The Cruyff Turn: Performance in the Cultural Memory of International Soccer

This essay examines the performance history of international soccer, employing ideas developed in the fields of theatre and performance studies to consider the self-conscious referencing of the sport's cultural history at the moment of the international match. Centring on the influence in England of the Cruyff turn, and on its quotation by Paul Gascogine at the 1990 World Cup, the essay examines how specific moments of soccer performance acquire significance as indicators of national performance history and suggests that the fields of theatre and performance studies may provide useful models for further analysis of sporting events.