sick at work to watch matches. 5. It is the second time brazil has hosted the world cup.
“The World Cup is like the Olympics and Super Bowl all wrapped up into one,”Murphy said. Murphy gets to be around soccer his whole day. Much like Wasser has fun collecting and trading soccer videos, Chris has a lot of fun running the soccer store. ”Its nice if you like the sport because you get to be around it all the time,”Murphy said. At Murphy’s store people usually have team preferences and that’s what makes soccer so fun for many fans. Cheering on your team is just exciting plain and simple. “Most people have a side they choose and support,”Murphy said. As the World cup in Brazil goes on Wasser continues to record information and videos of the world cup. “ There is so much soccer on TV
that people don’t need to watch the old games, they can watch the current games so no I don’t [get any more requests for videos] and you know, now I think I get more requests for DVD’s from overseas you know from foreign countries,”Wasser said.”I mean I get some requests from the United States but mostly its outside.” So many people are currently watching the world cup that Wasser is right people don’t really need to watch old games. But that being said millions watch the world cup and it attracts so much attention from people all over the world. “I think that one reason it gets so much attention is because its only once every four years. If they did it every year it wouldn’t be the same or if they did it even every two years I mean the fact that its
“The World cup is like the olympics and super bowl all wrapped into one”
6. Brazil has won the world cup 5 times which is the most wins of any country.
Official world cup soccer ball. Picture courtesy of the fast company.
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Hayden Abrevaya
four years just means that it doesn’t really come around very often,”Wasser said” The fact that it is once every four year makes it special I mean most sports there is a new champion every year. If you get to win you get to keep that for four years its special.” The World Cup has had some defining moments in some peoples life. For Wasser it definitely has and he has wanted to experience it in person for a long time but surprisingly Wasser hasn’t been to a World Cup. “One of these days I am going to go to the world cup and hopefully the US will get to host it again and I’d hope it would come back to the country,”Wasser said.” The US needs it.”
All About The World Cup Media Usage 33% Computer 22% Tablet 13% Connected TV
11% smart phone
Can’t Watch The Cup? Brazil is large and has different time zones this is just . to give you an idea.
London 4-5 hours ahead
Picture of Dave Wasser’s remotes for recording devices. Sources for infographic-http://www. hongkiat.com and Fifa.com
Hong Kong 11-12 hours behind
New York 1-2 hours Behind
3.6 Billion
Watch the Tournament July 2014
Golden Goal or Flop
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Why so many people are unhappy about the world cup and its costs small Brazilian child is walking down a street in Brazil. He is happy. Kitted out in a uniform and he sees one of the stadiums in all of its glory. People are playing street soccer with a crowd. Everyone is having a good time. That is true for some people but their are others who can hardly afford food and other necessities to live. The World Cup has nothing to offer for them, they can’t afford to go to any of the games. The commercial only shows one side of the story in Brazil. Just average people are protesting about how the World Cup costs so much. The total project was about 11 billion, way more than the original projection for everything. People are not getting the help they need financially . People are protesting about how money needs to be
focused on other things, like health. These things are all true, but the reality is that the World Cup actually didn’t cost as much in relation to the total budget of the government. If you look at only the numbers the math can be surprising “They have bigger standards on how much you should spend, and for that I blame the Brazilian government,” Fernando Luis Lara said, a Brazilian born UT architecture professor According to Elite Daily The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) spend government money and leaves, with more money. They push Brazil around, making them spend too much on stadiums, unbanning alcohol sales for more money, just being plain selfish. The Brazil government had the option to resist FIFA and do it the right way, but they bent to FIFA’s will. Instead the people of Brazil are revolting against
“But the total amount of money spent on the world cup including infrastructure is equivalent to 27 days of the education budget.”
