Philosophy Football FC
Encyclopedia
Philosophy Football FC is an amateur football club based in London
, UK
. It has a history of political engagement and activism
in the UK and Europe
. The club has played since 1995 in a number of London amateur leagues. Its most distinctive identity, however, remains its ‘philosophical’ outlook, demonstrated by its attempts to promote internationalism
on its regular European tours, its campaigns against the domination of football by large corporations and its political and cultural events in and around London.
philosopher Albert Camus
: ‘All that I know most surely about morality and obligation I owe to football.’
The idea of 'philosophy football' was conceived by Geoff Andrews and Mark Perryman, following a Tottenham Hotspur versus Queens Park Rangers match in the English Premier League in October 1994. Andrews and Perryman had collaborated together as Communist Party activists and writers and were both involved with the influential political and cultural magazine Marxism Today
. Perryman, together with graphic designer
Hugh Tisdale, went on to launch a company selling a range of such T-shirts and running the Raise the Flag initiative. Andrews, meanwhile, founded the accompanying football team. Perryman summed up the philosophy behind the venture in 2003, saying, "If I was a Liverpool fan I would much rather wear something with the words of You'll Never Walk Alone on it than Carlsberg."
By the time Philosophy Football FC played its first game at Battersea Park
in early 1995, the company had produced another shirt, this time bearing the words of former Liverpool
manager Bill Shankly
. This shirt bore Shankly's words: ‘The socialism
I believe in is everyone working for each other, everyone having a share of the rewards. It’s the way I see football, the way I see life’. This first game against Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) resulted in a 4-0 defeat. In this game, all the Philosophy Football FC outfield players wore the red Shankly shirt with number 4 on the back. It was the first of many defeats in the early days of the club. As the Independent reported, the players’ political philosophy took precedence over their playing ability.
. They ended the season in last position, which earned them a trophy adorned with the words: ‘Gone to the Dogs. Bottom of the League. Philosophy Football’. Performances improved slowly over the next couple of seasons, partly due to the recruitment of exiled members of the African National Congress
, before they returned to South Africa
following the collapse of the apartheid regime there.
The club joined a new Sunday league for the 1999-2000 season and went on to win the Grafton Millennium League in successive years (2001–02 and 2002–03). Following the second league title, the club sought a new challenge and enrolled in the London Midweek League, playing their home matches at Paddington Recreation Ground in Maida Vale
, and winning the league’s first division title in their first season.
The club was promoted to the league's premier division, but struggled to compete at this higher level, and was relegated back to the first division of the London Midweek League in 2006. They continued to play in this league until 2009, when they returned to Sunday football and re-joined the re-titled Grafton and West London Millennium League, finishing in mid-table in its first season.
in June 2000 during the UEFA European Football Championship
. They played FC Levante Wibi, a team born from a socialist cooperative
restaurant in the 1970s. The tour, like all succeeding ones, was organised with the aim of promoting internationalism and fostering a spirit of critical dissent
in opposition to corporate culture. It was covered, as were PFFC's early years, in the book Insular denken written by player and journalist Stefan Howald.
In August 2000, sports journalist and writer Filippo Ricci joined the club after moving to London as correspondent for Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport. Ricci was to introduce a number of Italians to the club and instigate a series of tours to Italy. In December 2000, the club made their first of three tours to Rome
, drawing 2-2 against the Italian journalists national team. In 2004, the club returned to Rome, playing in a match to commemorate the Italian film director Pier Paolo Pasolini
at the Stadio dei Marmi
, next door to the Stadio Olimpico
. All the players wore Philosophy Footballs Pasolini shirt, carrying the words: ‘Dopo la letteratura e l’eros, il calcio è uno dei grandi piaceri’ (‘After literature and sex, football is one of the great pleasures’).
In June 2005, to mark the club's tenth anniversary, the club travelled to Paris, playing a team of journalists from France Football
and L'Equipe
. The players, dressed in the respective shirts, later re-enacted an existential
exchange between Albert Camus
and Jean-Paul Sartre
in the café Les Deux Magots
.
Later that year, in October 2005, Philosophy Football FC returned to Rome to participate in a tournament (‘La Partita Di Pierpaolo’) at the Campo Francesca Gianni, commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of Pasolini’s death. The tournament was covered widely in the Italian press, including an interview with Fabio Capello
, manager of the England national football team, in which he reminisced about his friend, Pasolini. Three other sides competed: a team of Pasolini actors (‘Pasoliniana’) led by Ninetto Davoli
, who appeared in several of Pasolini’s films; the Italian writers’ team Osvaldo Soriano
, captained by Paolo Sollier; and the Squadra Nazionale dei Registi, the Italian film directors team, coached by Alessandro Piva. PFFC were beaten by the Pasoliniana on penalties in the final.
