Martin Luther (not the King) nailed 95 protest theses against the Christian church of his day to a church door in Germany on October 31st 1517. And Protestants , properly understood, have been protesting ever since. As we near "Reformation Day" again, David Kilpatrick, a Professor of English and Sports Managment, channels that spirit of protest to the world of soccer. His playful, bold and short book "95 Theses on the Reformation of Football: Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Glocal Football Governance" stands in a strong tradition of critical and intelligent football literature on this podcast. A listener himself, David and I roamed anywhere between 16th century Germany, the New York Cosmos, youth soccer and the mess that is FIFA.
In this longer episode before a Fall break, you will also get an update from Wayne (of the Red Bull and Leeds United episode 4 weeks ago) on the anointing of Jürgen Klopp as the head of Red Bull's soccer empire, and a critique of what is happening (or not) with the Chicago Red Stars.
HELPFUL LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
David Kilpatrick's book
Mercy University's portrait of the book
David on his website and x/twitter
"Chicago Stars FC" launches new crest and explains "it's significance"
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If you enjoy this podcast and think that what I do fills a gap in soccer coverage that others would be interested in as well, please
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Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind
Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/
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