Pod Insights The Rest Is Football Zohran Mamdani - why he loves Arsenal and hates hydration breaks About this episode Gary Lineker sits down with the Mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani to talk soccer, his Arsenal origin story and get his views on the impact the World Cup is having in his city and beyond
They also talk ticket prices, hydration breaks, and some of the wider issues surrounding the tournament
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Transcript 0:09 Speaker 00 Mer, can I say it's lovely to meet you?
0:11 Speaker 01 Pleasure's on mine.
0:13 Speaker 00 Thank you for giving us your time. I have watched and heard a lot of politicians over many, many years pretending to like football or soccer. And I know, and I've listened to you a lot, that you are a genuine football fan. Where did that come from?
0:30 Speaker 01 Yeah, I think I have to credit my uncle. You know, he introduced me to the game, especially to Arsenal. You know, I was born in Uganda in East Africa. And late 90s, early 2000s, Arsene Wenger, incredible African talent on the team. And through that, I saw the city that I had called home, the country that I was born in, and the world that I wanted to be a part of.
0:51 Speaker 00 Well, I'm sorry it was Arsenal.
0:52 Speaker 01 I won't say what I think is talking about.
0:54 Speaker 00 No, you best not. You best not.
0:57 Speaker 01 I'll leave it there. Big signings you guys have had this summer, huh?
1:00 Speaker 00 Tottenham have gone for it, yeah.
1:01 Speaker 01 Where's the money coming from?
1:02 Speaker 00 Well, I think they've just finally decided to spend a bit of it.
1:04 Speaker 01 It's like 170 million.
1:06 Speaker 00 They've got to compete with Arsenal at some point because it's just getting too out of hand. Especially, you must have been delighted by that. I mean, what a couple of months it's been for you. The Knicks, I was here in New York for that. We were, it was, my goodness.
1:19 Speaker 01 Incredible. It meant everything. It was 53 years of wait, of heartbreak, of hope, near misses. We hadn't even been in the finals since 1999. And it was this beautiful moment where the last time we were in the finals, we were defeated by the same team, the Spurs. And Rick Brunson was on that team. And now, 26 years later, his son was the captain of the team that vanquished that same opponent. And I think what was so beautiful is that it felt like the entire city was living as if on a different clock. Everyone's day, no matter what it was that they did or where they lived, it came to an end to watch the game.
1:59 Speaker 00 It was incredible in the town. I mean, I was filming that night, we had a show. There was no, you couldn't get a car in it, it was impossible. And it's like, it's about one and a half mile walk to my hotel, which I've done a few times, about half an hour. Took me two hours. It was incredible, the scenes out there. Everybody that lived in New York seemed to be out there. It was like one o'clock in the morning.
2:17 Speaker 01 I mean, and you saw that with the parade. We had maybe two million people who came out. And I think this team, they created a new civic fabric for the city. You know, it's a city where sometimes it can feel easy, it can be easy to feel alone in a city of eight and a half million people. And they gave us a way to relate to each other, where New Yorkers who would previously put their head down and keep walking, would look at each other for any excuse to talk about the Knicks. You see orange and blue and you ask, what do you think about Captain Clutch? You know, you, you, you see somebody with a fitted hat that has the Knicks on it and you're talking about the game. And I think that in many ways, it's not so different from the World Cup. It, it gives you a language where previously you hadn't.
3:00 Speaker 00 Your speech, I thought the Knicks speech after was, was absolutely fabulous. That oratory skill, it was almost like you were doing a team talk for you. Like you could be a coach, couldn't you?
3:12 Speaker 01 You know, coaches do that every day. When I see glimpses of what these coaches do, they find that on a daily basis. This was a moment the city had waited for, for generations. And we're still basking in the glow of it.
3:24 Speaker 00 Yeah, I do. It's amazing, isn't it? The, the two teams you follow, both after very, very long wait.
3:30 Speaker 01 Fifty-three and twenty-two years.
3:32 Speaker 00 Exactly. So who were your favorite players at Arsenal when you were growing up?
3:37 Speaker 01 You know, Thierry is, is the, the answer that comes quickest to the mind. But I think there was this period where it really felt like we were, we were forever of the next generation. Jack Wilshere, Fabregas, but I even remember the teams we used to put out in the League Cup or the Carling Cup. I don't even know what we call it now.
3:59 Speaker 00 Yeah, Carabao.
4:00 Speaker 01 Carabao Cup. Apologies, I can't keep up with the sponsorships.
4:02 Speaker 00 Just say League Cup and everyone will know what I'm doing.
4:06 Speaker 01 But those games where, you know, Wenger would field a team of average age of twenty years old. I would look at those players and I would just be, I would be lost just watching Carlos Vela chip, you know, Sheffield United goalkeeper for five zero. And now to be able to see a team that doesn't just have promise but can last the whole season.