In October 2006, the team went to Madrid
to mark the seventieth anniversary of the Spanish Civil War
. The team played in the colours of the International Brigades
as they took on a team of the Madrid football correspondents at Real Madrid
’s training ground, Ciudad Deportiva. In 2007, Philosophy Football FC participated in a ‘Slow Foot’ tournament in Bra, Piedmont during Slow Food
’s international cheese festival, adapting Slow Food’s ‘good, clean and fair’ principles to football. They lost in the final to Fetamania, a team of Greek
ex-professional footballers who in retirement had set up a network of feta
cheese producers. In May 2008, Philosophy Football FC returned to Zurich to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the revolts of May '68 and took part in an alternative European Championship with teams from Torino, Rotterdam, Zurich and London.
In 1996, Philosophy Football organised Europe United, a popular fan event on London’s South Bank held immediately before the European Championships. The event featured a European Fans Assembly, a football fashion show
and men’s and women’s four-a-side tournaments played out on a hastily constructed pitch in the depths of the Royal Festival Hall
. The tournament was organised by the club, for whom then FA
chief executive Graham Kelly
turned out, dressed in an Antonio Gramsci
shirt and scoring a consolation goal against Fantasy Football.
The event was repeated in June 1998, again using the Royal Festival Hall, under the title 'A Celebration of the People's Game'. Highlights included discussion sessions with George Best
and George Weah
, the first Africa
n player to be named FIFA World Footballer of the Year, as well as music, theatre productions and quizzes.
In May 2002, the club organised ‘Football in the Communities’ in Camden Town
, London, in conjunction with Camden Council
. The event, which brought together nine men’s and four women’s teams from the various communities of London, was coordinated by Raj Chada, a member of the club and a Labour Party
councillor on the Council. The tournament, which used football to celebrate London’s cultural diversity, was the team's first explicitly political event.
Similar events were to follow. In May 2005, the club organised a three-way tournament to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the defeat of fascism
in the Second World War. The tournament, entitled 'Never Forget, Never Again', included a visiting team from Rome. Club manager Andrews, interviewed at the tournament, said that, 'the defeat of fascism needs to be remembered for the sacrifices made by so many. It's also a reminder that neo-fascism and neo-nazism remain a dangerous threat today. Football can play an important part in challenging racism and xenophobia as it reaches so many groups.'
The international side of PFFC's philosophy has been discussed in several articles in Swiss newspapers.
, devised by the Danish situationist Asger Jorn
, is played on a hexagonal pitch. In contrast to the adversarial nature of the conventional game (equated by situationists with the realities of the class struggle
), three-sided football seeks to promote alliances; the winning team is that which concedes least, rather than scores more goals. Philosophy Football FC, representing the Labour Party, won the tournament by not conceding any goals, compared to the Conservatives
’ two and the Liberal Democrats
’ three.
Although the match was centred around domestic politics, it received coverage beyond the UK. The overseas interest soon resulted in an invitation to take part in a three-sided match in Madrid
in May 2011, the first ever such game played in Spain. The three teams, Philosophy Football FC and two Madrid-based sides (the X-Men and the Existentialists), nominally represented three philosophical traditions: solidarity, satire and internationalism. The match, played at the Stadio Centro Deportivo Municipal la Elipa in Madrid, resulted in a 5-5-3 win for the X-Men.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It has a history of political engagement and activism
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
in the UK and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. The club has played since 1995 in a number of London amateur leagues. Its most distinctive identity, however, remains its ‘philosophical’ outlook, demonstrated by its attempts to promote internationalism
Internationalism (politics)
Internationalism is a political movement which advocates a greater economic and political cooperation among nations for the theoretical benefit of all...
on its regular European tours, its campaigns against the domination of football by large corporations and its political and cultural events in and around London.
Formation
Philosophy Football FC was founded in February 1995, shortly after the T-shirt company of the same name had created its first shirt, adorned with the words of existentialistExistentialism
Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
philosopher Albert Camus
Albert Camus
Albert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...
: ‘All that I know most surely about morality and obligation I owe to football.’