LEFT- one of the world cup stadiums still under construction Souece, mirror co RIGHT- Stacks of money, FIFA spent too much Source, statue of LyAnne
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the tyranny of FIFA. There have been protests demanding for education and health but all the total cost of the World Cup isn’t that much. “People are going to the streets and saying that we need to invest more money on education and health and less on stadiums, ok that’s important that’s good,” said Lara. “But the total amount of money spent on the World Cup including infrastructure is equivalent to 27 days of the education budget.” So all the billions that FIFA made Brazil use would only pay for only 27 days of education, only about five or six weeks. This all could have been prevented if the Brazil government stood up and said no to FIFA, we can do it our own way. “But it’s an organization that only benefits themselves. So I’m very happy that the Brazilian people stood up to FIFA, but the Brazilian government did not” said Lara Fortunately the money is not all a waste. There were lots stadiums built or renovated around the country in not the most logical locations, and some are only being used for foure or five first round games. but there is some infrastructure that was built. Roads, bus lines, airports, other types of transportation, all of these things will remain in Brazil for the people to use and will last for years. Even though the stadiums took most of the money there are some smaller projects that will remain and will be somewhat useful over the next years. “But they also built some infrastructures like airports and roads, bus transit lines, and those infrastructure projects will remain.” said Lara. So there are some benefits for people but other than that not many more get an
The average monthly salary is $679 453
Average Average ticket price ticket $375
$375
World cup
D4
Only 1 ticket on a monthly salary
Sources:FIFA World Crunch Si.com
July 2014
advantage from the World Cup. Who gets the benefits from large tourist or sporting events, the only people who get the money are the people running the event, like FIFA, sponsors, other people involved, hotel owners, and restaurant/shop owners. In the 2010 World Cup FIFA made of profit 2.5 billion dollars. So all of the other people in Brazil don’t get anything besides going to the games it they can afford it. “But the majority of profits go to FIFA and for the ones that own the hotels, organize the events, the ones who are working in the event, not the majority of the Brazilian people,” said Lara Even though most don’t get anything they are still enjoying the World Cup, seeing or going to the games. The people that are creating the hubbub are the wealthy and the poor everyone else is happy for the most part “The wealthy are the ones who are telling the story that the World Cup is a bad idea, and the working class is actually pretty total
Key Person-population by millions Shadow-cost of stadium by millions
3.6 bil Sources:fivethirtyeight wikipedia, BBC
Rio de Jenero
Belo Horizonte
Brasilia
4
5
12
63
3.6 bil
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Sao Paulo
ABOVE-slums of brazil, all the people that are not getting help or benefiting. Source, latino fox news Porto Alegre
Recife
4
4
20 1477 295 467
622
236
459 Fortazela
Salvador
3.5
3.5
213
Curitiba
Natal
Cubia
2
1.5
.5
3
160 263
Manuas
298
178
253
happy and enjoying the World Cup more.” said Lara. “SO this is another political cleavage that will keep operating until the election in October and the world beyond.” Another thing that is determining the opinion of people of the World Cup is politics. Brazil is having an election in October and the World Cup has become an campaigning point. They are trying to blame the whole problem of the World Cup on politics. “But they overwhelmingly place the negative effects on political reasons, for the election in October and they have not discussed much the benefits.” said Lara. The candidates are using the World Cup to blame the other politicians to get support. This all ties back to the money, it is all about the money and who gets it. Again the money distribution is all uneven. Only a small
percentage of people make substantial money. The World Cup makes lots of money. If you do the math it will about even out. The stadium costs versus tourist spending and sales at the stadiums, food and drink and other things. “Yeah, that’s the math, no I don’t think that’s going to happen.” said Lara. All the money gets back into the economy but the distribution is uneven. All of these things will be the same or similar with the 2016 Olympics, not only in Rio de Janeiro, where they are hosted. “Yes, I think the protests will continue. The Olympics are only held in one city, so it’s only in Rio de Janeiro, but there will be more protests because there are some things still going on in Rio, like people being relocated, people being pushed out of their homes to build the infrastructure for the Olympics. Those struggles will continue
ABOVE-compleated view of a stadium BELOW- graffiti against the world cup. Source- graffiti and street art
and the Olympic protests, probably next year, 2015 and 2016.” said Lara. “I’m more worried about the uneven distribution of the costs and benefits,” said Lara. “but the cost were shared by everybody and the benefits are only for a small group of people,” July 2014