*SOCCER tournaments, *SPORTS journalism, *CONTENT analysis, *HISTORY, FRENCH history, 1914-1940
Abstract
It took more than a dozen years after the Armistice of 11 November 1918 for football matches between France and Germany to be resumed. Four matches were organised between 1931 and 1937 at a time when France’s response to the rise of German military ambitions was mainly to support pacifism. The last match, planned for 1939, was cancelled. Against a background of economic crisis and growing tensions between the two nations, these sporting events were widely reported in the press. The four specialist newspapers analysed in this paper – Football, Match, Le Miroir des Sports and L’Auto – reflected France’s anxiety as well as her political attitudes. From the French point of view, these matches (concerning the most popular sport of both countries) mirrored a growing belief in Germany’s superiority while disseminating stereotypes of both the ‘German’ and the ‘Frenchman’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]