The idea of 'philosophy football' was conceived by Geoff Andrews and Mark Perryman, following a Tottenham Hotspur versus Queens Park Rangers match in the English Premier League in October 1994. Andrews and Perryman had collaborated together as Communist Party activists and writers and were both involved with the influential political and cultural magazine Marxism Today
Marxism Today
Marxism Today was the theoretical journal of the Communist Party of Great Britain and was disestablished in 1991. It was particularly important during the 1980s under the editorship of Martin Jacques...
. Perryman, together with graphic designer
Graphic designer
A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and...
Hugh Tisdale, went on to launch a company selling a range of such T-shirts and running the Raise the Flag initiative. Andrews, meanwhile, founded the accompanying football team. Perryman summed up the philosophy behind the venture in 2003, saying, "If I was a Liverpool fan I would much rather wear something with the words of You'll Never Walk Alone on it than Carlsberg."
By the time Philosophy Football FC played its first game at Battersea Park
Battersea Park
Battersea Park is a 200 acre green space at Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth in England. It is situated on the south bank of the River Thames opposite Chelsea, and was opened in 1858....
in early 1995, the company had produced another shirt, this time bearing the words of former Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
manager Bill Shankly
Bill Shankly
William "Bill" Shankly, OBE was a Scottish football player and manager, most noted for managing Liverpool between 1959 and 1974. One of Britain's most successful and respected football managers, Shankly was also a fine player whose career was interrupted by the Second World War...
. This shirt bore Shankly's words: ‘The socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
I believe in is everyone working for each other, everyone having a share of the rewards. It’s the way I see football, the way I see life’. This first game against Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) resulted in a 4-0 defeat. In this game, all the Philosophy Football FC outfield players wore the red Shankly shirt with number 4 on the back. It was the first of many defeats in the early days of the club. As the Independent reported, the players’ political philosophy took precedence over their playing ability.
Domestic football
Philosophy Football FC joined the Music Association League for the 1995-96 season, encountering such opponents as Camden Musicians, The Mean Fiddler, Black Vinyl Hearts, Time Out and London Weekend TelevisionLondon Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...
. They ended the season in last position, which earned them a trophy adorned with the words: ‘Gone to the Dogs. Bottom of the League. Philosophy Football’. Performances improved slowly over the next couple of seasons, partly due to the recruitment of exiled members of the African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
, before they returned to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
following the collapse of the apartheid regime there.
The club joined a new Sunday league for the 1999-2000 season and went on to win the Grafton Millennium League in successive years (2001–02 and 2002–03). Following the second league title, the club sought a new challenge and enrolled in the London Midweek League, playing their home matches at Paddington Recreation Ground in Maida Vale
Maida Vale
Maida Vale is a residential district in West London between St John's Wood and Kilburn. It is part of the City of Westminster. The area is mostly residential, and mainly affluent, consisting of many large late Victorian and Edwardian blocks of mansion flats...
, and winning the league’s first division title in their first season.
The club was promoted to the league's premier division, but struggled to compete at this higher level, and was relegated back to the first division of the London Midweek League in 2006. They continued to play in this league until 2009, when they returned to Sunday football and re-joined the re-titled Grafton and West London Millennium League, finishing in mid-table in its first season.
Overseas tours
Philosophy Football FC's first tour was to ZürichZürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
in June 2000 during the UEFA European Football Championship
UEFA European Football Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship is the main football competition of the men's national football teams governed by UEFA . Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UEFA European Nations Cup, changing to the current...
. They played FC Levante Wibi, a team born from a socialist cooperative
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
restaurant in the 1970s. The tour, like all succeeding ones, was organised with the aim of promoting internationalism and fostering a spirit of critical dissent
Dissent
Dissent is a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or an entity...
in opposition to corporate culture. It was covered, as were PFFC's early years, in the book Insular denken written by player and journalist Stefan Howald.
In August 2000, sports journalist and writer Filippo Ricci joined the club after moving to London as correspondent for Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport. Ricci was to introduce a number of Italians to the club and instigate a series of tours to Italy. In December 2000, the club made their first of three tours to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, drawing 2-2 against the Italian journalists national team. In 2004, the club returned to Rome, playing in a match to commemorate the Italian film director Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini was an Italian film director, poet, writer, and intellectual. Pasolini distinguished himself as a poet, journalist, philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure...
at the Stadio dei Marmi
Stadio dei Marmi
The Stadio dei Marmi is a sport stadium in the Foro Italico, a sport complex in Rome, Italy.It was designed in the 1920s as a complement to the annexed Academy of Physical Education , to be used by its students for training. Construction, designed by Enrico Del Debbio, was finished in 1928...
