Latin American Sport Media: The Making Of A Political History of Sport 3031155939, 9783031155932

Table of contents :
Acknowledgements
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
Introduction
Bibliography
Shaping the National Sports System: The Development of Argentinian Sports Press from the Leisure Society to the Era of Mass Culture (1890s–1950s)
Introduction
1890s–1910s: The First Steps of Sports Media Coverage in Argentina
British Sports for British People? The Original Limitations of Sports Practice and Press Coverage
Turning Sport into a Media Topic
The Sporting Press: A Mass Culture Cornerstone
El Gráfico, the “Bible” of the Sporting Press
Diversification and Specialisation of the Sporting Press
Success Keys: Business Models and the Role of the Sports Press
1940s–1950s: The Consolidation of The Sports Press Under The Peronist Era
Conclusions
References
The Spread of Football in Latin America, the First FIFA World Cup in Uruguay (1930) and the Role Mass Media Played
Uruguay at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century
The New Century and Its New Politics
Football and the Press in the First Decade of the Twentieth Century
The Globalization of Football During the 1930 Crisis, the First World Championship in Uruguay and the Role of the Mass Media
The Difficult Task of Organizing the World Cup
Final Thoughts
References
Race and Gender in the Pages of the Brazilian Jornal dos Sports
Introduction
Mario Filho and Sports Journalism
Jornal dos Sports and the Black Man in Football
Women’s Football in Jornal dos Sports: 1940
Provisional Conclusions
References
De Los Sports a Triunfo: Sport Media in Chile During XX Century
The Oligarchic Stage of the Chilean Sports Press: The Case of Colo-Colo and Los Sports
The Developmental Vision of Sport in Estadio
Neoliberal Phase
Conclusions
References
‘Playing sport is building nation’: Issues of Colombian Football and Nation in the Magazines Estadio and Semana during the El Dorado Professional League (1948–1954)
Introduction
Sport, Press and Nation in Colombia pre-El Dorado
El Dorado: Popularity, Modernity and Benefits for the Nation
The National vs Foreign Player Quandary
Conclusion
References
Football, Ethnicity and the Visual Representations of Ecuadorian National Identity in Estadio
Introduction
Luxury for the (White)Mestizo Man
The Triumph of the Black Football Player: Alberto Spencer as a Hero on and off the Pitch
Conclusion
References
“The world united by a football …”: The Mexican Televisa and Their Football World Cups
Introduction
Brief Genealogy of an Empire: Televisa
The Venturing of Private Television into Mexican Football
Telesistema Mexicano, the 1970 Football World Cup, and the Mexican Fandom
A Tiger on the Hunt: Televisa’s 1986 World Cup
Conclusions
References
The Print Media and Sport Nationalism in the Caribbean: The Case of Trinidad and Tobago’s 1990 World Cup Campaign
Introduction
Background
Print Media and Sport Nationalism
Methodology
Findings
Discussion
Conclusion
References
Conclusion
Diversity and Plurality in the History of Sports Media
Media Outlet Case Studies as Building Blocks for General Conclusions
Difficulties with Concepts
Technological Change
New Directions
Remaining Questions
References
Index

Citation preview

Latin American Sport Media The Making Of A Political History of Sport Edited by Bernardo Buarque de Hollanda Luiz Guilherme Burlamaqui

Latin American Sport Media

Bernardo Buarque de Hollanda Luiz Guilherme Burlamaqui Editors

Latin American Sport Media The Making Of A Political History of Sport

Editors Bernardo Buarque de Hollanda Fundação Getulio Vargas Sao Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

Luiz Guilherme Burlamaqui Federal Institute of Brasília Brasilia, Brazil

ISBN 978-3-031-15593-2    ISBN 978-3-031-15594-9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15594-9 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: Nick Moore / Alamy Stock Photo This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the book contributors and editors in charge at Palgrave Macmillan, Alice Carter and Immy Higgins, for making this project possible. We also would also like to thank the institutions that we are based: Escola de Ciências Sociais, CPDOC-FGV, and the Instituto Federal de Brasília. We also want to recognize the partnership of our family. I, Luiz, would like to thank my wife, Clara Cerqueira, and my son, Noel, for our everyday companion. I, Bernardo, would like to thank my son and daughter, Jorge and Marina, and my wife, Daniela Alfonsi, for the little joys of adult life.

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Contents

Introduction  1 Bernardo Buarque de Hollanda and Luiz Guilherme Burlamaqui  Shaping the National Sports System: The Development of Argentinian Sports Press from the Leisure Society to the Era of Mass Culture (1890s–1950s) 23 Lucie Hémeury  The Spread of Football in Latin America, the First FIFA World Cup in Uruguay (1930) and the Role Mass Media Played 43 Florencia Faccio Gonzalez  Race and Gender in the Pages of the Brazilian Jornal dos Sports 57 Leda Costa De Los Sports a Triunfo: Sport Media in Chile During XX Century 77 Diego Vilches

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Contents

 ‘Playing sport is building nation’: Issues of Colombian Football and Nation in the Magazines Estadio and Semana during the El Dorado Professional League (1948–1954) 97 Peter Watson  Football, Ethnicity and the Visual Representations of Ecuadorian National Identity in Estadio119 Enrico Castro Montes  “The world united by a football …”: The Mexican Televisa and Their Football World Cups143 Sergio Varela  The Print Media and Sport Nationalism in the Caribbean: The Case of Trinidad and Tobago’s 1990 World Cup Campaign165 Roy McCree Conclusion185 Matthew Brown Index197

Notes on Contributors

Matthew  Brown is Professor of Latin American History at the Department of Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies. Brown is a researcher and teacher of the history of South America, from 1800 to the present day, with one focus on the histories of sports and popular cultures and another on ways of telling uncomfortable histories. Bernardo  Buarque  de  Hollanda  holds PhD in the Social History of Culture from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUCRio). He is an associate professor at the School of Social Sciences and a researcher at the Center for Research and Documentation on Brazilian Contemporary History at the Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV/CPDOC). Luiz Guilherme Burlamaqui  is an assistant professor at Federal Institute of Brasília. He holds a PhD in Social History from the University of São Paulo and is the receiver of a FAPESP scholarship (State of São Paulo Fund in Support of Scientific Investigation). He was also honoured with João Havelange Scholarship, granted by FIFA/CIES and the University of Neuchatel. Leda Costa  is a visiting professor at Faculdade de Comunicação Social, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro; Professor of the Programa de Pós-­ graduação em Comunicação, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro; author of the books Os vilões do futebol; and editor of the Brazilian journal Revista Esporte e Sociedade.

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NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

Florencia Faccio Gonzalez  holds Phil Dr in History (Freie Universität Berlin, Deutschland), is in charge of the Department of Social Anthropology of the National Museum of Anthropology (Uruguay) and holds Magister in Human Sciences (Universidad de la República, UDELAR, Uruguay). Lucie Hémeury  holds a PhD in History and is an associate researcher at the Center of Research and Documentation on the Americas (Sorbonne Nouvelle-­Paris 3 University). Her research interests focus on the links between sports, media and politics in Argentina during the twentieth century. Roy McCree  is a fellow at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, The University of the West Indies, Saint Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. He received his PhD in Sociology of Sport in 2005 from Leicester University, United Kingdom. Enrico Castro Montes  is a PhD fellow for Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) and KU Leuven (Belgium) and his doctoral project is “Balón y Bandera: Nationalism, Sports and Subalternity in Latin America (1920s–2000s)” in which he studies the role of sports in the construction of national identities in Latin America. He analyses this through a case study on football in Ecuador. Sérgio  Varela  is a Doctor in Social Anthropology and a professor and researcher in the career at the Center for Anthropological Studies at the Facultad de Ciencias Politicas y Sociales de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. He is specialized in the social history of sports in Latin America and in the ethnographic investigation of sports practices in Mexico City. Diego Vilches  is a PhD candidate in History. Author of “El Chile de los triunfos morales al país ganador. Historia de la identidad y la selección chilena de fútbol durante de la dictadura militar 1973-1989”. He has specialized in studies on Chilean identity and the history of youth during the twentieth century. Peter  Watson  is Lecturer in Spanish and Latin American Studies at University of Leeds. Watson holds a PhD from the University of Sheffield with thesis title Un país en una cancha: Football and Nation-Building in Colombia During the Presidency of Juan Manuel Santos (2010–2018). The book was published in the meantime: https://library.oapen.org/ handle/20.500.12657/57662.

List of Figures

Football, Ethnicity and the Visual Representations of Ecuadorian National Identity in Estadio Fig. 1 “Primera Casa Deportiva En America”, Estadio, April 1967 (Biblioteca Ecuatoriana Aurelio Espinosa Pólit) Fig. 2 Cover, Estadio, July 1964 (Biblioteca Ecuatoriana Aurelio Espinosa Pólit) Fig. 3 Cover, Estadio, May 1967 (Biblioteca Ecuatoriana Aurelio Espinosa Pólit) Fig. 4 “Asi Vive Spencer”, Estadio, August 1969 (Biblioteca Ecuatoriana Aurelio Espinosa Pólit) Fig. 5 “Una ‘Cabeza Mágica’ que conquistó a Uruguay”, Estadio, January 1963 (Biblioteca Ecuatoriana Aurelio Espinosa Pólit) Fig. 6 “El Triunfo Del Negro En El Futbol”, Estadio, July 1967 (Biblioteca Ecuatoriana Aurelio Espinosa Pólit)

126 129 130 132 134 137

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Introduction Bernardo Buarque de Hollanda and Luiz Guilherme Burlamaqui

A sports match does not finish when it ends. A football match, for instance, can go on for hours, days, weeks, or even decades after the final whistle. Some football matches—such as Argentina and Peru in the 1978 World Cup, or Brazil and Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup final—have not ended yet. If football and other sports fascinate, it is because they are carried out on and off the pitch, and as disputes around their meaning, precisely, outside of it. In the words of Simoni Lahud Guedes, “the football game implies, therefore, in another dispute, the dispute over the “authorized discourses”, about who has the right to interpret it.” (Guedes 2011). This is a denser and more complex struggle than those that took place inside the pitch. In this sense, Bromberger (1998) brought up the concept of “discutibilité” [discutibility] the game of football (and we can extend this to other sports) is not what happens only on the pitch but extends beyond

B. Buarque de Hollanda Fundação Getulio Vargas, Sao Paulo, Brazil L. G. Burlamaqui (*) Federal Institute of Brasília, Brasilia, Brazil e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 B. Buarque de Hollanda, L. G. Burlamaqui (eds.), Latin American Sport Media, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15594-9_1

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the field. In this aspect, Sports Media professionals—journalists, photographers, commentators, narrators—are responsible for mediating the relationship between the sports audience and the show itself, and, for this particular reason, they are fundamental actors in the construction of the sports field. Nevertheless, the literature on Football and sports History in Latin America has paid little attention to these characters. This book has been edited in an attempt to fulfill this gap. Sports historians have a long historical relationship with journalistic written sources. In the case of Latin America, newspapers have been the principal source of information used by historians of the phenomenon. The reasons for this are relatively easy to understand. First and foremost, newspapers are the most accessible source in the case of Latin America. In the region, there is no consolidated archival policy—Football Clubs’ archives are scarce, while Local and National Football Federations rarely allow researchers access to their archives. But, in addition to this eminently pragmatic aspect, there is a symbolical one: the written word of journalists fascinates because they were in loco agents of the main sporting events. They are eyewitnesses of history. Written sources played a key role in the way Football History was written in Latin America. In contrast, one can remember the disregard for oral and iconographical sources. Only recently, works such as that of Diana Mendes Machado Silva (2021) have focused on other ways of constructing social reality, such as photographic and iconographical sources, produced by agents in the journalistic field themselves. Oral sources have also recently been incorporated into the framework of sports historians. In the Brazilian case, two different institutions, the Museu da Imagem e do Som from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (Museum of Image and Sound) have been producing interviews with actors from different football institutions since the 1960s. (Hollanda and Magalhães 2021) These interviews, however, have not been systematically addressed by historians. Above all, it was the written word that fascinated me. And the main reason is that historians are heirs of a positivist tradition that establishes, albeit in a veiled way, the primacy of writing over other forms of recording. In this way, the written word is the form of representation par excellence of the real, the very testimonial from people who witnessed history. For that reason, written sources played a key role in the way Football History was written in Latin America. This edited collection innovates because it moves away from the positivist angle in which the journalist is perceived as the witness of history.

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Here, we analyze the sports media as a crucial actor in the production of the sports phenomenon. Far from being just witnesses of history, journalists were products and producers of their own time. Despite the extensive knowledge and use of journalistic sources, the history of the sports press in Latin America is still an untold story. Sports media have been instrumental in the production and promotion of professional sports in Latin America. That said, the development of sport in the region is closely linked to broader processes of the making of National States. Ana Martins and Tânia Luca (2010, p. 8) have shown that the “media is, at the same time, object and subject of history (…)”. In the particular case of the history of sports, it is important to note the common relationship between the mass media and modern sports starts in the mid-nineteenth century. As highlighted by Victor Melo (2012), the sport gains projection and more fans precisely with the help of the press. However, little attention was devoted to the press actors who helped produce the sporting spectacle. In the Brazilian case, three works deserve to be mentioned for highlighting the problem of the relationship between the press and the history of the sport. Maurício Stycer, in História do Lance, made a sociological narrative about the birth of the main Brazilian sports newspaper. O Lance! was the only newspaper of the so-called Rio-­ São Paulo axis created after Brazilian re-democratization (from 1979 onwards) who was not controlled by the five main families operating in the media business.1 In O clube como vontade e como representação, Bernardo Borges Buarque de Hollanda (2009) goes in a similar direction in which the primary source simultaneously becomes an object. Throughout the text, the social history of the fans becomes, simultaneously, the history of Jornal dos Sports, and is confused with the growth and popularization of the “cor de rosa” (“pink color newspaper”). It is also worth mentioning a third book written by a “non-academic”: the work of André Ribeiro, Os donos do espetáculo (2007), an informative historical survey on the history of the sports press in Brazil. In the case of Argentina, thinking about sport as a product and producer of the spectacle is already a crucial element in the work of Eduardo Archetti 1  In Brazil, five families control 50% of the Media: the Marinho Family, owners of O Globo, Saad Family, owners of Bandeirantes, Macedo Family, owners of Record, Sirotsky Family, owners of RBS, and Frias Family, owners of Grupo Estado de São Paulo. Source: https:// www.cartacapital.com.br/sociedade/cinco-familias-controlam-50-dos-principais-veiculos-­ de-­midia-do-pais-indica-relatorio/, accessed on October 20th, 2021.

