What do you get when you combine the minds of a French physicist, an Irish physicist and a New Yorker social historian? You get an interdisciplinary adventure into all facets of soccer. Although their fields of study range from nanoscience to gravitational waves to Einstein to navigating labor and social relations in African territories, these faculty share one thing in common: they geek out over soccer, and it's awesome.

To celebrate their love of the game and cultivate soccer fandom across Northwest Arkansas, this integrative team linked up with the Honors College to launch "The Beautiful Game: Dispatches from the Hill" a repository for their scholarly musings and a place for students, faculty and community members to contribute to the obsession.

At its launch, the blog includes articles from both faculty and students spanning topics from how the reburial of King Richard III influenced Leicester City FC to an unforgettable interview over beer and cheese with Portuguese striker, Eusébio da Silva Ferreira. The content reflects the contributors' unique knowledge of the game, influenced by both their personal passion and research interests. The combination yields something special in sports writing that transcends highlights from the pitch. 

The idea for the blog was hatched by Laurent Bellaiche, a Distinguished Professor of physics and Paris Saint-Germain fan, who, in his free time, enjoyed writing fun, yet scholarly articles about soccer, mostly for publication in French. He recruited Daniel Kennefick, fellow professor of physics, historian of science and Liverpool FC fan, to contribute. It was a natural progression for the duo to invite Todd Cleveland, professor of history and Arsenal FC fan who teaches "History of Sports in Africa" and the aptly named Honors College Signature Seminar, "Soccer," to join the effort.

FRENCH CONNECTION

Growing up in France, Bellaiche caught football fever at a young age. Although he couldn't play competitively until he was 10 years old, he found a unique way to practice.

"On my way home from school, I would kick a box down the street," Bellaiche remembers. "My mother said she could always tell when I was coming because of the noise."

He went on to play for one of the top youth teams in the Paris area. Ultimately, he chose to pursue his education over trying to play the sport professionally, but he's retained his passion for the game in writing. In his blogs, readers will find equal parts humor and rigorous knowledge of the game from its inception to present day, diving into topics like the advantage of left-footed players or the deep introspection about the parallel universe of soccer and football. 

On campus, Bellaiche watches international and local students connect over a game of soccer, and he hopes the blog can do the same.

"It's a way for students and the community to share their experience," Bellaiche shares. "It brings people closer together."

PAST THE PITCH

For Cleveland, integrating sports into his research is an opportunity to tell a story much larger than hat tricks. In his book, Following the Ball: The Migration of African Soccer Players across the Portuguese Colonial Empire, 1949-1975 (Ohio University Press, 2017), he interviewed dozens of former soccer players. His blogs pull from that experience and balance the storytelling of the players' athletic accomplishments, but moreover, their personal lives navigating complex social and political climates.

"These interviews were vital," Cleveland shares. "The only thing you can find out about [the players] are these sterile, innocuous comments that they had made to the media. They never talked about politics. They never talked about the wars that were going on. I was trying to reconstruct their lives and not focus solely on what they did on the pitch." 

Similar to Bellaiche, Cleveland grew up playing soccer as a child and waffled between soccer and other sports as a teenager. His soccer fate was sealed when he studied abroad in England for a semester and had the opportunity to play for the university team. He remains a steadfast, albeit at times suffering, Arsenal fan, but his knowledge of the history of soccer gives him a healthy perspective.

"It gives me a greater appreciation for the accomplishments of today's players and respecting the history of the game," Cleveland said. "It doesn't change me yelling at the TV when my team is not playing well. But I can step back and have a greater appreciation for contemporary accomplishments and where they fit into the grand scheme of the sport."

INVENTING TRADITION

In Ireland, football means several different sports, and Kennefick has played them all.

"Soccer is not the most popular or most traditional game," Kennefick shares. "But in the same sense, it's the most widely played when you have only a few lads. It's easier to play in a smaller space. You don't need special equipment or a big field."

Although he remembers large games of Gaelic football, he also recalls playing soccer with friends in a tiny fishing village in the west of Ireland. And even though the games were smaller, supporting an English professional team was quite common. Growing up in a big sporting family, often his first question to a friend was, "Which team do you support?"

Naturally, Kennefick's contribution to the blog is the history of "football" — the broad Irish terminology. Like Cleveland, his background in the history of science has given him a fresh perspective on the sport.

"I'm interested in using the history of football as a parallel to the history of modern physics — in the sense of inventing tradition and convincing ourselves that things haven't changed so much," Kennefick said. "When really they've changed a lot."

In addition to faculty perspectives, a large portion of the blog is dedicated to student submissions. Already three students from Cleveland's "Soccer" seminar have contributed articles about Inter Milan, Liverpool FC and Tottenham Hotspur FC.

As the fan base in the U.S. continues to grow, "The Beautiful Game" provides a space to celebrate the pandemonium with fellow soccer supporters and learn about the profound history of the game, which is so much more than final scores.

Learn more and submit articles for consideration.

About the Honors College: The University of Arkansas Honors College was established in 2002 and brings together high-achieving undergraduate students and the university's top professors to share transformative learning experiences. Each year the Honors College awards up to 90 freshman fellowships that provide $80,000 over four years, and more than $1 million in undergraduate research and study abroad grants. The Honors College is nationally recognized for the high caliber of students it admits and graduates. Honors students enjoy small, in-depth classes, and programs are offered in all disciplines, tailored to students' academic interests, with interdisciplinary collaborations encouraged. All Honors College graduates have engaged in mentored research.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.