, next door to the Stadio Olimpico
Stadio Olimpico
The Stadio Olimpico is the main and largest sports facility of Rome, Italy. It is located within the Foro Italico sports complex on the north of the city. An asset of the Italian National Olympic Committee, the structure is intended primarily for football...
. All the players wore Philosophy Footballs Pasolini shirt, carrying the words: ‘Dopo la letteratura e l’eros, il calcio è uno dei grandi piaceri’ (‘After literature and sex, football is one of the great pleasures’).
In June 2005, to mark the club's tenth anniversary, the club travelled to Paris, playing a team of journalists from France Football
France Football
France Football is a French bi-weekly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It's one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of their photographic reports and accurate statistics of the big European Cup matches, and extensive coverage of the European...
and L'Equipe
L'Équipe
L'Équipe is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sports, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of football , rugby, motorsports and cycling...
. The players, dressed in the respective shirts, later re-enacted an existential
Existentialism
Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
exchange between Albert Camus
Albert Camus
Albert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...
and Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
in the café Les Deux Magots
Les Deux Magots
Les Deux Magots is a famous café in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area of Paris, France. It once had a reputation as the rendezvous of the literary and intellectual élite of the city. It is now a popular tourist destination...
.
Later that year, in October 2005, Philosophy Football FC returned to Rome to participate in a tournament (‘La Partita Di Pierpaolo’) at the Campo Francesca Gianni, commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of Pasolini’s death. The tournament was covered widely in the Italian press, including an interview with Fabio Capello
Fabio Capello
Fabio Capello is an Italian football manager and former player. He is the manager of the England national football team.Capello has the distinction of winning the domestic league title with every club he has coached throughout his career...
, manager of the England national football team, in which he reminisced about his friend, Pasolini. Three other sides competed: a team of Pasolini actors (‘Pasoliniana’) led by Ninetto Davoli
Ninetto Davoli
Ninetto Davoli is an Italian actor who became known through his roles in several of Pier Paolo Pasolini's films.-Biography:Davoli was born in San Pietro a Maida, Calabria...
, who appeared in several of Pasolini’s films; the Italian writers’ team Osvaldo Soriano
Osvaldo Soriano
Osvaldo Soriano, Journalist and writer. Born January 6, 1943 in Mar del Plata, Argentina – died on January 29, 1997 in Buenos Aires.-Biography:...
, captained by Paolo Sollier; and the Squadra Nazionale dei Registi, the Italian film directors team, coached by Alessandro Piva. PFFC were beaten by the Pasoliniana on penalties in the final.
In October 2006, the team went to Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
to mark the seventieth anniversary of the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
. The team played in the colours of the International Brigades
International Brigades
The International Brigades were military units made up of volunteers from different countries, who traveled to Spain to defend the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939....
as they took on a team of the Madrid football correspondents at Real Madrid
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol , commonly known as Real Madrid, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. The club have won a record 31 La Liga titles, the Primera División of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional , 18 Copas del Rey, 8 Spanish Super Cups, 1 Copa Eva Duarte and 1 Copa de la...
’s training ground, Ciudad Deportiva. In 2007, Philosophy Football FC participated in a ‘Slow Foot’ tournament in Bra, Piedmont during Slow Food
Slow Food
Slow Food is an international movement founded by Carlo Petrini in 1986. Promoted as an alternative to fast food, it strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and encourages farming of plants, seeds and livestock characteristic of the local ecosystem. It was the first established part of...
’s international cheese festival, adapting Slow Food’s ‘good, clean and fair’ principles to football. They lost in the final to Fetamania, a team of Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
ex-professional footballers who in retirement had set up a network of feta
Feta
Feta is a brined curd cheese traditionally made in Greece. Feta is an aged crumbly cheese, commonly produced in blocks, and has a slightly grainy texture. It is used as a table cheese, as well as in salads Feta is a brined curd cheese traditionally made in Greece. Feta is an aged crumbly cheese,...
cheese producers. In May 2008, Philosophy Football FC returned to Zurich to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the revolts of May '68 and took part in an alternative European Championship with teams from Torino, Rotterdam, Zurich and London.