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(1995) when he places the daily El Gráfico as an important builder of an ideal and normative “masculinity” in Argentine sport. More recently, Andrés Lopez and Mariano Hernan López wrote “Primeiros apuntes para a História del Jornalismo Argentina” (2012) in which the Argentine sports media history is taken as an object of study and its history is outlined in three historical phases: the sports press, the radio press and the television press. In the same vein, when looking at other Latin American countries, the picture is one of more scarcity of literature. The Colombian case was the focus of a doctoral thesis defended in Brazil, by David Leonardo Quitián Roldán (2021). In a similar line to that adopted by Archetti, the thesis argues that, in the period of Colombian history known as “La Violencia” (1948–1958), radio broadcasts about football and cycling contributed to the invention of the Colombian nation. Quittian is able to understand how the sports press, while producing the Colombian national identity produces itself. For the Peruvian case, we can cite the works of Jaime Pulgar Vidal (2016) on the history of sports narration. For Vidal, the narrative about football in Peru was divided into two main lines: in the foreground, those that emphasized the aspects of hard work and discipline instilled in workers from football as an “import” of English culture. On the other hand, journalists who valued the local and national aspects of Peru represented on the field. This second image triumphed, with decisive influence from the sports press. However, the absence of works and articles in English stands out. It was precisely this perception that led us to mobilize this group of authors to edit this collective volume. Moreover, this is because much of the literature mentioned above is dispersed across the continent. This dispersion makes it impossible to create comparative studies that investigate the connection between the sports press in these countries. Would it not be possible to think, in the manner of a history of international relations, what kind of contacts and cultural transfers made possible the construction of a sports press with a continental identity? Sports journalists—as well as football players, coaches and entrepreneurs—have circulated a lot around the continent since the consolidation of a Latin American sports field. (Conrad 2016) This theme goes beyond the limits of this collection, which opted for a nation-centered approach, but we believe that the examination of certain biographies of actors and newspapers organized in a collection will certainly boost research of this nature. In this perspective, we would like to emphasize the historical importance of the Latin American press in the international context of the twentieth

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century. Several authors have already highlighted the decisive role played by Latin American sports agents in the construction of an international sports arena. It was no different with the sports press: it was innovative, creative, modern. In practice, only a transnational history of the sports press will be able to put into perspective the degree of vanguardism of the Latin American sports media. However, this book shows how, not infrequently, that sports press in the region has innovated both formally and narratively. It is possible that such models were, at a later time, imported by the great European and North American centers. We also opted for a national centered approach because the sports press was decisive in the multiple process of inventions of nationalities throughout Latin America. In this aspect, the sports media was fundamental to provide narratives that helped to legitimize certain corpus of themes, often erasing and silencing minorities that did not fit the previously constructed idea of “sport” and “nation”. Gender, class and race were powerful lenses for understanding and constructing social reality. Telling certain stories meant not telling so many others. No wonder the history of women’s football has been constantly made invisible. Joshua Nadel and Brenda Elsey (2021) wrote that, in the case of women’s football, the lack of interest in the sport on the part of the press caused it to be marginalized in the newspapers. Reading the world through the eyes of machismo and homophobia has made so many life stories fall into preconceived categories. The narratives on Women’s Football often oscillated between the hyper sexualization of bodies and the exoticism of a practice that should remain exclusive to men. Here, racism is also a key element: although black players played a leading role in Latin American professional football on the field from the 1930s onwards, they were not able to narrate their own stories. It was expected that blacks would fulfill a certain social role, under penalty of being perceived as troublemakers or uncommitted. The influence of sports journalists often impact the political and economic development of professional sport. In Brazil, for example, the journalist Mário Filho was the protagonist in debates about the construction of the Maracanã stadium. In Mário Filho’s view, the Maracanã should be built in the image and likeness of the Brazilian “racial democracy” imagined by Gilberto Freyre: a multi-ethnic stadium that would emulate the “nation”, and where the entire population would be “represented”. Bernardo Borges Buarque de Hollanda (2012) examined the existence of journalist-directors: that is, figures who moved between the chronicle and the organization/framing of the show. And it was precisely these

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journalist-­ directors who established the boundaries between which subjects could (or could not) participate in the show. As much as Filho’s utopia spoke of a “Brazil for all”, the gender and race cuts are evident in his work as a journalist. As subjects of history, journalists and the sports press were not immune to the debates of their own time: in selecting some sports stories to be told, journalists silenced so many others. Thus, the following chapters, organized according to national case studies, seek to recognize sports periodicals as both social actors and autonomous objects for analysis. Such newspapers and media are perceived as more than neutral sources or opaque means for collecting information. Above all, this book is about seeing them as the very objects of investigation, to identify their material conditions of existence and technological supports, to perceive the characteristics of the historical time in which they thrived and recognize the active role played by the media, in particular by sports journalism, in the construction of the national imaginaries of Latin America in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The presentation of an overview and a more general contextualization of the interrelationships between sports and the media in Latin America allows us to go on to present the contribution proposed by this book. The collection was designed for a foreign audience, i.e., those interested but not necessarily knowledgeable or familiar with the Latin American reality examined here. The main objective here is to seek to provide subsidies prior to reading the chapters to understand the process of development and consolidation of sports practices and representations in this region. Therefore, experts from eight representative countries were invited to propose a view of sports, historical periods, or communication vehicles— newspaper, radio, television—to be emphasized in the chapter. A characteristic of the cast of authors who contribute to the book is that they are young researchers from different Latin American countries and Latin Americanists in Europe who, in turn, belong to a new generation of researchers with postgraduate academic training. These constitute, for the most part, a youth base of recently graduated doctors responsible for continuing, renewing, and expanding the interior of the field of sports studies in the twenty-first century, treated interdisciplinary, although researchers linked to the area of Social Communication predominate, given the thematic scope of the book. The arrangement of the eight texts produced especially for this book— three signed by women and five by men—is added to this Introduction by our authorship, and the concluding essay by guest Matthew Brown,

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professor at the University of Bristol and recognized Latin Americanist reference of the global history of sport in the region. The structure was designed to bundle national case studies according to a particular geographical ordering and chronological chain. This objective has a didactic character, so to speak since it reiterates the presupposition of the reader’s prior lack of greater familiarity with the interface between sports and the sports press in Latin America. The book thus begins with a chapter by researcher Lucie Hémeury, an author who graduated in History at the Sorbonne Nouvelle 3. The text is dedicated to Argentina and six decades of sports practice and coverage in the Buenos Aires country, from its introduction in the nineteenth century to mid last century. Supported by the country’s best bibliography produced on the subject, the author mobilizes a diachronic approach to understand the transformations that sports have undergone since its “long” implementation, during the nineteenth century, until the period of identity affirmation characteristic of the modernity of sports of the 1920s and 1930s. Also, to understand the massification of leisure and sports, in particular soccer, in the manner seen during the years of construction of Peronism’s political culture, which both take root in the national past and continues to be felt in contemporary times. Hémeury’s choice focuses on the sports magazines of the selected historical arc, such as the most emblematic periodical, with projection beyond the borders of Buenos Aires, the El Gráfico magazine, a weekly whose longevity marked an era milestone since 1919  in the Argentine imagination and the sports-press dyad. The circumscription of the first half of the twentieth century makes it possible to deal with a sequence of themes, namely: the British origins, peripheral modernization, the emergence of mass culture, the relations between the State and Argentine society, and also the material conditions of conformation of a sporting goods market in the country. The specialized sports press is an example in the form of daily and monthly newsletters aimed at news consumption and coverage of various competitions and a myriad of athletes. The news character of the sport is amalgamated into the narrative discussion about the styles of journalists and the creation of dramas and mise-­en-­scènes capable of building collective national emotions around tournaments, clubs, and selected teams. The nationalist diction finds its hallmark in the 1940s and 1950s, with the Peronist Era that cultivates great proximity and enthusiasm for sports practices. In this sense, the sports press accumulates this synergy of popularity between government,

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competitors, and international events, such as the first edition of the 1951 Pan American Games, held in Buenos Aires. Hémeury’s chapter ends with the acknowledgment that the second half of the twentieth century witnessed the affirmation of new technological supports, with the entry into the scene of television stations, which exponentiated a new scale of reach and an unprecedented impact on the dynamics of broadcasting of matches and on how sports competitions were structured in the following decades. The subsequent text—Chapter “The Spread of Football in Latin America, the First FIFA World Cup in Uruguay (1930) and the Role Mass Media Played”—is authored by the Uruguayan historian Florencia Gonzalez, who holds a Ph.D. from the Free University of Berlin under the guidance of the Latin Americanist Stefan Rinke, known for his historical studies of sports in Uruguay. Gonzalez’s chapter approaches Lucie Hémeury’s time frame, focusing on the first half of the twentieth century, although focused, in the case of Uruguay, with particular attention to the stages of organization of the 1930 World Cup, a turning point in the massification of press coverage of the period. The contextualization of the turn of the nineteenth to the twentieth century involves the recognition of the importance of European immigration to the South American continent, a constitutive part of the global history of modern sports, with a particular effect on the soccer modality. The context of the first Uruguayan decades of the twentieth century addresses, in the wake of battlismo—i.e., the election to the presidency of José Battle y Ordóñez—political, social, and demographic aspects of the small South American country, in the process of completing a century of existence and independence in the late 1920s. Like Hémeury in her treatment of Argentina, Gonzalez retraces the introductory path of sports in Uruguay from the nineteenth century, addressing cricket and rowing in British clubs, to the establishment of soccer at the dawn of the nineteenth century. The author describes the first illustrated weeklies that achieve projection, such as Sportman and Mundo Sportivo. Such periodicals highlight comparisons between Uruguayan and Argentine soccer, emphasizing the aspects that bring together and confront the idea of a supposedly unitary “Platino style.” This style conforms not only to press reports from competitions between the countries of the Rio de la Plata but also to the vaunted opposition to a European or Anglo-Saxon game model. The 1920s were decisive in shaping this so-called Rio Platense way of playing soccer, notably

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Uruguayan. The performance in international events, such as the 1924 and 1928 Olympic Games, won consecutively by the Uruguayans, highlights their team. The performance at the Olympics accredits Uruguay, in the wake of a series of political articulations with FIFA, to host the first World Cup in 1930. From a national point of view, the decision takes place amidst the celebrations of the founding of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay (1828–1928), the sporting event being one of the most effective forms of popularization and emulation of such festivities. In this context, the role of El Deporte magazine and newspapers such as El Plata and El Imparcial in covering the soccer matches of the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics appears to be strategic, through telegrams that inform the population of Montevideo and the rest of the world of match results. More than the informative and news dimension, the periodicals act in the molding of the national imagination of sports. Their journalists also contribute by transmitting an emotional ambiance in the narration of the matches. After presenting the scenario and the conjuncture of “South American Switzerland” in the 1920s, the author dedicates the last part of the chapter to the organizational process of the 1930 FIFA World Cup. The focus is on how the El Día newspaper, among others, covers this organization, in particular the negotiations between the national soccer associations of the Americas and Europe, together with FIFA, and the monumental construction of the National Stadium in Montevideo, with capacity for eighty thousand spectators. Seen as a turning point in soccer history, and of Uruguay, the first world tournament has the record of dozens of newspapers and twelve radio stations, in addition to the coverage of eight cinematographic cameras, which record the final between Uruguayans and Argentines. The next chapter of the book, “Race and Gender in the Pages of the Brazilian Jornal dos Sports”, is by Professor Leda Maria da Costa, a researcher with a degree in Literature and post-doctoral work in Social Communication at the University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). The Brazilian author is also in tune with the two preceding chapters since, to address Brazil, she explores the sports press of the middle of the last century. Costa takes great care in addressing the view of Mário Filho, a sports journalist, and memoirist who is considered paramount. She also focuses on the press bodies he directed between the 1930s and 1960s, notably the Jornal dos Sports.

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It is worth mentioning that this journalist has been the subject of debate and controversy around his writings, in particular, O negro no futebol brasileiro (1947), object of reprints and even a version translated into American English in 2021: The black man in Brazilian soccer. The author recovers Mário Filho’s trajectory, and such recovery goes beyond what is already known in the country. Initially, the chapter aims to question the following point: how, in the 1940s, the newspaper owned by Mário Filho approached the theme of women’s soccer? What coverage was given to practitioners before and after the ban on female sports practice carried out by the federal government during the Vargas Era, more precisely, in the Vargas regime of the Estado Novo (1937–1945)? Costa details an emerging research agenda in Brazil, namely, gender and its intersection with sports practices. For this purpose, she approaches a well-known columnist, businessman, and newspaper editor in the country, but through the bias of an unexplored subject in the aforementioned classic book. Indeed, the author mobilizes journalistic sources to track and locate information, photos, leagues, teams, and characters from women’s soccer from that period, as a rule, disregarded in numerous previous studies about the controversial character and the famous newspaper. In the same way as Hémeury and Gonzalez, the Brazilian author reconstructs the introduction of sports in the Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo axis in the first decades of the twentieth century to contextualize the constitution of the field of journalism and the trajectory of the character— Mário Filho—in this environment, since the 1920s, when he worked in Crítica and O Globo. Supported by the bibliography on the subject, the chapter addresses the femininity standards prevailing at the time and seeks to understand the peripheral place for women in society and, by extension, in soccer. Costa gives visibility within the newspaper to the sparse but significant news regarding tournaments and disputes between women’s soccer teams shortly before its government ban. Another critical issue in dealing with the printed material produced by Mário Filho, a central reference in sports journalism at the time, is the racial issue, which emerged from the publication of his book in the 1940s. The book’s approach goes beyond discussing the imaginary and idyllic “racial democracy” that would reign on Brazilian soil. On the other hand, it is dedicated to examining in the pages of Jornal dos Sports the reception after the publication of the work. It occurs as reviews by literati and intellectuals or through broadcast announcements of the launch of the work authored by the journalist in its advertising frameworks.

 INTRODUCTION 

11

Thus, Leda Costa’s contribution focuses on the point of view seldom underlined in studies on an unavoidable agent in Brazilian sports memorials and the promotion of the soccer spectacle, with the articulation between two crucial issues in the understanding of the country: race and gender. The following chapter “De Los Sports a Triunfo: Sport Media in Chile During XX Century” is signed by the Chilean historian Diego Vilches, who developed his doctorate at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. While Leda Costa chooses a character from journalism to discuss the social issues that permeate the formation of Brazilian society in the last century, Vilches’ approach returns to dialogue with the proposal assumed by Lucie Hémeury and Florencia Gonzalez. This occurs because he chose to address the diachrony of Chilean periodicals in the twentieth century. For this purpose, he proposes a ternary approach and highlights three historical periods capable of accounting for the sports journalistic discourse about Chilean soccer in the broad period selected. The first moment consists of what the author calls the “oligarchic stage.” It spans a temporal arc from the beginning of the twentieth century to the 1930s, characterized by the binary debate around amateurism versus professionalism, in the light of the Los Sports magazine. The reconstitution of these first decades of Chilean soccer begins with the classical framing of the subject within Latin American elites’ civilizing and sanitizing project, followed by popularization in the 1920s. Vilches describes the first stadiums, such as the aristocratic Parque Cousiño, a space that in a short time becomes propitious for meeting different social classes to join the matches that make the English confront Chilean players coming from wealthy families, located in the capital, Santiago. The author contextualizes the political instability of the 1920s and 1930s, during Arturo Alessandri’s governments, in the same proportion in which the soccer context is also unstable. The highlight of the press, like the Justicia newspaper, focuses on the confrontation between “aristocratic” forces, which cultivate an ideal of Olympic sport, and those “massifiers,” which incorporate new groups and social strata, either as spectators or as practitioners. Based on the narratives of Los Sports magazine, the emergence of clubs, such as Colo-Colo, in 1925 is shown, which assumed a sense of professionalism and grew thanks to the increase in public fervor quantitatively. On the other hand, there is a decline in other associations, dating back to the initial period and its amateur aura.

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The chapter’s second part covers the phase from the mid-twentieth century to the beginning of the 1980s when a developmental discourse for sports prevailed. Vilches addresses this moment from a journalistic source, namely, the Estadio magazine. It is a Latin American period in which industrialization projects and the progressive substitution of imports arose amid the preponderance of the Radical Party and investments led by the State. The Estádio magazine is responsible for incorporating the ideas of industrial development and extending them to the meritocratic values of sports. The journalistic treatment of this period has essential developments in the discourses about Chilean participation in World Cup tournaments, especially 1962, in Chile itself, and 1974, which took place in Germany under the aegis of the Cold War, and still 1978, taking place in neighboring Argentina. The discourses analyzed extend to other sources, such as the El Mercurio, El Sur de Concepción, La Tercera, and El Austral newspapers. They cover the understanding of a “small country,” isolated in geographical terms, in the face of sports powers, with much more expressive results. This has repercussions from the newspapers’ rhetorical strategy point of view to deal with defeats and to keep alive, morally, the optimistic vision of national developmentalism. In 1962, the FIFA World Cup in Chile mobilized local rock groups to cheer up the fans after defeats and look for alternatives in other moral virtues that could compensate for the absence of achievements. In the context of journalistic discourse, non-victory performance becomes “honorable” on the field. This is because there is an internalization of an “inferiority complex,” going hand in hand with the prior awareness of the superiority of European national teams, whose supremacy in performance relies on characteristics such as strength and speed. Vilches also narrates clashes in international matches in the 1970s. For example, between Chile and the Soviet Union, in 1973, in preparation for the German Cup the following year. The alternation between the performance dynamics of the clubs and the Chilean national team with the country’s political context allows the author to approach the military coup d’état against Salvador Allende at the beginning of the 1970s. The political incident already generated implications for the participation of the selected team in the 1974 World Cup, in the defeats against West and East Germany.