4:25 Speaker 00 What's it like being a soccer fan here? Because, you know, it's not a, you know, it's not a priority sport here, that's for sure. Are there times where you miss, you can't have a conversation about your team when you really want one?
4:38 Speaker 01 You'd be surprised.
4:39 Speaker 00 Yeah.
4:40 Speaker 01 How much people follow the game. And I think that's the other part of it is that we are the world city. We're a city of eight and a half million people, more than three million were born outside of this country. And so even when you're here watching the World Cup, it feels like you can go to a different neighborhood and feel as if the entire neighborhood is pouring in for one team. And so to me, you know, now when I walk the streets of New York City, I would probably say at least once every day, somebody yells at me about Arsenal.
5:05 Speaker 00 Hmm.
5:05 Speaker 01 And that to me is reflective of the fact that this is, this is a soccer city now.
5:09 Speaker 00 I think I get the same.
5:13 Speaker 00 Do you call it soccer or football? It's okay to call it soccer, by the way.
5:16 Speaker 01 You know, it's.
5:17 Speaker 00 Do you know where the word soccer comes from?
5:19 Speaker 01 No.
5:20 Speaker 00 I'll tell you because we invented it. English, the English invented the word soccer.
5:24 Speaker 01 Tottenham?
5:25 Speaker 00 No, definitely. It's nothing to do with Tottenham. No, it's nothing to do with Tottenham. Before, before the Second World War,
5:30 Speaker 01 Hmm.
5:31 Speaker 00 The two sports that were vying together was rugby football and association football. So they, both sports wanted to call themselves football. So what happened for a brief time is that they decided that association football would be shortened to soccer. So it's basically an abbreviation of association. And rugby football was turned to rugger. So we invented it, so it's our fault.
5:58 Speaker 01 It's always the British's fault.
5:59 Speaker 00 Yeah, everything is. We'll take full responsibility for the many things.
6:03 Speaker 01 It's a short form of association.
6:05 Speaker 00 Yes.
6:05 Speaker 01 Wow.
6:06 Speaker 00 Which is, yeah.
6:07 Speaker 01 Well, the thing I found funny is that here, we grew up knowing it as soccer.
6:11 Speaker 00 Mm-hmm.
6:12 Speaker 01 I also grew up knowing it as football because I was born outside of the country. But if you ever play table soccer.
6:18 Speaker 00 Yeah.
6:18 Speaker 01 It's called fußball.
6:19 Speaker 00 Fußball, that's right.
6:20 Speaker 01 Which I think.
6:21 Speaker 00 It's German.
6:22 Speaker 01 There you go, I had no idea that was a guess.
6:24 Speaker 00 That's the German for fußball. Fußballspieler, German player.
6:29 Speaker 00 The World Cup, you know, you've got the final in this city as well. Another big, big thing for you. There were a lot of fears, I think, going into the World Cup, weren't there? I've seen you voice them as well. Ticket pricing, we've got hydration breaks. We've had more serious issues like referee not being allowed in because they didn't have the... Well, they didn't let him in because of his visa. Players being searched, stuff like that. So where are you on what's happening in this World Cup? Pros and cons?
6:59 Speaker 01 I think the pros, it has been incredible to see not only on the field, but also what it's meant off the field. I'll be honest with you, I was a skeptic about the expanded format.
7:10 Speaker 00 Yeah.
7:10 Speaker 01 And I've been one over.
7:12 Speaker 00 Yeah, same actually.
7:12 Speaker 01 You see these games and it's incredible. I mean, I got to catch a glimpse of DR Congo playing England. Phew. And it was amazing. And, you know, some of this does not happen if you're in the old standard format. And even just seeing this team where a player from the second league in Spain is terrorizing the best English players. And then to win, to hold the game DR Congo brings on a guy from the Championship. It's like this beautiful moment where it feels as if there's a parody in a world without any. I also think the ref cam has been good.
7:44 Speaker 00 You like the ref cam? That makes his opinion.
7:48 Speaker 01 You remember those old Nike ads where there's like the POV, you step up and take the free kick?
7:51 Speaker 00 Makes me feel a little bit nauseous sometimes.
7:53 Speaker 01 It's a little... Like a good nausea.
7:55 Speaker 00 Yes. What about the Americanisation of our sport? And the fact that we're now playing four quarters?
8:00 Speaker 01 The hydration breaks, I'm not a fan of.
8:01 Speaker 00 No, me neither.
8:02 Speaker 01 It's... It doesn't make sense if you have an air-conditioned stadium that you'd have a hydration break. The temperatures are serious, but sometimes it doesn't feel like it has a relationship to the temperatures. I saw someone say that if you're going to have hydration breaks in some games, you have to have them in all for consistency. I guess I can hear that. I think, on the other hand, the thing that I feel very clear about is... This is supposed to be a celebration of the world's game. And the actions of the federal administration to deny visas, whether to a referee, to journalists, to photographers, to coaches. The way that the Iranian team was treated in terms of having to come into the country and then leave the country in the same day. It feels as if a betrayal of what the tournament is supposed to be about.