Cultural and political activism
From its formation, Philosophy Football FC, like its parent company, was committed to changing football culture, and has organised and participated in several cultural and political events, mainly in London.In 1996, Philosophy Football organised Europe United, a popular fan event on London’s South Bank held immediately before the European Championships. The event featured a European Fans Assembly, a football fashion show
Fashion show
A fashion show is an event put on by a fashion designer to showcase his or her upcoming line of clothing during Fashion Week. Fashion shows debut every season, particularly the Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter seasons. This is where the latest fashion trends are made...
and men’s and women’s four-a-side tournaments played out on a hastily constructed pitch in the depths of the Royal Festival Hall
Royal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building - the first post-war building to become so protected...
. The tournament was organised by the club, for whom then FA
The Football Association
The Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of football in England, and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It was formed in 1863, and is the oldest national football association...
chief executive Graham Kelly
Graham Kelly (football)
Graham Kelly is an English football administrator. He was Secretary of the Football League and Chief executive of the Football Association from 1989 to 1998....
turned out, dressed in an Antonio Gramsci
Antonio Gramsci
Antonio Gramsci was an Italian writer, politician, political philosopher, and linguist. He was a founding member and onetime leader of the Communist Party of Italy and was imprisoned by Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime...
shirt and scoring a consolation goal against Fantasy Football.
The event was repeated in June 1998, again using the Royal Festival Hall, under the title 'A Celebration of the People's Game'. Highlights included discussion sessions with George Best
George Best
George Best was a professional footballer from Northern Ireland, who played for Manchester United and the Northern Ireland national team. He was a winger whose game combined pace, acceleration, balance, two-footedness, goalscoring and the ability to beat defenders...
and George Weah
George Weah
George Tawlon Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah is a Liberian humanitarian and politician, and an ex-footballer. He ran unsuccessfully for president in the 2005 election, losing to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the second round of voting...
, the first Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n player to be named FIFA World Footballer of the Year, as well as music, theatre productions and quizzes.
In May 2002, the club organised ‘Football in the Communities’ in Camden Town
Camden Town
-Economy:In recent years, entertainment-related businesses and a Holiday Inn have moved into the area. A number of retail and food chain outlets have replaced independent shops driven out by high rents and redevelopment. Restaurants have thrived, with the variety of culinary traditions found in...
, London, in conjunction with Camden Council
Camden London Borough Council
Camden London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Camden in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London...
. The event, which brought together nine men’s and four women’s teams from the various communities of London, was coordinated by Raj Chada, a member of the club and a Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
councillor on the Council. The tournament, which used football to celebrate London’s cultural diversity, was the team's first explicitly political event.
Similar events were to follow. In May 2005, the club organised a three-way tournament to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the defeat of fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
in the Second World War. The tournament, entitled 'Never Forget, Never Again', included a visiting team from Rome. Club manager Andrews, interviewed at the tournament, said that, 'the defeat of fascism needs to be remembered for the sacrifices made by so many. It's also a reminder that neo-fascism and neo-nazism remain a dangerous threat today. Football can play an important part in challenging racism and xenophobia as it reaches so many groups.'
The international side of PFFC's philosophy has been discussed in several articles in Swiss newspapers.
Three-sided football
In May 2010, Philosophy Football FC collaborated with the Whitechapel Art Gallery in organising a three-sided football tournament to coincide with the 2010 General Election. Three-sided footballThree sided football
Three-sided football is a variation of football with three teams instead of the usual two. It was devised by the Danish Situationist Asger Jorn to explain his notion of triolectics, his refinement on the Marxian concept of dialectics, as well as to disrupt one's everyday idea of football...
, devised by the Danish situationist Asger Jorn
Asger Jorn
Asger Oluf Jorn was a Danish painter, sculptor, ceramic artist, and author. He was a founding member of the avant-garde movement COBRA and the Situationist International...
, is played on a hexagonal pitch. In contrast to the adversarial nature of the conventional game (equated by situationists with the realities of the class struggle
Class struggle
Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....
), three-sided football seeks to promote alliances; the winning team is that which concedes least, rather than scores more goals. Philosophy Football FC, representing the Labour Party, won the tournament by not conceding any goals, compared to the Conservatives
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
’ two and the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
’ three.
Although the match was centred around domestic politics, it received coverage beyond the UK. The overseas interest soon resulted in an invitation to take part in a three-sided match in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
in May 2011, the first ever such game played in Spain. The three teams, Philosophy Football FC and two Madrid-based sides (the X-Men and the Existentialists), nominally represented three philosophical traditions: solidarity, satire and internationalism. The match, played at the Stadio Centro Deportivo Municipal la Elipa in Madrid, resulted in a 5-5-3 win for the X-Men.