 INTRODUCTION 

13

The third and final moment described in the chapter goes back to the Chilean neoliberal cycle, in which the sports press stopped emphasizing broader formative cultural and social aspects to propagate the values of the free market, from the individualistic cult to personal success and competition. If the development paradigm structures the country’s economic and ideological policy in the early 1980s, this scenario changes progressively over that decade. From the sports journalism point of view, the end of Estádio symbolizes the developmental debacle and the hegemony of the neoliberal era, thwarted by Pinochet and his brutal dictatorship between 1973 and 1990. Other periodicals emerged in this new period, such as the La Nación newspaper and its magazine, Triunfo, which led to the cultivation of individualism in Chilean society at the end of the twentieth century. Multiple journalistic sources are mobilized, even newspapers opposed to Pinochet, such as Fortín Mapocho. As for performance on the field, the section describes the matches against the Brazilian team in 1989. Those occurred in the qualifiers for the World Cup in Italy the following year. The reports focus their interest on the scandal of the decisive qualifying game at Maracanã, in which the Chilean goalkeeper pretended to be hit by a distress flare, supposedly striking his face and taking him to the ground. The match is interrupted, but the farce does not hold even with the staging, leading to a new defeat and the team’s elimination in international competitions. Finally, the chapter concludes an essential discussion on the scenario of the popularity and massification of sports in Chile in three different configurations. Such an approach points to the ability of the media to build the fans’ worldview and common sense concerning collective emotion and behavior. In this sense, it defends the assumption of the non-existence of media neutrality. It highlights its influential and forging character, contained in the editorial guidelines of private newspaper companies focusing on soccer coverage. The next chapter “‘Playing sport is building nation’: Issues of Colombian Football and Nation in the Magazines Estadio and Semana During the El Dorado Professional League (1948–1954)”, is signed by the English researcher Peter Watson, Ph.D. from the University of Sheffield and professor of Latin American studies at the University of Leeds. The text addresses soccer in Colombia during its brief golden period, known as Eldorado. Like Leda Costa’s text, Watson opts for a more synchronous approach to its object, choosing the years from 1948

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to 1954 for his analysis, amid a critical moment in the country’s politics, with fratricidal struggles for power between liberals and conservatives, but also during an economic-financial growth spurt. In the same proportion, Watson focuses on two periodicals to target the investigation: the general magazine, Semana, and the one specialized in sports, Estádio. However, the temporal circumscription and the choice of precise sources do not prevent an initial historical approach, with an overview of the elitist introduction of soccer and the respective ideology of the press to sports in general, in the first half of the twentieth century. As seen in the previous chapters, the periodicals spread hygienist and pedagogical ideas in the pages of newspapers such as El Tiempo and Pátria: revista de ideas. In later decades, with Colombia already inserted in the international competitive circuit and with its federation affiliated with FIFA, there is recognition that the country suffers from a sort of “delay” in the development of soccer practice in the country, vis-à-vis the other South American teams. Indeed, the text brings to light the process of national affirmation and how it is reflected in the political-sports decision to hire Argentine, Uruguayan, Peruvian, and even Brazilian soccer players, such as the idols Alfredo Di Stéfano and Heleno de Freitas. This is the conjunctural solution for the recurring collective inferiority complex in soccer on the continent. The relatively late participation of Colombian soccer in international competitions in South America leads to this demand for updating and learning, which involves recruiting athletes from outside the country. At that time, the importation of players was believed to favor the “modernization” of sports and would provide the leveling of Colombian athletes, in the face of contact with the stars of neighboring countries, benefited in a certain sense from the crisis contexts of those countries. This situation led to unprecedented strikes by these same soccer players in their home clubs. Watson’s contextualization also discusses the administrative structure of the conformation of soccer power, according to the diversity of cities, the plurality of leagues, and the forced need to unify its representativeness with FIFA.  This factor implied the professionalization of soccer, which took place in the main South American countries in the 1930s, and the political centralization of soccer management in the country’s capital, Bogotá. The description of the process considers the economic context that allowed the country to invest in soccer by acquiring South American

 INTRODUCTION 

15

soccer stars, an effective way to massify the public and structure a professional organization for this sport. The objective, after all, is also to overcome the supposedly inferior condition in comparison, above all, with Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay—although not alluded to by Watson, it should be added that Colombia did not compete in the 1950 World Cup—, not counting the soccer in Europe. All this decisive overview of a professional league creation is concentrated, as said, in the middle of the last century. Its narrative is guided and based on the reports of the two selected magazines. According to the author, these play a crucial role in constructing collective values in the wake of soccer invention and promotion in the country. In examining such narration, this perspective of an a priori backward and unimportant soccer is addressed, which stimulates the perception of the need to import talents, including coaches and referees. On the other hand, as Eldorado experiences the presence of foreign players, the growing nationalist counterpart is discursively constructed in the newspapers that the “Creoles”—a native category for Colombians—no longer need to import or recruit foreign athletes. In this sense, the positive results and the comparison of performance in the field between foreigners and Creoles generate debates among journalists about the effective contribution made by the former. The same press started to advocate the end of the importation of international idols by Colombian clubs. The performance on the field is an argument since the Millionarios, for example, beat Real Madrid in 1952 in Spain. The growth and empowerment of clubs are other discursive keys, such as Atlético Municipal, from Medellín, which, as a sign of the times, changed its name in 1950 and became Atlético Nacional, evidence of the expansion of its social base of followers, which goes beyond the city limits to which it was restricted until then. The Ecuadorian historian Enrico Castro Montes wrote Chapter “Football, Ethnicity, and the Visual Representations of Ecuadorian National Identity in Estadio”, dedicated to exploring the consumption of sports news, notably the ethnic imagination around soccer in Ecuador, the subject of his doctorate in Belgium. The author’s strategy traces a line of continuity with Leda Costa and Peter Watson by focusing on a single sports magazine, Estadio, to analyze the texts and photographic images concerning the national identity in Ecuador during the 1960s. The rationale for the time frame concerns the identity and representational transformations seen in the period when the collective

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self-perception of a mestizo country, i.e., one formed by the indigenous population—a quarter of the Andean country, with seventeen million inhabitants in all—and by the elites of European origin, equivalent to 5%, is interposed by the African imagination, in the face of a significant ethnic incidence coming from that continent. The picture addresses different types and gradations of miscegenation, with different internal evaluative and hierarchical perspectives, in the assumption and classification of racial stereotypes. Montes is even more surgical in delimiting his analytical scope. He focuses on a single case, namely, that of the black national idol of the time, Alberto Spencer, as represented in the pages of the periodical selected for analysis. The proposed investigative procedure followed the method of the previous chapters concerning the beginning of the twentieth century when the subfield of sports journalism had not yet gained autonomy. That was a historical period in which reports and journalistic notes on sports appeared in non-specialized periodicals, such as El Comercio, from Quito, and El Telégrafo, from Guayaquil. The advent of illustrated magazines and those printed publications focused on the sports universe began in the 1920s. Such periodicals extended until the appearance of Montes’ object and primary source of research, entitled Estadio, dated from 1962, but still in circulation today, sixty years after its inception. At first, with a regional reach, the magazine acquires a national status. In the 1960s, the magazine showed its ability to cover the country’s four main regions, expanding its reach and vocalizing a certain condition of spokesperson for sports nationalism. Montes relies on the so-called “subaltern studies” to observe how the sports media use their tools in the debate on ethnicity and the ideology of miscegenation in this Andean country. Such purpose also requires setting the first half of the twentieth century, when modernity is constituted. There is the cultivation of an ideal of whiteness and regenerating civilization concerning race and gender. This happens in a country historically marked by colonization and the export of primary products, like the tobacco companies, the first to link the popularity of sports “heroes” with advertising and marketing strategies. As stated, the author undertakes a concrete case study by approaching the trajectory of the Afro-Ecuadorian player and his treatment by the Estadio magazine. The reconstruction goes through his origins in the 1930s, on Ancón’s Pacific coast, to the formation stages of a soccer career in amateur and professional clubs, such as Barcelona in Guayaquil. In this

 INTRODUCTION 

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process, his performance draws the attention of clubs outside the country, and Peñarol in Uruguay hires him. International visibility, far from meaning a cooling off in his relationship with soccer in Ecuador, makes the athlete a source of national pride, considered not only a national representative but also a sports celebrity in the country. Montes’s imagery plan of analysis follows the reading of the soccer player’s popularity in the advertisements of radio stations and sporting goods stores published by the magazine, starting in April 1967. with the supporting photographs published in the magazine, textual and iconographic framing, and its subliminal messages. The author captures details that may be unnoticed by many but that the chapter catches when it stops at Alberto Spencer’s photographic whitening. The emphasis on the periodical’s iconography thus allows an interpretation of the ambiguity of the country’s mestizo character. This is revealed in subtle stratagems of denial of miscegenation in favor of a hegemonically white-elitist-European ideology. The chapter is not limited to a single image but to a series of photos from the magazine covers portraying the character. The images presented are analyzed, whether in public or private environments, in action on or off the field. Such analysis also considers the 1960s to monitor the moments in which the athlete becomes prominent in the magazine. In addition to the quantitative incidence, which indicators make it possible to identify aspects of the use and appropriation of the idol’s life story and image through photography are also questioned. This always occurs within what Montes understands as a miscegenation narrative formulated by the elites in previous decades. Until then, this ideology supposedly included indigenous people in the ideal of racial mixing, albeit under the aegis of Indian whitening, and not the other way around. Furthermore, in such a dynamic of mixing, black people were excluded from this same interethnic imagination. The chapter’s argument shows how Spencer, originally from the subaltern group of Afro-Ecuadorians, converts himself in the journalistic lens into a mestizo-white whose skin color is attenuated. It is an exceptional case in the traditional representation of the press about Afro-Ecuadorians and their place in national belonging. Spencer is the exception, i.e., a soccer player with “civilized” values, such as dignity, responsibility, and seriousness, manifested on and off the field, according to the discursive construction of the newspaper. His image as a well-educated man and father of a family ultimately promotes the sale of luxury products on the magazine’s pages. Indeed, the

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“black triumph” in the history of soccer in Ecuador is exhibited ambiguously since its primary reference, Spencer, acquires international projection. This modern constitutive ambiguity is insidiously expressed in nicknames like “magic head” and “gazelle.” Both denote the resilience of the imaginary of “animality” and “bestiality” despite the consecration, popularity, and idolatry consecrated to certain national idols. The following chapter “‘The world united by a football…’: The Mexican Televisa and Their Football World Cups”, is authored by Sérgio Varela, professor and researcher at the School of Political and Social Sciences at UNAM. The Mexican anthropologist investigates the sports-­ media phenomenon of his own country but uses a different source than his predecessors in the book. Unlike the texts presented so far, aimed at the press and print media, Varela opts for addressing the television conglomerates established in Mexico during the twentieth century. The choice of this medium and source allows the target of an emerging power responsible for massifying communication, which is articulated to the political spheres and the decision-making of national and international agents. Such sports agents are linked to governmental entities and structures and influence competitions and disputes that take place at critical moments in the sporting life of that North American country. Varela turns his gaze to a specific company, which will become a significant hegemonic television network over the decades. This is Televisa S.A., a private “empire” of the Azcárraga family, which will maintain a close relationship with the political power system, in this case with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), whose hegemony expanded between 1930 and 2000, thanks to the popularity and leadership of President Lázaro Cárdenas. The same is true between Televisa and the governing bodies of soccer practice, i.e., the Mexican Soccer Federation (FMF) and CONCACAF. This link will also be established with certain clubs in the country, particularly with América, from Mexico City, benefiting from sponsorship and direct and indirect support. The author presents his chapter in a diachronic format, focusing on three moments in the history of audiovisual coverage of international sporting events that had Mexico as the epicenter. Similarly to the previous chapters, sports, in general, are addressed, emphasizing soccer, whose professionalization was established in the country in the 1940s, when, in turn, its leagues were unified. The first moment was the Pan American Soccer Games in 1956. This was the second edition of this competition, which was created in the

 INTRODUCTION 

19

1950s. Varela explores the popularization of soccer through the event, with the creation of stadium structures to receive audiences of more than seventy thousand spectators in the matches of the Mexican team. The second period is the 1968 Summer Olympics, which took place in the Mexican Federal District. In addition to dealing in an isolated way with this critical quadrennial event, Varela articulates it to the technological transformations used by broadcasting stations, with satellite and color broadcasting, and to the political vicissitudes of the World Cup in Mexico, which took place two years later, in 1970. The choice of Mexico for the IOC and FIFA competitions was part of an economic-political project to modernize the country. Social and political aspects of the two sporting mega-events are addressed. For example, the great repression of the student movement, resulting in a police massacre on the eve of the Olympics start, in Tlatelolco, in that troubled year of 1968. The infrastructure for holding the Olympic Games and the World Cup is also the focus of attention, with the mobilization of a consortium to construct the monumental Aztec Stadium. Varela’s narrative also covers the World Cup experience, with the fans’ euphoria following the matches, even after the elimination of Mexico. Finally, a third moment analyzed is the 1986 World Cup, again held in Mexico, after several changes in its choice. A series of political-diplomatic negotiations by the national government, the Mexican Soccer Federation, represented by Rafael Del Castillo, FIFA, chaired by João Havelange, and CONCACAF, under the management of Joaquín Terraza, culminated in withdrawing the World Cup from Colombia, previously selected. Surprisingly, candidacies of the size of Brazil, the United States, and Canada have been passed over in favor of Mexico since it was experiencing significant financial difficulties. The anthropologist does not neglect a historical-contextual view to present the economic circumstances of Mexico in the 1970s and 1980s. There was an increased tertiary production sector and problems arising from natural catastrophes, such as the 1985 earthquake. He also makes a comparative balance between the 1970 and 1986 World Cups from the point of view of fan participation. He observes that, in contrast to the euphoria seen in the streets with the 1970 World Cup, sixteen years later, there was a climate of violence and vandalism in the clashes between fans and police. The thought-provoking chapter ends with observing the weakening of the television company Televisa S.A. in the last five years. The audience

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decline stems, in turn, from the emergence of new media and platforms for broadcasting games, such as those provided by streaming and the Internet. According to Varela, the decline scenario can also be explained by the competition unleashed by US cable TV networks, such as ESPN and Fox, in addition to national rivals, shaking the so-called television “empire.” Chapter “The Print Media and Sport in the Anglophone Caribbean: The Case of Trinidad and Tobago, 1960–2010” and final chapter is signed by sociologist Roy McCree, Ph.D. from the University of Leicester and senior professor at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago. His text is about the Caribbean island where he lives and teaches, addressing the campaign in the qualifiers for the 1990 World Cup in Italy. The lack of knowledge about soccer in the Caribbean makes the chapter attractive to close the book, as it focuses on the relationship between sport and nationalism in non-central countries, through their print media, in the context of the late 1980s. In the first part of the text, McCree discusses historical information about the island, with the process of political independence of Trinidad and Tobago from Great Britain, in 1962, and general data, such as the demographic composition, with just over a million inhabitants at the time of their participation in the qualifying matches for the FIFA World Cup. The population diversity of a former British colony makes critical post-­ colonial debate unavoidable. This gravitates around the dilemmas of social and racial integration, with the economic conformations aimed at exports, the problematic relationship of the “creole” elites in the face of subaltern ethnic groups, and the political instability that, from time to time, affects the country and region. The soccer contextualization follows the broader characterization of the small island by historicizing its attempts to participate in a World Cup, as in Germany in 1974. This is accomplished by describing the games played in the previous year against the selected members affiliated with CONCACAF, which almost led the Trinidad team to classification. The author’s interest focuses on the media approach of this performance and the channeling role of nationalism when articulated to the discursive strategies of soccer affirmation. In the chapter’s third section, McCree explains his methodology for analyzing the content of newspapers at the broader level of the communication system and on the political-ideological functions of the press in society. The journalistic material’s scrutiny includes the reports’ quantity

 INTRODUCTION 

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and quality, their position within the printed matter, and the respective subcategories of framing the sporting reality. The researcher chooses the two leading newspapers in the country—The Trinidad Express and Trinidad Guardian—for a description and analysis of news and images related to the preparations and qualifying games played in 1989, in coverage that expands throughout that year. If the centrality of national symbolism tends to be used in the affirmation of identity, the reading of this chapter draws attention to its even greater strategic importance in countries in a post-colonial situation. This occurs regardless of their geographic size or projection in the sporting hierarchy vis-à-vis the other nations. The emphasis on this argument causes the author to make a vivid reconstitution of the ambiance of journalistic reports of the matches against the Central American teams from Costa Rica, Panama, and Guatemala, among others. To this end, the author uses boxes in the text, which reproduce the impressions of different sports columnists, creating a climate of euphoria and commotion in the victories, followed by disappointment in the defeats, just like the one that occurred against the USA team. His purpose is thus to show the media and collective involvement with the ambition of going to Italy the following year, ultimately frustrated. Investment in sports news does not prevent it from being engulfed by intercurrences in government life in the face of insurrectional processes by Islamic minorities and a series of deaths and disturbances in the country in July 1990. Finally, following the eight main chapters that make up the collection, we end with an afterword by the Latin Americanist Matthew Brown, a professor at the University of Bristol and a leading researcher in proposing a global history of sports in Latin America. In light of sports studies, Matthew makes an overview of the book as a whole and evaluates the contribution of its academic significance.

