"Sport shouldn't be considered a repetition of war, rather a substitution for war. In fact, I believe that as long as there is a World Cup and the Olympics, a lot of violence and maybe even wars will be avoided," wrote French philosopher Michael Serres in L'Equipe magazine in 2005. It was a point of view that would have made the British writer George Orwell chuckle. Orwell clearly had a more critical vision of football: "There are enough real causes and conflicts without encouraging young people to kick someone in the shins to the roar of furious spectators." (The Lion and the Unicorn, Penguin). Choose your camp!

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