Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Today's lesson: Total Football.
This style of play, made famous by Ajax and the Dutch National Team, requires that each player can cover the postion of any other. The advantage? As opposed to a simple counter-attack style of play, in which the roles remain static and the player positions are completely regemented, the Total System allows the team formation to adapt to the position of the players on the field. By this, everyone defends and when the ball is turned over, the attack begins immediately without having to reset and waste time with uneffective posession. It's an automatic switch.
Why is this relevant to anything? In such a system everyone has to be able to play any position, everyone is a jack of all trades, though with stronger leanings towards certain roles. Also, the effort is completely collective, you have to move organically and evolve as the game moves on adapting to the opposing strategy. This ability to adapt is what gave the Dutch the edge. Now, apply this as an ethos, or an organization for buissiness and politics. What are the implications? You lose the primary hindrance to progress, the commitment we have to our structures. The fact that in politics we have two opposing sides that essentially do and say the same thing. The adapatability of the system also allows the development of new systems previously unconcieved of that may render more successful solutions. Total Football is Bricolage applied to sport. Perhaps proof that perhaps the Bricoleur knows the way.

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