Bibliography Archetti, E. P. (1995). Estilo y virtudes masculinas en El Gráfico: la creación del imaginario del fútbol argentino. Desarrollo económico, 419–442. Bromberger, C. (1998). Football: la bagatelle la plus sérieuse du monde (p. 1). Paris: Bayard. Conrad, S. (2016). What is global history?. In What Is Global History?. Princeton University Press.

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Guedes, S. (2011). Os estudos antropológicos dos esportes no Brasil: perspectivas comparadas na América latina. In: Antropolítica. Niteroi, n. 31. Hollanda, B. B. B. D. (2009). O clube como vontade e representação: o jornalismo esportivo e a formação das torcidas organizadas de futebol no Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro, 7. Hollanda, B. B. B. D. (2012). O cor-de-rosa: ascensão, hegemonia e queda do Jornal dos Sports entre 1930 e 1980. HOLLANDA, Bernardo Buarque de; MELO, Victor Andrade de. O esporte na imprensa e a imprensa esportiva no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro, 7. Hollanda, B.  B., & Magalhães, L. (2021). Apresentação ao dossiê” Esportes e fontes orais”. História Oral, 24(2), 5–10. Lopez, A. & Lopez, M. H. (2012). Primeros apuntes de la historia del periodismo en Argentina. Martins, A.  L., & De Luca, T.  R. (2010). História da imprensa no Brasil. Editora Contexto. Melo, V.  A. D. (2012). Causa e consequência: esporte e imprensa no Rio de Janeiro do século XIX e década inicial do século XX. O esporte na imprensa e a imprensa esportiva no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro, 7, 21–51. Nadel, J. & Elsey, B. (2021). Futbolera: A History of Women and Sports in Latin America. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2019. Pulgar Vidal, J. (2016). Selección nacional de futbol” 1911–1939: fútbol, política y nación. Quitián Roldán, D. L. (2021). La nación imaginada en clave deportiva: apuntes antropológicos del caso colombiano. Revista Impetus, 11(2), 9–21. Ribeiro, A. (2007). Os donos do espetáculo: histórias da imprensa esportiva do Brasil. Editora Terceiro Nome. Silva, D. M. M. D. (2021). Do branco ao negro, da elite ao popular: cultura visual, fotografia e futebol no início do século XX. Estudos Históricos (Rio de Janeiro), 34, 107–128.

Shaping the National Sports System: The Development of Argentinian Sports Press from the Leisure Society to the Era of Mass Culture (1890s–1950s) Lucie Hémeury

Introduction On 16 January 2018, the Torneos sports media group, formerly known as Torneos y Competencias or TyC, announced the end of the print publication of the country’s oldest and most famous sports magazine: El Gráfico. Founded in 1919, the “Sports’ Bible” will not celebrate its 100th anniversary. For several generations of readers and sports fans, this announcement marked the “end of an era”. It also reveals the difficulties encountered by the so-called traditional media in the age of the Internet and digitalization of information. El Gráfico, like many of its competitors, tried to adapt by switching to an exclusive online publication.

L. Hémeury (*) Sport Sciences Institute, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 B. Buarque de Hollanda, L. G. Burlamaqui (eds.), Latin American Sport Media, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15594-9_2

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The disappearance of a magazine that had been a cornerstone of the local sports press since the 1920s invites us to explore the reasons for its success until the early 2000s. Although El Gráfico is one of the best-known titles in the Argentine sporting press, it is hardly the only one. Many other publications have also managed to last for decades. Its main rival, Goles, was founded in 1949 and only closed in 1995. And these two weekly newspapers are only the tip of the iceberg: the Argentine sports press has been characterised since the beginning of the twentieth century by the multiplicity of its titles, from the most generalist to the ultra-specialist, ranging from international to national to ultra-local diffusion, and from short-lived to several decades of existence. The sporting press is one of main sources used by sports historians. However, its history and the profile of its actors in Argentina remain relatively understudied. So far, there is no historical synthesis offering a complete overview of the local sports press. Specialists are aware of the close links between press and sport (Clastres and Méadel 2007), but these have not yet been thoroughly explored, except for detailed studies on one or two publications (Archetti 1995b; Daskal 2013). The nineteenth century press is particularly poorly documented.1 The twentieth century, generally regarded as the ‘golden age’ of the wide-circulation popular press, is better known  (Arbena 1988). Nevertheless, many aspects of the relations between the rise of the sports press, the development of mass culture and the popularisation of sports practices have yet to be investigated. Despite its social and cultural impact, the sporting press is still an overlooked object of history, even in studies dedicated to media, popular culture, or ideas history (Gutiérrez and Romero 2007; Díaz 2019). This situation reflects, in my opinion, the lack of academic legitimacy that sport and popular or mass culture have long suffered from, including in Argentina where sport in general and football in particular, occupy a prominent place in the national culture (Archetti 2001; Alabarces 2008). The history of the sports press was mainly written by journalists themselves (Úlanovski 2005). Their works are a goldmine of well-documented information but rarely follow an analytical perspective. They offer a narrative peppered with instructive anecdotes but without any in-depth analysis of the phenomenon. For example, there is little information on the actors 1  A research team conducted by Ricardo Petraglia at the National University of La Plata is currently trying to fill this historiographical gap with a project called “Birth and Development of the Sporting Press Narratives in Argentina (1810–1925)”.

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themselves: who were the press owners and the newspapers directors? What were the financial and material conditions for the creation of these publications and press groups? The first years of the twentieth century saw the birth of a new profession: the sports journalist. The history of this profession also deserves to be written: who were the columnists? How did one become a sports journalist? What were their social backgrounds? What were their working conditions? When was their profession recognised? Why did sports journalists so often use a pseudonym? Following the approaches of Silvia Saítta (2013) or James Cane (2011), the economic and social history of sports publishing in Argentina remains to be done. This aspect is essential as the development of the sports press was part of the constitution of large editorial groups in Argentina. The transformations of the media system at the beginning of the twentieth century were key factors to understand the progressive constitution of this specialised press. More broadly, a better grasp of the mechanisms at work in the emergence and consolidation of the sports press could shed light on the mass culture phenomenon and the establishment of cultural industries in Argentina. The history of the sports press is also very fragmentary. The most studied publications are those that have dominated the media environment. El Gráfico, La Cancha or Mundo Deportivo are very well known, others still completely unknown. Some historians approached sports press history but in the frame of broader research studies, such as popular culture or the political and social history of the country. Within the existing literature, there is a mixture of very specific case studies and a more global but not very in-depth inventory. This inventory also raises the question of the definition of the sports press itself: how to define its limits and to encompass the diversity of its productions? The sporting press can include the sports sections of the major national dailies, which appeared at the beginning of the twentieth century; general sports publications; publications dedicated to a single sport; and periodicals published by clubs for their members and fans. Regarding its geographical dissemination, it goes from national and international circulation to local or micro-local distribution. From the first decades of the twentieth century, the sporting press underwent an increasing specialisation, even ultra-specialisation process. This chapter aims to provide a general overview of the development of the Argentinian sporting press during the first half of the twentieth century, from an economic, cultural, and social perspective. It will explore the key role played by the sports media in the establishment of the sports

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system and the constitution of a national mass culture. It will examine how an autonomous sports press was created, with its own specific formats and codes, and what the very existence of this specialized press, targeting a male audience, says about the evolution of mass culture during this period. Finally, this chapter will study the role of the sports press as a central actor in the transformations of the sports sector, especially within professional sport, when sports entertainment became a new cultural industry. Indeed, weekly sports magazines were private companies that sought to stabilise their economic model based on large-scale circulation, affordable prices, advertising, organisation and sponsorship of sports events. But journalists and editors also saw themselves as agents of the country’s modernisation, actively participating in the definition of national identity, a subject of intense debates during the first decades of the twentieth century. Furthermore, the sports press contributed to the recognition of sport as a legitimate social, economic, and cultural activity that deserved attention from public authorities. Following a chronological plan, this chapter will outline the main steps of these intertwined phenomena and show how they were part of the broader economic, political, social, and cultural transformations experienced by Argentine society between the end of the nineteenth century and the middle of the twentieth century.

1890s–1910s: The First Steps of Sports Media Coverage in Argentina Since the beginning of the nineteenth century and the introduction of the “English pastimes” in the Rio de la Plata area by the first British immigrants, press and sporting activities slowly developed in Argentina (Archetti 2001). At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, both fields increased their diffusion through the country and began to reach a broader audience. This evolution resulted from the accelerated transformation of Argentine society. This process fuelled the rapid development of the circulation of printed publications and the spread of sporting practices. Argentina was experiencing sustained demographic, economic and urban growth, due, among other factors, to the massive European immigration arriving in the country. The stabilisation of the political system favoured this growth, which contributed to the expansion of agricultural, proto-­ industrial, and commercial activities, sustained by technological innovations in transport (railways, steamboats, etc.) and in the communications

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systems (telegraph, rotary presses, etc.) at the end of the nineteenth century. This period was a time of major social transformations: Argentine society was entering, at a steady pace, the era of “progress” and modernisation of the country. British Sports for British People? The Original Limitations of Sports Practice and Press Coverage In Argentina, as in the rest of the world, sports practices emerged before the advent of the sports press. The first British pastimes were introduced into the Río de la Plata region at the beginning of the nineteenth century, during the English invasion attempts in 1806–1807. Turf and cricket were added to the amusements inherited from the colonial period, the traditional games played by the gauchos and the military exercises practised by the local aristocracy. The inhabitants practiced or gathered to watch corridas, horse races, pato matches, fencing and duels (Scher et  al. 2010, 13–38). As in Europe and North America, the growth of the press accompanied the spread of what was, at this time, seen as new forms of physical exercises: the “English games”. British engineers, sailors and merchants who came to work in Argentina introduced most modern sports. These immigrants formed a small community that cultivated its entre-soi and tried to reproduce the British way of life in their adopted country. Initially, the practice of sports was limited to members of the British community. So, it is not surprising that the first reports on sporting activities appeared in the local English-speaking newspapers such as The Standard or The Buenos Aires Herald, founded respectively in 1861 and 1876. In the pages of these publications, historians could find the first references to local sport activities, such as football, cricket, polo, or hunting. For example, The Standard took part in what Julio Frydenberg has called the “first foundation” of football in Argentina: local sportsmen published notices in its pages to make contact, meet together, and organize the first sports clubs, such as the Buenos Aires Cricket Club, chaired by Thomas Hogg, or the first sporting encounters (López and López 2012, 15–16). It was also in The Standard that the first football match played in Argentina, on 20 June 1867 (Frydenberg 2011, 25), or the first polo match in 1874 were reported.2 These English-language newspapers published 2

 The Standard, 8 January 1874.

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advertisements and invitations to the public to attend these events, gradually building up a sports audience in Argentina. It was still limited to the members of the British community and the Argentinian elites in contact with this specific group. However, there were only sporadic references to sporting activities in the local press, even the anglophone one, until the 1880s and 1890s. Football historians are surprised that there are no more mentions of matches in the 1870s. According to J. Frydenberg, football did not take root in the Rioplatense lands immediately, and it was only with its “second foundation” in the last third of the nineteenth century that the practice took off (Frydenberg 2011, 26–43). But, as Andrés López wonders, is this not a source bias (López and López 2012, 16)? Were there meetings that were not covered by the local press? Or did the encounters actually stop during fifteen or twenty years? Turning Sport into a Media Topic At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, sport slowly became a subject of information, and was no longer limited to the English-spoken newspapers. In 1886, the first Argentine sports magazine appeared: La Fuerza (López and López 2012, 16). This publication was created by the socios of Club Gimnasia y Esgrima de Buenos Aires, one of the oldest clubs in the capital since it was founded in 1880. Its pages featured information on the practices proposed by this institution, such as gymnastics, shooting, swimming, and fencing, physical activities that were then distinct from “English” sports and that were more related to the traditional and military physical culture. The case of La Fuerza is particularly interesting for several reasons. First, this publication, which appeared every fortnight, seems to have been initiated by the members of the club. It is not yet a private commercial enterprise or a title belonging to a press group. The subheading of this publication is particularly revealing: “Revista de gimnasia y de sus aplicaciones a la higiene, la moral y los buenos costumbres”. The journal aimed to promote gymnastics as a socially and medically useful activity. It participated in the training of individuals, inculcating healthy living habits and educational and moral values. The members of the club intended to underline the role of their institution: it was not only a place for leisure and recreation but an organisation which served the general interest by contributing to the formation of vigorous, active, and virtuous citizens. At

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this time, associations, including sports associations, began to apply to the public authorities for subsidies or financial aid (Daskal n.d.); one of the major criteria for obtaining them was to prove the institution’s contribution to the common good and national progress. Finally, the fact that this sports magazine, published in Spanish, though short-lived, was a creation of the GEBA club is also a sign of the dissemination of physical and sports practices within Argentine society and beyond the British community. It also shows the willingness of the local elites to promote the benefits of physical exercise, including on a moral and educational level. This idea had previously been associated with the British educational model. While football experienced its “second foundation” with the installation of the “father of Argentine football”, the Scottish professor Alejandro Watson Hutton (López and López 2012, 16), director of the Buenos Aires High School, and one of the founders of the Argentine Association Football League, sports practices underwent a process of institutionalisation and creolisation between the end of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century (Archetti 1995a). The enthusiasm of Argentine youth for these new forms of leisure and exercise, and the multiplication of tournaments and competitions, led the editorial offices to give more and more space to sports information. Although it was still considered a secondary topic in the news, it had the advantage of regular and continuous production. Some newspapers began to include a sports section on a regular basis, and, from 1898 onwards, all the results of the national football tournament, which was first played in 1893, were published in the local press. More importantly, the local media played an active role in the acculturation process of English sports among Argentines. Julio Frydenberg analysed in detail the work carried out by the editors of porteños newspapers such as La Argentina to structure the local football scene (Frydenberg 2011). This daily fulfilled several roles simultaneously: it acted as an intermediary between players seeking to create teams and compete against each other; it provided a forum for discussion and debate, sometimes heated, about the practice, which was still undergoing codification at the time; and it sought to educate by explaining the rules and the notion of fair play to apprentice footballers. In doing so, journalists intended to position themselves as referees above the fray by pointing out the errors and misbehaviours of some teams and by reminding them of the ethical codes and principles of the “genuine” sportsman. From the end of the nineteenth

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century onwards, the press thus succeeded in inserting itself into the field of sport and becoming recognised as an important, even essential, player. This position grew steadily stronger over the following decades. But the recognition of sports as a legitimate topic took time. As Carlos Ulanovsky recalls, until the beginning of the twentieth century, the leading national newspapers such as La Nación or La Prensa considered the sports section as an “unusual” and “far from indispensable” section (Úlanovski 2005, 57). The turning point came in 1903 with one of the first international matches played by the Argentine Alumni team, the undisputed local champions, against a Uruguayan team. La Nación dispatched Ángel Bohígas, one of the country’s first sports columnists, to Montevideo to follow this outstanding encounter. Another unusual fact at that time was that the diary published the victory of the Argentine footballers with a five-column headline (Idem, 58). Sport also started to gain attention from the political establishment. In 1904, the President of the Argentine Republic, Julio Argentino Roca, publicly attended a football game. Once again, the presence of the head of state in the stands was due to the special nature of the match: this time, Alumni was facing an English team from Southampton (Scher 1996, 12). For the newsrooms, this progressive legitimisation of sport, both as an activity and as a show, had very concrete consequences: sports information interested more and more readers and could increase sales. As a result, some titles tried to stand out by offering their readership new content, such as La Razón, which was the first newspaper to create a full section on motor sports in 1913. From the 1880s to 1910s, the beginnings of the media-sports model can be seen in the different initiatives carried out by various diaries. However, it was during the following decades that this system expanded and structured itself: the Argentine sports press really took off in the context of the development of mass culture.

