Novara Live: Heartbreak for Heroes
England's inspirational Euro run has ended in heartbreak at Wembley, and then online racism against players. Michael Walker and Aaron Bastani reflect on the cultural politics of Euro 2020.
Tag: football
Opinion: England’s Football Team is Changing Because England is Changing
David Wearing
This year's England squad are defiantly anti-racist and pro-LGBT. The left should be encouraged, writes David Wearing: it's a sign that slowly, step by step, struggles to expand the collective 'we' are being won from the ground up.
Opinion: The Cop Who Killed Dalian Atkinson is in Prison – But That Doesn’t Fix Our Justice System
Moya Lothian-McLean
Why has the conviction of the officer who killed Dalian Atkinson received such a tepid response? Because ending systemic racism will mean rethinking our very idea of justice, writes Moya Lothian-Mclean.
Opinion: This Year’s England Squad Actually Gives a Shit
Jessy Parker Humphreys
There's a lot to celebrate about the England team, but their Englishness has nothing to do with it, writes Jessy Parker Humphreys. These are the most politically engaged players the country has ever seen.
Novara Live: Tax Havens & Tech Giants Targeted in G7 Deal
The G7 have announced plans for a global minimum tax rate of 15%. Will this reign in big tech and tax havens, or is it all just hot air?
Novara Live: Manchester United Fans Shut Down Match Over Glazers
The #GlazersOut protest was the first time ever that a Premier League match has been postponed because of fans' actions. Can the movement create a revolution in club ownership?
The Bastani Factor: The Real Reason for the European Super League
There is no future for the financialised, debt-driven model of football so adored by the Glazers and Florentino Pérez.
Analysis: What Does the European Super League Furore Tell Us About Modern Capitalism?
Aaron Bastani
The brief life and early death of the European Super League captured the political possibilities of the coming decade: dissent will emerge from the most unlikely places, governments will involve themselves in ways once unthinkable and a gilded elite will be left increasingly unsure of its footing.
Downstream: A Super League for the Super Rich
Ash Sarkar is joined by Laurence McKenna talk about how a sport created by the poor was stolen by the rich - and just what can be done to take it back.
Novara Live: The End of Football As We Know It
Proposals for a European Super League have provoked a backlash among fans, players and politicians. Can the plans to cartelise the game be reversed?
Downstream: Can You Change the Police From Within? Ash Sarkar Meets Leroy Logan
20 years after the Macpherson Report, the Metropolitan Police is still dogged by accusations of institutional racism, while the Black Lives Matter movement has forced a reckoning with police brutality and inequalities in the criminal justice system. But should Black and Asian people protest from the outside to force change, or join the ranks of […]
Opinion: Matt Hancock Thinks Footballers Should Be Paid Less Because They’re Working Class
Jessy Parker Humphreys
Why has the government suggested footballers be paid less, while Premier League directors - not to mention billionaires like Richard Branson - are allowed to keep their enormous incomes? Because unlike other top earners, the vast majority didn't go to private school, writes sports journalist Jessy Parker Humphreys.
Football is a Game for the Many – It’s Time to Give It Back to Them
Aaron Bastani
From fans locked out of the game they love by high ticket prices to stadium workers paid poverty wages, English football is in a state of crisis. Aaron Bastani argues it’s time for fans to take back control of their clubs from the millionaires.
You’ll Never Walk Alone: Remembering Hillsborough 30 Years On
Jess Thorne
Today marks the 30-year anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster - a crush during a football match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough Stadium that killed 96 Liverpool fans. Jess Thorne reflects on the police management, media cover-up and political context of what remains the worst disaster in British sporting history.
Anyone but England?
Franck Magennis
Franck Magennis explains why, on Wednesday, he supported England's national football team for the first time ever.
What’s the Radical Potential of Playing Football?
Graham Jones
While the World Cup has prompted debates around nationalism, patriotism and identity, these discussions have almost exclusively framed football as a spectator sport. But what is the radical potential of playing football?
Talented, Diverse, a Team – This England Side is the Opposite of the Country’s Ruling Elite
Aaron Bastani
When France won the World Cup in 1998 with a side reflecting a multiethnic nation, the country’s liberal establishment falsely declared a nation at ease with itself. Rather than saying our team reflects England, we should point to the gap between it and our elite institutions, argues Aaron Bastani.
Novara FM: Football: Beyond Borders
On this week's show Ash Sarkar and Aaron Bastani are joined by Jude Wanga, Sanaa Qureshi and Joel Sharples as they discuss football, power and capitalism. Is there another - more hopeful - side to the beautiful game?