8:46 Speaker 01 And I think if you see some of the most beautiful moments of this tournament, even in this city, is the celebration of the world in spite of those kinds of actions.
8:55 Speaker 00 I think what's been really beautiful is the way that fans from all different countries, all over the world, different religions, different colors, have come together and seen these scenes in, like, whether it's Times Square or wherever in the country. It's just wonderful, isn't it?
9:13 Speaker 01 It is.
9:14 Speaker 00 Does it get... Football might save the world.
9:16 Speaker 01 That's what I think. I think if we spent more time talking about it, we'd be in a better place. I think it's... It feels like a shared first language. It feels like when you speak about the game, when you play the game, that you see... You see the fullness of the person across from you. And oftentimes, that's lost in today. And I think that you just... You go across the city, it feels like every day
9:41 Speaker 01 there is someone for whom this means everything. Egypt's gonna be playing. If you wanna go to Steinway Street in Astoria, you're going to see years of wait and excitement around that. Ecuador versus Mexico. There are these beautiful photos of a neighborhood in Queens, in Elmhurst, where you have people draped in the flags of each nation sitting across from each other. I think it's to your point, it feels... It feels like a distillation of why we love the game.
10:05 Speaker 00 The World Cup is... It gives a lot, doesn't it? It gives a lot to so many people, so much hope around the world, and it's so international. And we've seen people come over from all parts of the world. My... I think major concern has been the ticket pricing. Because I don't think it's right that someone should have to sell their car or remortgage their house to try and get a ticket for a while. And I know you've tried to do something here in New York.
10:31 Speaker 01 You know, we... I share the same view, that football at its core is a working person's game. You know, even Arsenal, the story of Arsenal is munitions workers putting sixpence aside and founding this club. And yet, the ticket prices that we see... It's as you say, you'd have to give up something that is near and dear to your life to have a chance at these prices. Because we're not just talking about hundreds of dollars, we're talking about thousands of dollars. And the commodification of the game. And so, yes, we were very proud to secure a thousand tickets at fifty dollars. Because I made very clear that one of the good historical practices in World Cups has been reduced price tickets for residents of the host cities.
11:14 Speaker 01 And I was able to go watch a game with some of those winners. And I sat next to a woman who works for our city government. She happened to win in this raffle, three hundred thousand New Yorkers applied. And she pulled up her phone and showed me a Facebook status. She posted when the US won the right to host, describing going to a game as a bucket list. And that's what it should be, working people should be able to be a part of it. Instead, it feels like with so much of the sport that we love, it's just a mortgage being repurposed for a ticket.
11:46 Speaker 00 Absolutely. Let me ask you a couple of questions before we finish.
11:49 Speaker 01 Please.
11:49 Speaker 00 On how do you think the US have done so far?
11:52 Speaker 01 They've done pretty good, haven't they? They've done pretty well.
11:55 Speaker 00 It's good for the sport here as well, isn't it?
11:56 Speaker 01 Great for the sport.
11:57 Speaker 00 Because people will get behind it, they'll start, and the further you go in the tournament, the more.
12:02 Speaker 01 And they see themselves in it. And that, I think, is incredible for the future of the game. Because we want in twenty years, when we look back and are celebrating a new player on the US Men's National Team, we ask where did their journey begin? And it was this World Cup.
12:14 Speaker 00 Who's going to win this World Cup?
12:16 Speaker 01 You know, I went with the heart and I did say Morocco.
12:19 Speaker 00 I did see that. Have you changed your mind? They've actually been very good.
12:22 Speaker 01 I mean, look, the team that looks best, the French.
12:25 Speaker 00 Yeah, definitely, for the moment.
12:26 Speaker 01 Yeah, I mean, it's like to have Mbappe and Dembele on the same team. And it's just like, it doesn't seem fair. And at the same time, the beauty of this tournament is that it's not a league, it's a tournament. And anything can happen over. Ninety odd minutes.
12:43 Speaker 00 You'll be at the final presumably, as it's in New York, New Jersey. That'll be special, won't it? To be the mayor of the city that hosts the World Cup final.
12:52 Speaker 01 It will be very special. And I think it will be special because it will also be the crowning moment of a tournament that we've wanted to mean more than just the memories on the pitch. We've wanted it to be a celebration of the city. And so whether it's, you know, New Yorkers who've experienced it through a fan fest, whether they've watched it for free on a kiosk we put up around the city, whether they used it as an excuse to go to a restaurant for a $26 meal deal, that day will be the end of what has been an incredible more than a month, but hopefully the beginning of our soccer or our football journey.
13:27 Speaker 00 What a lovely way to finish. Mayor, thank you very much indeed.
13:30 Speaker 01 Pleasure's all mine.
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