The Sporting Press: A Mass Culture Cornerstone The emergence of mass culture in Argentina in the 1920s–1930s was the result of various social, economic, political, cultural, and technological changes. Several technical inventions transformed the publishing industry: new types of presses speeded up printing rates and reduced costs; photographic reproduction processes improved and favoured the insertion of black and white and later colour images. Layouts diversified and offered bold and attractive designs. At the same time, thanks to the public policies

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of compulsory education adopted at the end of the nineteenth century, more than 90% of the population could read and write at this time (Sarlo 1988). A broad and diversified readership appeared. This context facilitated the emergence of a specialised press that targeted specific audiences, such as women and children. Magazines and journals devoted to the most diverse topics flourished: there were publications for science, cinema, DIY, gardening, decoration, fashion and, of course, sports enthusiasts (Sarlo 1992). El Gráfico, the “Bible” of the Sporting Press On 30 May 1919, a new magazine hit the newsstands in Argentina: El Gráfico. As its name suggests, this publication was a lavishly illustrated magazine that featured photography right from its cover, which consisted of a single photograph occupying the entire page. The creator of this new publication was a journalist, author of best-selling children’s books and newspaper owner from Uruguay: Constancio C. Vigil. Vigil, who was in his forties, had a long history of journalism and newspaper management, having founded his first newspapers as a teenager in Montevideo. Since 1903, he had lived in Buenos Aires, where he founded children’s publications and, in 1911, the weekly Mundo Argentino. This publication was very successful and, in a few years, reached print runs of 100,000 copies per week (Bontempo 2012). In 1917, at the height of its popularity, he sold it to the prestigious Haynes publishing house and in 1918 founded his own publishing group, Atlántida. Within a short time, C. Vigil launched new titles using the recipes that had made his previous publications so popular. El Gráfico in May 1919, the children’s magazine Billiken in November 1919 and the monthly women’s magazine Para Ti in May 1922 are the three best known periodicals of the group. All of these were pioneers at the time of their publication and served as a model for these three sectors of the specialised press, while managing to adapt to the publishing market for decades (Eujanian 1999). Initially, El Gráfico was not identified as a sports magazine but as a “weekly illustrated magazine of general interest”, but strongly oriented to appeal to a male audience. It contained information on cultural and sports news, social events, numerous photographs, especially of actresses, singers, and stars, both Argentine and international, and cartoons. If sports were not yet the main subject, it nevertheless served to attract readers, as from

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its third issue, the front page displayed a photograph of the local lawn tennis championship.3 It was not until issue 300, in 1922, that El Gráfico truly became a sport weekly. Football was the main topic of the magazine, but it remained a generalist publication, covering all sports and physical activities. El Gráfico also maintained its editorial line, which was clearly oriented towards a male audience, continuing to publish, at least until the 1950s, photographs of artists, singers, dancers, and actresses, always young and in suggestive clothing (Anderson 2015, 706). During the 1920s and 1930s, as well as in the 1940s and 1950s, El Gráfico accompanied the development of sports and entertainment in Argentina, reporting on its great diversity. Before 1962, López counted 44 different disciplines that were featured on the cover (López and López 2012, 20). The most covered sports included football, but also cycling, rowing and aviation. Flipping through the issues from this period reveals the country’s sporting effervescence, far from the one-sided domination of football that one might imagine  (Anderson, 2009). El Gráfico helps to understand why, at this time, Argentina was considered one of the most advanced countries in Latin America in terms of modern sports practices. The magazine’s rapid popularity proves the existence, from the mid-­1920s onwards, of a large, albeit mainly male, audience eager for sports information. The quality of the magazine also certainly explains its swift sale increase: El Gráfico was a ‘luxury’ magazine, with neat printing, numerous illustrations, and photographs, including in colour, a variety of sections and a wide range of content, far beyond mere match reports and results. From the 1930s onwards, the weekly’s circulation stabilised at around 100,000 copies per week, distributed throughout the country and abroad. The C. Vigil’s publication became the leading sports magazine in Latin America (Archetti 1995b). Diversification and Specialisation of the Sporting Press El Gráfico is the best known and most studied sports publication in Argentina. Its large-scale distribution and its long-term existence turned it into the symbol of the local sports press. But it has partly overshadowed 3  All the front pages of El Gráfico are available on the website’s magazine: https://www. elgrafico.com.ar/tapas/busqueda?ediciontipo=0&pubdesde=1920-01-01&pubhasta=201812-31&termino=&edicionnro.

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other sports periodicals in circulation during the 1920s and 1930s. The vagaries of press conservation policies also explain why historian overlooked other publications. However, the 1920s and 1930s were marked by the proliferation of increasingly specialised publications targeting more specific audiences. This trend indicates the transformation of the publishing market and its growing complexity. This section will present a brief typology describing the different categories of the sports press sector. The first indicator of the growing importance of sport and sports entertainment in Argentine mass culture is the consolidation of sports columns in the major national newspapers. After La Argentina in the early 1900s, the newspaper Crítica was one of the first to develop a permanent sports section. Founded in 1913 by another Uruguayan-born journalist and newspaper owner, Natalio Botana, this broadsheet broke away from the traditional formats and content of La Nación and La Prensa. It introduced a new, more sensationalist and polemical tone and sought to win over a massive and popular audience. By the mid-1920s, Crítica printed everyday almost 900,000 copies and became one of the most widely read newspapers in the country (Saítta 2013). Following this model, almost all the major dailies, such as La Nación, Última Hora, La Razón, La Época and La Prensa, and the popular magazines, including Caras y Caretas, Fray Mocho, Plus Ultra and El Hogar, devoted more and more space to news and sports columns (Scharagrodsky 2021, 85–6). Then, from the beginning of the 1930s, other general sports press titles appeared, such as La Gaceta Deportiva and Campeón (López and López 2012, 23). The former was published in Buenos Aires and appeared from 7 March 1931. The latter was published from the mid-1930s. This weekly differs from El Gráfico by its much larger format, identical to that of the dailies (known as sábana or sheet format in Spanish). Focusing on sports news, Campeón offers columns and reports, but also news, show announcements, caricatures, and humoristic vignettes (Sibaja 2020). Single-sport publications formed another category. La Cancha, for example, was a weekly newspaper entirely devoted to football, published from 1928 onwards (Daskal 2013). Two groups of sports activities gradually got specific publications. On the one hand, disciplines mainly practised by the local elite, such as lawn tennis, with the bi-hebdomadary Lawn Tennis. Revista quincenal de información y crítica (1927) or rowing, with Remo (1936). Among its many publications, the Atlántida group also published another sports magazine from 1931, entitled El Golfer argentino. The second group encompassed sports that were gaining in

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popularity and becoming spectacles attended by a large audience: turf, boxing, bicycle, and car racing. One factor contributing to the success of these sports—and the specialised press—was the practice of gambling. This created a regular audience, adding emotional and economic stakes, and gradually turned enthusiasts into informed experts, who gathered information and predicted their bets thanks to the knowledge they acquired from the sports press. Published from May 1931 onwards, Alumni, named after the great football team, founded by the alumni of the Buenos Aires High School, offered its readers an original and unique formula. At that time, portable radios did not exist, and it was impossible for fans to follow several matches at the same time. The weekly developed a system to inform the spectators sitting in the stands of the results of matches taking place in other stadiums. Each team in the championship was identified by a letter displayed on a huge board in every fields. This code was reproduced on a grid in the pages of the magazine. The journalists informed the Alumni central office of the actions of the ongoing games, which in turn relayed them to the various stadiums. On the spot, a correspondent posted this information on the board: in a few moments, the hinchas could find out about the other matches, each important action having a specific code (goal, penalty, ejection, etc.). Thanks to this system, the magazine was very popular until the end of the 1950s and was only superseded after the development of transistors and its rapid adoption by the fans (Úlanovski 2005, 59). Success Keys: Business Models and the Role of the Sports Press The rise of the sports press and its consolidation in the 1920s and 1930s relied on several strategies. These strategies were primarily driven by economic imperatives. All these sports publications were private companies, belonging to media groups or publishing houses, and competing to each other. To survive, they had to sell. To sell, they should capture the attention of the readership, retain audiences, and strive for constant expansion. The economic model was based on affordable prices for a large audience. Magazines like El Gráfico were often more expensive than newspapers, but the printing quality and the number of photographs and illustrations were higher: it was not a disposable product like a daily newspaper. To maintain cheap prices, all periodicals generated revenue from advertising, offering space on their pages to local commercial enterprises for their products (Rocchi 1999).

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Publications tried to capture readers’ attention through aesthetic innovations, via appealing layouts, stylish photo montages and eye-catching front pages. Speed and reliability were also crucial assets: the editorial offices had an army of journalists, reporters, photographers, secretaries, and editors, collecting and relaying information before the printing deadlines. Modern communication networks, such as telegram and telephone, were essential for newsrooms to work. To build readership loyalty, sports publications sought to engage directly with their audience. For example, they invited their readers to participate in polls, survey and competitions set up by the editorial staff: they could vote for their favourite team or athletes, win prizes by answering quiz, sending pictures or poems. The folletín deportivo or “sporting feuilleton” was another key element in the success of publications such as El Gráfico or Crítica. This form of storytelling was very popular during the tours of Argentine teams, especially that of Boca Juniors in Europe in 1925. The reporters who accompanied the players sent a new episode every day to the Argentine readers who could discover day by day the journey and the sports results (Karush 2003; Frydenberg 2006). During the 1920s and 1930s, the editors increasingly recruited sports columnists for their style. Some of them were or became well-known writers, such as Roberto Arlt, hired by Crítica. The La Nación’s correspondent, Ángel Bohígas, was one of the first to develop a specific vocabulary to describe the events of a match. His expressions were later used by most of his peers (López and López 2012, 18). Many journalists became famous for their stylistic inventions, the quality of their analyses and the nicknames they gave to the teams and the best athletes of their time. In the pages of El Gráfico, the articles and editorials by Borocotó, (Ricardo Lorenzo), Chantecler (Alfredo Rossi), or Last Reason (Máximo Sáenz) became classics. All of them have contributed to the invention of this sports language, shared by journalists, readers, and sports fans. It spread nationally through the press and, from the 1930s, through radio. Sports commentators took up and enriched the repertoire of sports expressions: sports journalists thus developed an art of sports narrative and commentary. The sporting press was not only a channel for sports information; it also contributed to structuring and legitimising the sports audience and the sports activities. Media was a stakeholder in local sports life, through sponsorship, by associating itself with sporting events, or even by creating them. In 1934, El Gráfico launched a yearly competition that has been very popular for several decades: the Maratón de los Barrios. The best

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Argentine runners participated in this race through the neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires. The winner was featured on the front page of the magazine and was not allowed to participate in the next editions (Lupo 2004, 103). Appearing on the cover was a consecration for the athletes. El Gráfico served as a vehicle for the recognition and popularisation of sportspeople. During the 1920s and 1930s, the sports weekly, and the entire Argentinean sports press, aimed to legitimise sport, by publicising events and athletes and by constructing positive representations of sports practices. This aspect has been extensively studied by many specialists (Alabarces 2008; Archetti 1995b, 1996; Frydenberg 2006; Richey 2007). Titles such as El Gráfico set up sport as an instrument and symbol of modernity and progress, due to its health benefits and its educational and moral virtues (Bergel and Palomino 2000). The narratives produced by journalists during team tours or participation in the Olympic Games also facilitated the identification of the public with the athletes, turned into representatives of the nation on the Old Continent. The sports press thus contributed to the process of national construction by forging a sense of communion between readers and sportsmen. After the achievements of the 1928 Olympic Games and the first 1930 World Cup, football in particular became a national emblem, a source of pride, and a constitutive element of Argentine identity (Karush 2003; Frydenberg 2006). These discourses spread out while the public authorities took an increasing interest in sport. Between 1922 and 1928, the President of the Argentine Republic was the radical Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear, a famous old-fashioned sportsman and the first Argentine member of the International Olympic Committee. As the sports press was actively engaged in the promotion of sports practices in the country, the national and local governments initiated the first steps towards a sports policy (Scher 1996).

1940s–1950s: The Consolidation of The Sports Press Under The Peronist Era All the trends identified during the 1920s and 1930s were reinforced in the following decades. The Peronist period (1946–1955) corresponds to the consolidation of mass culture in Argentina. Sales of the major sports publications kept growing: El Gráfico reached 200,000 copies sold per

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week. The public flocked to sport venues: Buenos Aires football stadiums recorded their all-time highest figures for attendance in the 1950s (Palomino and Scher 1988). The Peronist government further democratised access to leisure and the consumer society by implementing social policies and wage increases for workers (Milanesio 2014). Juan D. Perón was a sport enthusiast. Under his leadership, the government supported the hosting of international competitions, such as the world championships in shooting, chess, basketball and, above all, the 1951 First Pan-­ American Games (Rein 2016). Between 1940 and 1950, the sports press underwent further diversification. The rise of radio did not reduce the popularity of periodicals and new titles appeared. Among these, numerous publications were linked to sports clubs such as Banda Roja (1943), the weekly of the club River Plate, Racing. Una Auténtica Voz Racinguista (1946), Mundo Boquense (1947) for Boca Juniors and El Ciclón for San Lorenzo. These newspapers informed on all the results of the teams’ clubs but also on the body’s everyday life, including internal political conflicts. Other monthly specialised magazines also popped up, such as El Pato: revista mensual para difundir el único deporte argentino (1947) or Ases y Motores. Revista mensual ilustrada del deporte mecánico (1953). Most of these periodicals did not last long or had a limited circulation. But direct competitors to El Gráfico also arose during these years. Goles was the most important one: founded in 1948 by the Julio Korn publishing house, it followed the formula of its competitor but in a cheaper version. Printed in sepia, this new sports weekly was less fancy than El Gráfico, and therefore less expensive, and very quickly it reached large print runs (López and López 2012, 22). But the main change of this period was the creation of a media group directly subordinated to the Peronist government (Sirvén 2011). The Peronist regime bought the prestigious and former Haynes publishing house, as well as several radio stations. A series of publications appeared on the editorial market and served as official channels for the ruling government. The weekly sports magazine Mundo Deportivo, published from 1949, was one of the new official publications, along with the children’s weekly Mundo Infantil (Bordagaray and Gorza 2010) and the bi-monthly Mundo Peronista, among many others. His director was Carlos Aloé, a Peronist military official and a close friend to the Peróns (Rodríguez and Añon 2010; Panella 2015). This 80-page magazine, richly illustrated and carefully edited, shows the importance the Peronist leaders attached to sport.

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The content of Mundo Deportivo emulated the model of its commercial competitors: it mixed national and international sports news, caricatures and humorous vignettes, reports on competitions and portraits of athletes. But it stood out for the omnipresent references to Peronists’ actions. As in all the other official publications of the government, Perón and Evita appeared regularly in its pages. Advertising was dominated by official announcements and state propaganda. Thus, the magazine did not hide its connection with the regime. Apart from promoting Peronist sports policy, the messages disseminated by Mundo Deportivo did not depart from the previous sports narratives and representations. Sport was still defined as a highly beneficial activity for health and moral education. Sport instilled noble values, essential for forming physically and morally well-rounded citizens. Each government intervention in the field of sport was backed up by publications and propaganda tools: the Secondary Students’ Union (UES), a cultural and sports organisation for secondary school pupils, founded in 1953 by the Ministry of Education, had its own magazine: the Revista de la U.E.S. (Cammarota 2010). At the end of the Peronist period, the Argentine Confederation of Sport—Argentine Olympic Committee (CADCOA) launched its official magazine, Olímpia, which also promoted the government’s action in favour of the Olympic movement (Rodríguez and Añon 2014). Indeed, all aspects of Peronist sports policy were covered by specific publications. But it is difficult to assess the impact of the Peronist press, as the official figures were often inflated. The main upheaval of this period was the irruption of official Peronist publications in the sports press market. The media stakeholders were no longer just commercial entities; the State now intervened directly and used the press as a platform to promote its policies. Sport helped to reach a large, diverse, mixed, and intergenerational audience. It was a privileged vehicle for disseminating Peronist social views and political concepts and for reflecting the achievements of the Nueva Argentina. But it is very difficult to know how these messages were received and assimilated by the target audiences. Most of these publications disappeared following the overthrow of Peronism in September 1955, after a few years of existence. Only Mundo Deportivo survived until September 1959, erasing all references—now officially banned by the new military junta in power—to Peronism. The fact that it was a sports magazine may explain this deferment.

