There are no bridges in the arena

Abstract

The seemingly innocent question in the subtitle of this paper, raised by the Moroccan mother of a youth member at an annual membership meeting of a local voluntary football club, will become relevant when one understands the layered context and diversed setting in which, the moment when and the contested location at which it emerged. Two weeks after the membership meeting, the chairman of the task force asked the voluntary canteen manager about the purchase of tea. The manager answered emotionally: “We will not sell tea in our canteen. Over my dead body”. Furthermore he became abusive by shouting that the chairman was selling the club to the Moroccans. In this paper I describe and analyse conflicts between committee members of an externally (local government) organized task force during meetings and interactions in and around the local necessitous football club ‘VVOO’.