Of Soccer and Snobbery

Interesting piece on "Soccer and Snobbery" by Theodore Dalrymple in the New English Review (hat tip to @axelletess), examing the ramifications of the French World Cup fiasco on French society and civilization at large...

My favorite paragraph:

"The decerebrating effect of football (and no doubt other sports as well) is illustrated by a story that my French brother-in-law told me recently. A couple of months after France won the World Cup in 1998, he went to Tibet. He went to a Buddhist monastery that was two days hard trek from the nearest road. There he met young novices, some of whom spoke a few words of English. They asked him where he was from and he told them.

‘France,’ they said. ‘World Cup. Zidane.’"

Read the full article here.