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Conclusions The history of the sports press keeps pace with the diffusion and progressive recognition of sport in Argentina, while actively participating in both processes. Since the late nineteenth century, newspapers have played a key role in the acculturation of these new practices introduced by the British and in the shaping of the local sports scene. However, the 1920s and 1930s marked a turning point, with the birth of the leading sports magazine, El Gráfico, the diversification of publications and the consolidation of a sustainable—albeit competitive—economic model. The sports press entered the era of massification and became a core element of national popular culture. This popular dimension might explain why, in the following decades, the Peronist government focused on sport and penetrated the sports press field. The Peronist publications aimed to compete with their commercial peers but did not eliminate them and eventually disappeared after the overthrow of the regime. The first half of the twentieth century corresponds to the expansion phase of the sports press. In the 1960s and the 1970s, the publications constantly updated their content to secure public interest. The sporting newspapers managed to adapt to the popularization of the radio and television broadcast, until the last decades of the twentieth century. Only the advent of the Internet in the early 2000s succeeded in dethroning the printed sports press and forced it to reinvent its existing economic and cultural models, as shown by the iconic case of El Gráfico.

References Alabarces, Pablo. (2008). Fútbol y patria. Buenos Aires: Prometeo Libros. Anderson, Patricia. (2009). “Mens Sana in Corpore Sano: Debating Female Sport in Argentina 1900–1946”. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 26:5, 640–653. ———. (2015). “Sporting Women and Machonas: Negotiating Gender Through Sports in Argentina, 1900–1946”. Women’s History Review, 24:5, 700–720. Arbena, Joseph L. (Ed.) (1988). Sport and Society in Latin America. Diffusion, Dependency, and the Rise of Mass Culture. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Archetti, Eduardo. (1995a). “Nationalisme, football et polo: tradition et créolisation dans la construction de l’Argentine moderne”. Terrain, 25, 73–90. ———. (1995b). “Estilo y virtudes masculinas en El Gráfico: la creación del imaginario del fútbol argentino”. Desarrollo económico, 35–139, 419–442. ———. (1996). “In Search of National Identity: Argentinean Football and Europe”. In James A. Mangan (ed.). Tribal Identities: Nationalism, Europe and Sport. London: Frank Cass, 201–219.

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———. (2001). El potrero, la pista y el ring. Las patrias del deporte argentino. Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura Ecónomica. Bergel, Martín and Pablo Palomino. (2000). “La revista El Gráfico en sus inicios: una pedagogía para la ciudad moderna”. Prismas, 4, 103–122. Bontempo, María Paula. (2012). Editorial Atlántida. Un continente de publicaciones, 1918–1936. Phd Thesis. Buenos Aires: San Andrés University. Bordagaray, María E. and Anabella Gorza. (2010). “Socialización política y de género de la infancia durante el primer peronismo a través de la revista Mundo Infantil”. In C.  Panella and G.  Korn (Eds). Ideas y debates para la Nueva Argentina. Revistas culturales y políticas del peronismo (1946–1955), Vol. I. La Plata: UNLP, 255–279. Cammarota, Adrián. (2010). “Una juventud responsable, disciplinada y peronista. La Revista de la Unión de Estudiantes Secundarios (1954–1955)”. In C. Panella and G. Korn (Eds). Ideas y debates para la Nueva Argentina. Revistas culturales y políticas del peronismo (1946–1955), Vol. II. La Plata: UNLP, 387–405. Cane, James. (2011). The Fourth Enemy. Journalism and Power in the Making of Peronist Argentina, 1930–1955. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press. Clastres, Patrick and Cécile Méadel (dir.). (2007). Special Issue “La Fabrique des sports”, Le Temps des Médias, 2/9. Daskal, Rodrigo. (2013). Los clubes en la ciudad de Buenos Aires (1932–1945). Revista La Cancha: sociabilidad, política y Estado. Buenos Aires: Editorial Teseo. ———. (n.d.). “La ciudad de Buenos Aires, los clubes y el deporte (1895–1920): un análisis de las políticas públicas y sus debates y tensiones en el seno del Honorable Consejo Deliberante de la ciudad”, historiapolitica. Available online: http://historiapolitica.com/datos/biblioteca/daskal.pdf Díaz, César. (2019). Periodismo gráfico del siglo XX. La Plata: UNLP. Eujanian, Alejandro C. (1999). Historia de revistas argentinas 1900–1950. La conquista del público. Buenos Aires: Asociación Argentina de Editores de Revistas. Frydenberg, Julio. (2006). “Le nationalisme sportif argentin: la tournée de Boca Juniors en Europe et le journal Crítica”. Histoire & Sociétés, 18–19, 76–87. ———. (2011). Historia social del fútbol. Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI. Gutiérrez, Leandro and Luis Alberto Romero. (2007). Sectores populares, cultura y política. Buenos Aires en la entreguerra. Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI. Karush, Matthew. (2003). “National Identity in the Sport Pages: Football and the Mass Media in 1920s Buenos Aires”. The Americas, 60/1, 11–32. López, Andrés and Mariano Hernán López (2012). “Primeros apuntes de la historia del periodismo deportivo en Argentina”. In Andrés López (Ed.), Periodismo Deportivo I: Cuaderno de Cátedra, La Plata: UNLP, 13–64. Lupo, Víctor. (2004). Historia política del deporte argentino (1610–2002). Buenos Aires: Corregidor.

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Milanesio, Natalia. (2014). Cuando los trabajadores salieron de compras. Nuevos consumidores, publicidad y cambio cultural durante el primer peronismo. Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI. Panella, Claudio. (2015). “Mundo Deportivo: la mirada peronista del deporte argentino”. In Raanan Rein (Ed.). La Cancha peronista. Fútbol y política (1946–1955). Buenos Aires: UNSAM Edita, 47–64. Palomino, Héctor and Ariel Scher. (1988). Fútbol: pasión de multitudes y de elites. Un estudio institucional de la Asociación de Fútbol Argentino (1934–1986). Buenos Aires: CISEA. Rein, Raanan. (2016). “Turning the Country into an ‘Immense and Clamorous Stadium’: Perón, the New Argentina and the 1951 Pan-American Games”, The International Journal of the History of Sports, 33, 1–2, 29–43. Richey, Jeffrey William. (2007). White Mestizaje. Soccer and the Construction of Argentine Racial Identity 1924–1930. Chapel Hill: North Carolina University Press. Rocchi, Fernando. (1999). “Inventando la soberanía del consumidor: publicidad, privacidad y revolución del mercado en Argentina, 1860–1940”. In F. Devoto and M. Madero (eds.). Historia de la vida privada en la Argentina. Tomo 2. Buenos Aires: Taurus, 301–332. Rodríguez, Maria Graciela and Valeria Añon. (2010). “Mundo Deportivo. El deporte en la gráfica estatal”. In C. Panella and G. Korn (Eds). Ideas y debates para la Nueva Argentina. Revistas culturales y políticas del peronismo (1946–1955), Vol. I. La Plata: UNLP, 229–253. ———. (2014). “Gráfica estatal y deporte: nuevas inflexiones. El caso de Olímpia”. In Idem, Vol. II, 289–305. Saítta, Silvia. (2013). Regueros de tinta. El diario Crítica en la década de 1920. Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI. Sarlo, Beatriz. (1988). Una modernidad periférica: Buenos Aires 1920 y 1930. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Nueva Visión. ———. (1992). La imaginación técnica: sueños modernos de la cultura argentina. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Nueva Visión. Scharagrodsky, Pablo (2021). “Cuerpos, masculinidades y deportes. Las tapas de la revista El Gráfico, Argentina 1920–1930”, Apuntes, 90, 81–118. Scher, Ariel. (1996). La Patria deportista. Buenos Aires: Editorial Planeta. Scher, Ariel, Guillermo Blanco, & Jorge Búsico. (2010). Deporte nacional. Dos siglos de historia. Buenos Aires: Emecé. Sibaja, Rwany. (2020). “Anxiety in the Sports Pages: The ‘Crises’ Narratives of 1950s Argentine Fütbol”. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 37:5–6, 357–377. Sirvén, Pablo. (2011). Perón y los medios de comunicación. La conflictiva relación de los gobiernos justicialistas con la prensa 1943–2011. Buenos Aires: Sudamericana. Úlanovski, Carlos. (2005). Paren las rotativas. Buenos Aires: Emecé.

The Spread of Football in Latin America, the First FIFA World Cup in Uruguay (1930) and the Role Mass Media Played Florencia Faccio Gonzalez

The expansion of football in Latin America is closely related to globalization in the first decades of the twentieth century. This global movement created a gradual interdependence as well as an interconnection between countries, which persists to this day. In South America from approximately 1870 to 1920, waves of European immigrants arrived in the countries of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. The people that arrived were predominantly from Spain, Italy and France. This wave of immigration caused cities to expand and modernize, and thanks to the implementation of new transport technologies, cities were now connected. The 1889 Montevideo census shows that the English made up only 0.64 per cent of the population; the Italians made up 21.85 per cent; the Spanish, 15.18 per cent; the French, 3.89 per cent; the Swiss, 0.46 per

F. F. Gonzalez (*) Department of Social Anthropology, National Museum of Anthropology, Montevideo, Uruguay e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 B. Buarque de Hollanda, L. G. Burlamaqui (eds.), Latin American Sport Media, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15594-9_3

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cent; and the Germans, 0.37 per cent. The total population of Montevideo was 215,061.

Uruguay at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century The first census of the twentieth century (1908) showed that out of the total population of 1,042,686, 30 per cent resided in the capital of Uruguay. It also showed that 47.8 per cent of industrial owners were foreigners and 17 per cent of the population was born outside the country. In Montevideo, foreigners accounted for 30 per cent of the population. In the wave of immigration at the end of the nineteenth century, the majority of immigrants were Italian, while at the beginning of the twentieth century the majority were Spanish. During the first decades of the twentieth century, 60 per cent of immigrants came from other countries such as Poland, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Germany, Syria and Armenia. There was also a significant quantity of Jewish immigrants that came over in the 1920s from Central Europe, Transylvania and Carpathia. The customs, habits and consumption patterns of the immigrants were combined to form a new society that assimilated them as their own. The popular sectors also absorbed the imported customs of the immigrants. Thus the image of a cosmopolitan Montevideo was forged, which emphasized the extintion of the indigenous people and downplayed the influence of the African population, making them invisible.

The New Century and Its New Politics The twentieth century began with the election of José Batlle y Ordóñez, who on March 1, 1903 became the 19th president initiating a political philosophy and social program known as “batllismo.” The three decades following his election were characterized by politics as a foundational and constituent instrument of the social order and the common good; by an interventionist State that blurred the borders between the public and the private sectors; by a nationalization strategy that consisted of taking control of the industrial, commercial and financial sectors; by protectionist practices that promoted imports of capital goods; by a moral reform that stressed basic education for the people, a cosmopolitan national identity based on the uniformization of the population, a staunch secularism, and the autonomy of women.

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Football and the Press in the First Decade of the Twentieth Century The British arrived in Uruguay in the second half of the nineteenth century. They came over as company managers, engineers, and wholesale businessmen. They installed refrigerators, and set up banks and insurance companies. In 1876 the importation of railway equipment began, with the aim to improve the connection between Montevideo and the Uruguayan countryside. Up until that point the trip was made by horses and carts, which took an average of one week to reach their destination. This British immigration brought with it the need for people of the same social order to meet. Clubs and schools were founded to meet this need and to facilitate the sharing of their own culture with new generations born in the country. Many of these associations made it a condition that their members speak the English language. The practice of British sports therefore became synonymous with modernization, the building of the nation state, and the economic and cultural exchange that occured in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The simplicity of sport and the ease with which its rules could be understood caused its popularity to expand rapidly. For example, using any rolling object made it possible to play football in one’s free time during a working day, or at recess in school. Any sidewalk or field was used for a “picadito” or informal game. As in the United Kingdom, the sports competitions aroused rivalry between local communities (neighborhoods, social clubs and sports clubs), which led to betting and gambling. Concurrently, newspapers began to report on the new sport. This expansion and appropriation of football by the inhabitants of Montevideo gave rise to forms of organization and their corresponding institutions. Neighborhood clubs were established as well as neighborhood leagues—some clubs were even on the same block. In 1842, the Victoria Cricket Club was established by the local British population and was fully dedicated to the practice of sports. In 1861, the Montevideo Cricket Club was founded, and its members would be the first to play football. Here it is important to highlight the creation of the Montevideo Rowing Club in 1874 by former members of the Montevideo Cricket Club. This club was the first to take on a Uruguyan national identity that challenged the British based Cricket Club. Schools were also built. The English High School was built in 1874, and the following year

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The British School was founded, which had a fundamental influence on the practice of football and its subsequent dissemination. According to newspaper articles, in 1878 the first football match was played in the field of the Montevideo Cricket Club, installed in the vicinity of what today is the Military Hospital. In that match, one of the teams was composed of sailors from the English navy and the other team of Uruguayan residents, in other words it was composed primarily of first and second generation British immigrants. In Uruguay the rules of football were not yet fully defined. It was only in 1898 that the Albion Football Club translated the rules of the sport into Spanish. After the establishment of football in Uruguay and Argentina, both countries worked together to create a fusion of their versions of the sport, starting with the Lipton Cup, in which clubs from Montevideo and Buenos Aires took part. The first regional match was held in 1889 between the Buenos Aires Team and the Montevideo Team. The Uruguayan team was composed of mostly British players, who were part of the Montevideo Cricket Club and the Montevideo Rowing Club. The first football teams founded in Montevideo were the Albion FC in 1891, the Central Uruguay Cricket Club in 1892, the Uruguay Athletic Club, and the Deutscher Fussball Club. In 1900, these clubs founded the Uruguayan Football League, which fifteen years later became an association. By 1925, more than 10 teams had joined. Thus by the first decade of the 1900s, football had established itself as the most preferred sport, from minimal reportage to a permanent fixture in the sports pages of magazines and newspapers. This new media coverage influenced the opinions of its fans with regard to the sport and its players. In its issue number 6, the weekly illustrated magazine Sportsman (1908) promised to focus mostly on football as the sport grew roots in Uruguayan culture, becoming the country’s foremost national sport. People began believing that their football had surpassed the European version of the sport. During the Sportsman’s Cup of 1908 between Bristol and Dublin, the magazine says that the moral future of the Uruguayan people would contribute to the formation of its national character, and so Latinos will not need to envy Saxon muscle. Thus the comparisons began with Argentinian football: 1. As different schools of football—Mundo Sportivo (1912) issue number 5 explains that goals by the Uruguayan team are the result

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of coordinated passes culminating in a shot on goal that makes the opposite team’s defence line fall, while the Argentinian team uses agressive kicks to make their plays. 2. As inferior to Uruguayan football—Mundo Sportivo (1912) in its number 7 edition describes the Uruguayans once again beating the Argentines with their enthusiasm and character and that they obtained one of the most brilliant successes in football. Their superiority over the Argentinians was established. 3. And, in some occasions, as indistinguishible from Uruguayan football as the “rioplatense” school of football and thought to be the best in the Americas— El Deporte (1923) states that, throughout South America, the La Plata river region is without a doubt the mother incubator of champions. South Americans began to dominate the sport and make it their own in what could be defined as a legitimate usurpation of what once had been a European/Anglo-Saxon domain. By the 1920s, football had become a native sport and a means to excel internationally. Its English origins were forgotten. This was a decade that established the prestige of Uruguayan football, both in South America and in Europe. The Pre-Olympic tour made by the Uruguayan national team to Spain in 1924 and its triumph at the Olympic Games in Colombes showed the world their way of playing, which combined “refined technique, boldness and temperament.” In this decade football became a sporting spectacle, as it began to be broadcast by radio, stadiums began to be constructed, and clubs began to have more and more members. The 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam confirmed the superiority of the La Plata river school of football over Europe and marked the beginning of a greater following by the international sports press. The winning of the gold medal by the Uruguayan team further established Uruguayan football internationally and was a means for players to become known. The new triumph generated elation in Uruguay. The people waited eagerly for stories to be divulged by megaphone. On June 13, 1928, the Montevideans crowded in front of the newspapers El Plata and El Imparcial in Plaza Independencia, to follow the final match between Uruguay and Argentina via telegrams transmitted over loudspeakers. Although radio broadcasting of football in Uruguay did not begin until 1922, football created a following with numerous ways to tune into a game from the broadcasting of events by megaphone, to the reading of

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cables. This is how football was born as a mass phenomenon closely linked to the new mass media: firstly in newspapers and magazines, then in cinema and radio, and finally in television (Rinke 2014).1 In the Olympic Games of 1928 that took place in Amsterdam, Uruguay won the gold medal and Argentina won the silver. These two victories not only established what has been called the “rioplatense” way to play but they were also crucial in building the public imagination around Uruguayan football. These victories legitimized football as a native sport, i.e., a foreign sport had been assimilated, second-generation immigrants began practicing it, and ultimately transformed into a new version. In short, the outcome of these events confirmed the ascendancy of the La Plata river region football over European football, and the international press began to monitor it more closely. From these two events, South American football went global. Taking advantage of the momentum generated by the performance of Uruguay and Argentina, FIFA decided to organize a global competition. Uruguay was appointed as the figurehead of the championship, auguring a triumph.

