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Football as a metaphor of politics

July 14th, 2018

A pro-government columnist claims that the World Cup shows that national feeling is an inherent part of human nature, and those politicians who choose to ignore this are making a huge mistake. A left-wing columnist criticizes the Hungarian football funding system.

In Magyar Idők, László Szőcs writes that the emotional responses to success and failure at the World Cup shows that national feeling is an important and undeniable element of human life. Whether one likes it or not, the masses clearly identify with the fate of their national teams, and this national identification cannot be replaced by other affiliations, the pro-government commentator contends. Szőcs concludes by suggesting that politicians who ignore or downplay the importance of national feeling sore kicking the ball into their own goal.

In Népszava, Péter Bernau calls for the overhaul of the Hungarian soccer scene. The left-wing columnist points out that Croatia is smaller than Hungary, and Hungarian football gets far more government funding than its Croatian counterpart, but by making it to the World Cup final, the Croatian national team has proved itself far more successful.

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