The Globalization of Football During the 1930 Crisis, the First World Championship in Uruguay and the Role of the Mass Media South America boomed while old Europe lost its place in the world. Football became a modern sport and with the assistance of the new media, was placed in a prominent place in sports shows. The sports press made the sport flourish by writing sophisticated epic stories. In Argentina El Gráfico was one of the most important South American magazines, featuring the Uruguayan writer Ricardo Lorenzo Rodríguez (known under the pseudonym Borocotó), who founded a new way of relating football events using an emotional folkloric voice. The journalists, who accompanied the teams’ tours, were key to establishing the football media’s success in each international meeting. A year before the Olympic Games in Amsterdam, the Uruguayan magazine El Deporte foretold the success of the La Plata river region style of football, saying that it was already a winner and that it 1  Rinke, Stefan (2014) “Fussball und Globalisierung im Zeichen der Krise: Die erste Weltmeisterschaft in Uruguay 1930.” In Rinke, S. and Peters, C. (eds). Global Play: Football Between Region, Nation and the World in Latin American, African and European History. Stuttgart: Verlag Hans-DieterHeinz, Akademischer Verlag Stuttgart.

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was only waiting to be crowned, and there was nothing or little left to learn from European footballers: “We can practice international football and it is only international football that will win us the place we deserve among the masters”. On the other hand, in the old world, the journalist Manuel de Castro of the newspaper Faro de Vigo wrote a line that still resonates in Uruguay: “Yesterday an Olympic burst passed through the fields of the Coya stadium” (Diario El Faro de Vigo, 11 April 1924, p. 9). For FIFA, the first world championship meant the establishment of football as a global sport. In the 1920s, the Federation had no economic sectors, no employees and no premises of its own. They had to rely on national associations in order to function. With the aim of generating commercial and media profits, the Federation selected Uruguay as host of its first championship to bring the countries of the Americas closer together and to further extend its power internationally. The Uruguayan government also had its own objective: to increase the power of the government of the Colorado Party and establish the country as a forerunner in Latin America. The Federation was weak and had no economic resources or authority to organize the event alone, so the Uruguayan government made an excellent ally in organizing the championship: it pledged to take the financial risk, to take over the transport and maintenance of the delegations attending the event, as well as the construction of a special stadium for the event. For Uruguay, the football World Cup would be one more event in the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Constitution. Stefan Rinke points out that there was no better way to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Uruguayan independence, than through a global football championship, because it was the most effective way to present globally the South American country and the celebrations of its independece. In addition, Latin Americans had been merging national holidays with sporting events for more than twenty years—sport had already become a national identity.2 2  A young, prosperous and modern country. In the end, a successful country in everything. Also, the celebrations were directed at European tourists to visit modern Montevideo and Uruguayan beaches: “Apart from natural sights, one of the things that catches the eye of the modern tourist is the cultural and touristic infrastructure. Montevideo has so many sights that it has been deservedly called the Athens of the La Plata river […], City of Flowers, because of its similarity to the Andalusian cities with which it shares many commonalities: streets covered in blossoms and on each fence carnations bloom like flames.” National Association of Attraction to the Stranger, El Uruguay. País de Turismo, January 1918. Subsidized by Montevideo Municipality.

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The world championship of 1930 took place during a time of global economic crises and withdrawal of foreign invesment. Global domestic product fell by 20 per cent in volume, the gold standard was abandoned and most of the developed countries abandoned free trade, preferring autarchic systems.3 All this caused a fragmented world, In which FIFA was not a main actor in organizing the event. First, because its member countries were in crises; second, because it was an institution withouth financial resources. Enrique Buero, Uruguay’s Minister Plenipotentiary to Bern, once again played a decisive role as an agent in the globalization of Uruguayan football4 (just as he did in the 1924 and 1928 Olympic Games). At the FIFA congress in Barcelona 1929, Buero carried out an intense lobby and diplomatically negotiated a series of benefits for the associations that supported the Uruguayan bid. He understood that the bids would be decided in the hallways of the FIFA congress, not in the meeting rooms. In a report sent to the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF), Buero explained that during one of the recesses the block of South American delegates (Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Paraguay and Peru) agreed to “torpedo” the financial project presented by the commission of the world championship and —thanks to his links with the delegates of Hungary, Poland and Italy— he gained the support of central European countries. Also, at his request, the Spanish delegate voted against the financial project. “From that moment I considered our battle won”,5 he 3  Rinke, Stefan (2014). “Globalizing football in times of crisis. The First World Cup in Uruguay 1930” in Rinke Stefan and Kay Schiller (eds). The FIFA World Cup 1930–2010. Politics, Commerce, Spectacle and Identities, Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag. Page 157. For example, the first American Cup (at that time called “South American Championship of National Teams”) was organized in Buenos Aires in 1916, to commemorate the 100th year of Argentinian independence. 4  Rinke, Stefan (2014) brilliantly summarizes Buero’s biography: “Born in 1891, into a wealthy and influential Montevidean family, Buero opted for a diplomatic career and served as under-secretary of state from 1917 to 1919. In 1923, he was promoted to minister in Switzerland and delegate to the League of Nations. He was a passionate supporter of the sport. Buero recognized the value of the sport as a factor of diplomatic prestige on a global scale and became a driving force behind Uruguayan football’s entrance into international competition.” Rinke, Stefan (2014) “Globalizing football in times of crisis. The First World Cup in Uruguay 1930,” in Rinke, Stefan and Kay Schiller (eds). The FIFA World Cup 1930–2010. Politics, Commerce, Spectacle and Identities. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag. Page 153. 5   Buero, Enrique (1932). La organización de la Coupe du Monde. Negociaciones Internacionales, Bruselas: Imp. Puvrez. Tradition book of the Football Museum (AUF, Montevideo). Page 67.

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said. In Uruguay, the national press happily published the victory, stating that the decision of the FIFA congress was again evidence of Uruguay’s international prestige, which had begun with the gold medal at Colombes 1924 and had since generated a curiosity and an understanding for Uruguay as a nation of refined democracy and high social organization. In this way, celebrating the first world football cup in Montevideo meant opening the doors to the world and showing Europe that Uruguay had nothing to envy with regards to the old world. For this reason, they called Uruguay “the Switzerland of America.”

The Difficult Task of Organizing the World Cup After the triumph of Buero in securing Uruguay’s bid as the venue for the first world cup, the next stage in the process was to work out the logistics. This would be an arduous phase of international coordination. The Uruguayan government stipulated that the championship begin on July 13, 1930 and that it coincide with the anniversary of the constitution on July 18, which for the Colorado Party symbolized independence from all foreign powers. The AUF decided to cover the cost of travel and lodging for 17 members of each delegation, including meals on the train and daily compensation of half a dollar for each of the members. The Uruguayan House of Representatives voted on a bill that established a state contribution to the championship. Further, the Senate, with broad support, authorized executive powers to give the AUF $300,000 gold in subsidy for the tournament and 200,000 pesos gold as an interest-free loan, repayable over 30 years to build the stadium. The AUF and FIFA invited 47 countries to participate in the championship, which demonstrated the global dimension of the event. Further, they decided to play the tournament by the “Cup system”, i.e. by eliminating teams. They did this because more than 16 countries would be participating in the World Cup. For FIFA, its prestige and its reputation xcwere at stake. The World Cup would replace the competition of the Olympic Games, and would be a highlighted global event to be played every four years. FIFA delegates knew that the AUF had to give benefits and give in to requests, as well as compromise on certain demands, for the event to resonate worldwide. For example, it was necessary to agree and, many times,

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give in to the arbitrariness of England. It was very important both for FIFA and for the prestige of the cup that the fathers of football were present, but the English federations were not incorporated into the International Federation. FIFA offered to modify its statutes to tempt them to join, however, they never responded. There was a list of favorite national teams, especially from Western Europe, which were role models for the Uruguayans. However, some of the teams listed by the Uruguayan soccer authorities refused to participate. The first months of the year 1930 were already abuzz with news of the cup, but the participation of Spain and Italy continued to generate anxiety in Uruguayan society—which had received so many immigrants in the waves of the late nineteenth century. On January 16, the newspaper El Día published a telephone conversation that took place amongst the presidents of the associations, and in February the newspaper came up with the headline The World Cup and the Egoism of European football. There were also rumors of a boycott by European associations, which caused tensions in the Latin American associations. In negotiations with Jules Rimet, Buero announced the possibility of the South American Football Confederation leaving FIFA.  Finally, thanks to the courageous arbitration of Rimet, Belgium, France, Romania and Yugoslavia sent their teams to the championship. Latin America was well represented with players from Uruguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Peru. Mexico was also present along with the United States. The 100th anniversary celebrations were the perfect occasion to reaffirm the main aspects of Jorge Battlle’s moral reform. In an editorial from the newspaper El Día, entitled The First Century of Our Institutional Life is Brilliantly Commemorated Today, the spirit of optimism of the nation was layed out along with a vision for a promising future for the nation. There was no place for negative views: The jubilant hour that chimes on the clock of time finds us in the full maturity of civililization […]. Everything that elevates us today before our eyes and before the eyes of the world, everything that gives us strength today to look at the past […] is the work of the Colorado Party […]. And the work of Batlle, which formed the refined greatness of the future homeland, land of promise and justice […]. Standing on the cusp of the century, we can look to the future with a soul full of healthy optimism […].

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On the anvil of the country, we have been the hammer that has forged the plot of the future.6

Together with the emblematic buildings of the nation, such as the Government Palace and the Legislative Palace (whose cornerstone were laid by President José Batlle y Ordóñez on July 18, 1906, upon which he expressed that “from here the whole country will radiate an increasingly intense intellectual and moral brilliance. Here the happiness, greatness and honor of the country will be developed”), other significant modern buildings were built: the Montevideo Medical Center, with its central Hospital de Clínicas and its satellite Institute of Hygiene and School of Dentistry; the layout of the Rambla Sur, with the goal of transforming Montevideo into the capital of the modern country; and the Centenario Stadium for 80,000 spectators (designed by the architects Juan Scasso and José Domato), made of 14,000 m3 of reinforced concrete, which began to be installed in the first days of February 1930 and was completed in July of the same year, with the aim to be the stage for the first World Cup. The Centenario was one of the fundamental monuments of the centennial era. In the brochure, which advertised the World Cup it was stated that to the satisfaction of free and democratic Uruguayans, and to the pride of young, not conservative, but lyrically avant-garde nations, the architecture of the Stadium is neither ‘classical’ nor ‘modern’, nor in any pleasant style to fans; it is simply architecture, made by the free man, of today.

Final Thoughts The games played by the Uruguayan national team gathered crowds, was filmed by eight cameras and was broadcast for the first time live via the twelve radio stations that operated in the country. Despite the economic crisis, which not only affected Europe, but also the Americas, the first football world championship was a complete success in terms of spectator participation. It was double the audience of the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. There were 547,308 spectators counted overall. The Uruguayan Football Association made US$225,500  in total profit with an average of 24,138 spectators per every game. The World Cup also resulted in a rift between continents in the 1934 Cup in Italy and the 1938 Cup in France, as almost no South American 6

 El Día, Montevideo, 18 de julio de 1930, page 53.

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teams participated. This was the result of the rivalry during the 1930 Cup and the fears resurfacing of the intercontinental boycott. The 1930 Cup also represented a break that culminated in modernism and in the establishment of Uruguayan progressivism based on the progressivism of Europe that manifested through the championship itself, the aesthetics of the stadium (and the poster by the painter Guillermo Laborde, winner of a contest), the broadcast of the match on the radio and the filming of the final match, which established a common culture for the masses. The celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Uruguayan independence, which included the first World Cup, were designed to promote principles of batllismo and thus contribute to forming a “hyperintegrated” society. Hyperintegration was necessary to create a nation out of a heterogeneous people and and an economically and culturally fragmented society. The strategy of batllismo coupled internal hyperintegration with external integration focusing on Europe as an model. With its strong Eurocentric background, the government’s strategy of hyperintegration sought to highlight the pre-eminence of the white Caucasian race, stressing the contribution from the Western European immigrants, over other ethnic minorities, who were reviled or ignored due to their assumed unimportance. In the media, one could observe a constant dialogue between the Latin American and the European, a back and forth between the national and the international, which revealed the existing intercontinental ties and the relationships across nations. The Olympic Games of 1924 and 1928 contributed to creating the image that Latin American football, especially from the La Plata river region, was the best in the Americas. The first World Cup represented a break between the new world and the old. This was a fundamental moment for South America, especially for Uruguay, in which they not only were compared to Europe with regard to football but also with regard to social mores, for which the old world had set the standard. Further, the World Cup demonstrated a significant connection between the South American countries, especially those in the La Plata river region, which shared a unique bond in contrast with their European rivals in football.

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References Barrán, J. P. and Nahum, B. (1986) Batlle, los estancieros y el imperio británico. Montevideo: Ediciones de la Banda Oriental. Bentley, J. (2006) “Globalizing history and historicizing globalization”. In: Gills, Barry K. and William Thompson (eds). Globalization and Global History. London: Routledge. Berg, M. (2007) “Globalization to Global History”. In: Easterby-Smith, Fischer, Lawson, Struck, Tyre and Yechury. History Workshop Journal. Brown, M. (2015) ‘British informal empire and the origins of association football in South America’, Soccer & Society, page 11. Buero, E. (1932) La organización de la Coupe du Monde. Negociaciones Internacionales, Bruselas: Imp. Puvrez. Caetano, G. (2011) La República Batllista. Montevideo: Ediciones de la Banda Oriental. Conrad, S. and Eckert, A. (2007) Globalgeschichte. Theorien, Ansätze, Themen, Frankfurt: Campus. De Castro, M. (1924) El Faro de Vigo, 11 de abril, page 9. El Deporte (1923) Number 5. Faccio, F., Morales, A., Adamo, G. (2003) Los campeones del centenario. Montevideo: Central de Impresiones. Goldblatt, D. (2014) “Another kind of History: Globalization, Global History and the World Cup” in Rinke, S. and Schiller, K. (eds). The FIFA World Cup 1930–2010. Politics, Commerce, Spectacle and identities. Wallstein Verlag: Göttingen. Luzuriaga, J. (2009): El football del novecientos. Montevideo: Ed. Taurus. Mundo Sportivo (1912a) Número 5. Mundo Sportivo (1912b) Número 7. Norel, P. (2009) L’Histoire économique globale. Paris: Éditions du Seuil. Osterhammel, J. and Petersen, N. (2005) Globalization: A short History. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Rinke, S. (2014) “Fussball und Globalisierung im Zeichen der Krise: Die erste Weltmeisterschaft in Uruguay 1930” in Rinke, S. and Peters, C. (eds). Global play: Football between region, nation and the world in Latin American, African and European History. Stuttgart: Verlag Hans-Dieter Heinz, Akademischer Verlag Stuttgart. Rinke, S. (2007) ‘¿La última pasión verdadera? Historia del fútbol en América Latina en el contexto global’, Iberoamericana 7(27): 85–100. Rinke, S. (2017) “Estereotipos transamericanos: representaciones racistas y sexistas entre las Américas a comienzos del siglo XX” in Alba Vega, C., Aziz Nassif, A. and Rinke, S. (eds). Pensar las categorías de análisis para el estudio de la globalización. Berlin: Edition Tranvía Verlag Walter Frei.

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Rinke, S. and Faccio, F. (2014) “La globalización del fútbol durante la crisis de 1930: Uruguay y la primera copa del mundo” in Armus, D. and Rinke, S. (eds). Del football al fútbol/futebol. Historias argentinas, brasileras y uruguayas en el siglo XX. Madrid/Frankfurt: Iberoamericana/Vervuert. Robertson, R. (1992) Globalization. Social Theory and Global Culture. London: Sage Publications.

Race and Gender in the Pages of the Brazilian Jornal dos Sports Leda Costa

This chapter aims to make a brief historical overview of Jornal dos Sports, emphasizing its role in the discussions around the processes of insertion of blacks and women in Brazilian football. To this end, we will carry out specific analyses on material published by the newspaper in the year 1940 regarding women’s football, an important moment in the trajectory of this sport in Brazil. Another specific analysis will focus on 1948, the year of the publication of relevant analyses of the book The Black man in Brazilian Soccer and the consequent circulation of the debate around the racial theme. Thus, we intend to tell part of the history of Brazil’s most important sports newspaper and its owner Mario Filho from the perspective of race and gender in a decade, the 1940s, in which these themes gained visibility and relevance in the most popular sport in the country.

L. Costa (*) Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 B. Buarque de Hollanda, L. G. Burlamaqui (eds.), Latin American Sport Media, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15594-9_4

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Introduction In the initial years of its arrival in Brazil—especially in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo—the main forms of appropriation of football sought to imprint an image on this sporting practice related to typical values of the wealthier social segments of society. In a period in which the modernisation of cities was longed for, football—like other sports—was seen as a civilising vehicle and promoter of the regeneration of a people considered backward. This perspective was directly related to a context that went beyond the sports sphere. Science in Brazil was anchored in theories of social evolution, which in the Brazilian case was directly associated with the problem of race, especially with regard to miscegenation, seen as an obstacle to the future of the country (Schwarcz 1993). The racial issue was not dissociated from the social one and, in this process, sports clubs played an important role in the mechanism of attempts to preserve sports, including football, as activities with privileged access to elite groups. This attempt became even more evident with the gradual emergence of entities responsible for sports regulation and management. In the case of Rio de Janeiro, the Metropolitan League of Sports Athletics stands out, which, in 1907, had its first statute approved, making explicit in this document a rigorous selection system of affiliated clubs, which implied the need to face a complicated bureaucracy, including charging high membership fees (Santos 2006). These were obstacles deliberately created to hinder or even prevent the association of small clubs, especially those in the outskirts of the city formed in their majority by black players from poor backgrounds (Pereira 2000). In the quest to maintain football as a space accessible to few people, the press played an important role in endorsing an interpretation of this sport as a practice that would be capable of serving as a civilising instrument. For that, it was necessary to build an aristocratic atmosphere around football, distancing from it any form of enjoyment considered inadequate to the elite image of a sport imported from England. Hence, the imperative to represent it as an event in which chivalry should prevail—fair play—to the detriment of any violent demonstrations and, above all, that associated it with popular characteristics. Not without reason, the sporting events that took place in the most traditional clubs in the city, located in upper class areas, used to be reported as if they were social or fashion events. It was common for the chroniclers to emphasise the cordial atmosphere, of fraternisation between losers and winners and with the presence

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of distinguished people in the audience. Such an interpretation, defended by intellectuals and politicians, was based on a perspective linked to the elite that took on the task of “civilising” the country through the adoption of habits and practices imported from Europe (Franco Junior 2007). Civilising the country also implied controlling women’s bodies and maintaining their socially accepted roles as wife and mother. The influence of the medical-hygienist way of thinking in Brazil was reflected in press discourses about sports practice in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which represented an obstacle to the full participation of women in the sports universe, especially football, because it was seen as a risk to idealised standards of femininity (Goellner 2003). What is evident is the adoption of surveillance over black bodies and women from a pedagogical and eugenic perspective of football, understood as a practice capable of racially modernising and regenerating Brazil. However, in opposition to this project—which characterised, above all, the type of approach of the hegemonic press—it was possible to perceive a different treatment given to football, offered by some variety magazines and by popular and sensationalist newspapers. Many reports produced by these publications were characterised by the use of a more humorous tone, investing in cartoons and picturesque cases involving players. In these reports, an interpretation of football began to be no longer nurtured as a pedagogical tool, but as popular entertainment in which rivalry, club passions, irreverence, irony and ambiguities were suitable in the sporting world (da Silva 2006). In this sense, the newspaper Crítica stands out. Published in Rio de Janeiro, it became famous for the high appeal of its headlines and reports. In it, worked Mario Filho, one of the most important names in the history of sports press in Brazil. In Crítica, Mario Filho led the sports section, being able to put into practice formulas to narrate the facts that would later be enshrined in Jornal dos Sports. This work proposes to make a brief historical journey about the first years of sports journalism in Brazil, emphasising Mario Filho’s role in the process of renovations in the ways of reporting sport. To this end, his work will be highlighted in the newspapers Crítica and O Globo until we reach his acquisition of Jornal dos Sports, the main object of analysis. Jornal dos Sports was purchased by Mario Filho in 1936. It is true that, before this period, the newspaper showed concern in promoting sports, understanding it as entertainment and sports news as a product to be sold (Couto 2011). The successful trajectory of Jornal dos Sports should

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certainly not be attributed to just one person, but to a set of factors that cannot be analysed in this brief article.1 However, it is valid to consider that Mario Filho was a skilled journalist and a public figure who had a network of valuable sports, literary and political contacts, after all he was a public man, it seems, extremely well connected and who knew how to transit in different environments like few others. A figure who cultivated an image marked by a certain “ecumenism” (Lopes 1994) and who could usually be seen in well-known cafes, surrounded by the most important names in Rio de Janeiro football, mingling with the likes of literary greats, to simple fans, holding long conversations with them that were later converted into journalistic material (Costa 2010). In addition to these aspects, the presence of Mario Filho at the head of Jornal dos Sports is directly related to the fact that this periodical serves as a stage for discussions, raised in the 1930s and 1940s, around the difficult insertion of the black man in Brazilian football. In order to demonstrate this hypothesis, a punctual analysis will be carried out, based on 1948, the year of publication of relevant reviews of the book The black man in Brazilian soccer2 (O negro no futebol brasileiro), by Mario Filho, and the circulation of the debate around the racial theme in the pages of Jornal dos Sports. In addition to this subject, Jornal dos Sports was highlighted in a short, but fundamental moment of women’s football in Brazil. To demonstrate this issue, another specific analysis will be carried out, this time centred on the year 1940. Thus, it is intended to tell a small part of the story of the most important sports newspaper in Brazil and its owner Mario Filho, having as a horizon the perspective of race and gender in the 1930s and 1940s, in which these issues gained visibility and relevance in the most popular sport in the country.

Mario Filho and Sports Journalism Mario Rodrigues Filho was born in Recife, the capital of Pernambuco, in 1908, and at just eight years old he moved to Rio de Janeiro. In 1926, Mario began working with his father, Mario Rodrigues, owner of the 1  For further information on Mario Filho and Jornal dos Sports see Couto (2011) and de Hollanda (2012). 2  In this article, the title of the recent translation will be used The black man in Brazilian soccer, University of Carolina Press (2021). Translated bay Jack A. Draper III.

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newspaper A Manhã (1926–1928) and later of Crítica (1928–1930). Both periodicals were characterised as being popular newspapers with a sensationalist matrix that were inserted into the context of Brazilian journalistic production in the first decades of the twentieth century. During this period, the strengthening of ties between journalism and consumption is remarkable in the country, which implied the need to attract readers. And, in addition to using advertising, some newspapers resorted to everyday life transformed into a spectacle, which included crimes, accidents and disasters, thus enabling the production of familiar content to readers and, above all, appealed to their emotions (Barbosa 2007) It is in this environment that Mario Filho took the first steps in his successful career as a sports journalist. This trajectory gained more definitive contours during his time at the newspaper Crítica, founded by his father, in 1928. As in the case of the newspaper A Manhã, Crítica followed a popular and sensationalist editorial, increasing resources for capturing and representing daily facts. Crítica created the “Caravana Crítica”, composed of reporters whose mission was not only to record the events in loco, but also to investigate complaints and carry out investigations requested by readers (Barbosa 2007). Added to this tactic, it is important to highlight the innovative graphic design adopted by the newspaper, with a wide appeal to photographs, drawings, cartoons and caricatures produced by the artist Andrés Guevara.3 Such resources aimed to provoke more impact in the eyes of the readership, arousing their curiosity and, often, shocking them. Combined with this strategy, its low price made this periodical a hit at the time, something the newspaper itself used to boast about.4 The resources used in the police pages of Crítica were taken by Mario Filho to the sports section of the same newspaper that he assumed.5 Under his direction, the “Caravana Sportiva” was created—a version of the “Caravana Crítica”—which consisted of sending reporters to match  Andrés Guevara was an illustrator, painter and graphic artist who was born in Paraguay and worked with Mario Filho in the newspapers A Manhã and Crítica. 4  Critica called itself “The morning newspaper with the greatest circulation in Brazil”. 5  Mario Rodrigues died in 1930 shortly before Crítica was jammed shortly after the 1930 Revolution. In short, the 1930s Revolution is the name given to the political-military movement that determined the end of the First Republic (1889–1930). Its origin comes from the articulation between politicians of lieutenants who were defeated in the 1930 elections and decided to put an end to the oligarchic system through weapons. Getúlio Vargas was at the head of the provisional government. 3

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venues and even to players’ homes in search of unpublished, flagrant information and exclusive testimonials. The newspaper invested in interviews with athletes, facilitating the insertion of a subjective, emotional perspective and with the possibility of fuelling some kind of controversy. This can be seen in the March 13, 1928 issue when the newspaper announced coverage of the America Football Club’s tour of Buenos Aires.6 The Rio de Janeiro club’s trip to Argentina received a lot of attention from the newspaper, which sent its “Caravana Sportiva”, composed by Mario Filho, his brother Nelson Rodrigues and a photographer, to accompany the team. Over the course of a few days, the newspaper printed a full-page report not only with testimonies but also photos of players in moments of privacy, sometimes brushing their teeth, lying in their pyjamas on the hotel beds (Costa 2017). In 1930, Crítica was closed and the Rodrigues family—with their deceased patriarch—found themselves in financial danger (Castro 1995). In 1931, Mario Filho received an invitation from his friend and owner of the newspaper O Globo, Roberto Marinho,7 to become responsible for the sports section of that periodical. O Globo followed conventional editorial standards and, therefore, very different from those adopted in Crítica where Mario Filho had worked since he was young. However, it is necessary to emphasise that the beginning of the 1930s was a time when sports gradually received the attention of important newspapers in the country, which began to dedicate more space to it. In this process, the newspaper A Gazeta, founded in 1906, stands out, but which underwent a profound reformulation when it was bought, in 1918, by executive Cásper Líbero, who transformed the newspaper into one of the most popular in the country (Stycer 2009). One of the tactics to increase the readership was the inclusion of sports as a relevant subject in its pages. Gazeta not only reported, but promoted sporting events, among which the São Silvestre race, from 1925, stands out (Stycer 2009).8 The success of this type of tactic justified the launch, in 1928, of the Gazeta

6  “Crítica publica, hoje, uma sensacional chronica de Floriano Peixoto Corrêa sobre o América em Buenos Aires” (“Today, Crítica publishes a sensational chronicle by Floriano Peixoto Corrêa about América in Buenos Aires”), Jornal dos Sports, 13/03/1928). 7  O Globo newspaper was founded in 1925 by Irineu Marinho. Roberto Marinho took over the newspaper in 1931. 8  In fact, at that time, the process of transferring Brazilian players to Europe was intense. According to Waldenyr Caldas, most players sought professionalisation abroad (1990).

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Esportiva supplement, which circulated once a week in São Paulo, in tabloid format. In Rio de Janeiro, it was O Globo’s turn to resort to sports as a subject that could potentially attract the readership. To achieve this goal, the hiring of Mario Filho represented a bet on a promising young journalist who already had the recognition of his peers in the area, athletes and sports directors with whom he was close. Here, it is worth noting that O Globo, at the time, already allocated more space to sports in its pages than most contemporary periodicals. On Mondays, for example, a special edition of the newspaper whose cover was completely dedicated to sport, with a rich photographic report, went to newsstands (da Silva 2006). However, the coverage was still stuck to traditional patterns both in layout and style of the far-fetched and very formal language. Shortly after his arrival, Mario Filho introduced significant changes in the sports section of O Globo, giving more dynamism to the layout, arranging the texts in independent blocks, often separating them by frames. The headlines were highlighted by a graphic effect with the use of fonts of different sizes and colours, aiming to draw the readers’ attention (da Silva 2006). The column “In the locker room after the game” should be highlighted. Built from dialogues, supposedly taking place in the locker room, and witnessed by a reporter who reproduced them in a narrative that favoured picturesque cases or the search for scoops. As in Crítica, there were constant interviews with athletes who were encouraged to report joys and dramas experienced in the football environment, thus enabling the promotion of bonds of proximity and identification with the fans. Whilst working at the newspaper O Globo, Mario Filho in partnership with Roberto Marinho and the then president of Clube de Regatas do Flamengo, Bastos Padilha bought, in 1936, Jornal dos Sports, which had been founded in 1931 by journalist Argemiro Bulcão. Under the direction of Mario Filho, Jornal dos Sports would consolidate its role in publicising and, above all, promoting sporting events.

Jornal dos Sports and the Black Man in Football At the beginning of the 1930s, there was a remarkable effort to produce a set of traits that could embody a style considered genuinely Brazilian to play football. At that time, the clash between amateurism and professionalism marked the national football scene, a duel that was linked to political, social and racial issues. The defence of amateurism, implicitly or

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explicitly, represented the defence of football without the presence of black men, in which the country’s elite intended to have the exclusivity of the practice and institutional organisation of this sport. However, professionalism gradually presented itself as a necessity in the face of the threat of losing players abroad, a fall in the number of members and a decrease in income obtained at the box office of the games (Santos 2010). Football already had great popularity and showed its market potential for clubs, which forced the need for good performance in competitions, something that, in turn, made the presence of the best players in the team’s imperative. Many of these best players were individuals who belonged to the poorest social strata, formed mostly by black men. The struggle between amateurism and professionalism caused the division of sports federations, which meant an obstacle for the national integration projects of the Getulio Vargas government, which had in sports an important means of political promotion. In line with this nationalist project, Jornal dos Sports was important in defending the professionalism proclaimed by the newspaper as not only a sporting necessity, but a patriotic one (Drummond 2009). In 1937, the so-called “sports pacification” finally took place, which consisted of the reunification of sports entities and the officialization of professionalism (de Souza 2009). Hence, conditions were met so that the Brazilian Sports Confederation (CBD) could dedicate itself in advance for the preparation of the Brazilian team that would compete in the 1938 Football World Cup. If in 1930 and 1934, the participation of the national team in the world championship was treated with some contempt by the State, the same cannot be said in relation to the III World Cup. Interest of the Getúlio Vargas government in football was great, which could be explained by the growing popularisation of the sport and its gradual transformation into a spectacle for the masses (Franzini 2003). The attention paid by the State to the 1938 team could be seen in the unprecedented subsidy given to the Brazilian team, money intended for expenses arising from the Brazilian trip and their stay on French soil. Again, Jornal dos Sports by Mario Filho was a valuable vehicle in the process of building an “imagined community” (Anderson 1989) that had sports, especially football, as one of its mainstays.

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In this sense, coverage made of the participation of the Brazilian team in the 1938 World Cup stands out. This Cup represented a milestone in the trajectory of the newspaper, which sent correspondents who followed the Brazilian team (Couto 2011). Much of the coverage carried out by Jornal dos Sports consisted of testimonies from players, managers or members of the Brazilian delegation, extracted from conversations held with Mario Filho himself, who appears in several photos with a phone in his hand. The newspaper discursively fostered an atmosphere of expectation around the team’s games, as well as investing in the image construction of black national idols in figures such as Leônidas da Silva and Domingos da Guia. The praise of Leônidas da Silva as the main name of the selection in the Cup was built by a speech apparatus composed of constant publications of images of the player during training, in game plays and in beautiful caricatures such as the one made by the musician and designer Sotero Cosme.9 The article “Leônidas superior to Sarosi and Piola” (Jornal dos Sports, 06/08/1938) accompanied by a photo of the Brazilian player, smiling at a restaurant table next to the national team coach, Ademar Pimenta, stands out. In the text, written by one of the journalists sent to France, the admiration that “European football authorities” would have expressed after the performance of Leônidas da Silva in the game against Poland (Jornal dos Sports, 06/08/1938) was highlighted.10 Good athletic performance of players of black origin opens the opportunity for the sport’s identity to be directly associated with the ethnic constitution of the Brazilian people (de Hollanda 2004). The third place in the 1938 World Cup gained repercussions and fed many interpretations and positive images around Brazilian football that would later become the basic elements of the concept of football-art (Costa 2020). The 1938 World Cup is a fabled machine of stories and victory narratives that enshrine a new profile of a hero-player, whose models were players like Leônidas da Silva and Domingos da Guia. Black and of poor origin, they 9  Sotero Cosme was born in Porto Alegre and was a Brazilian artist and musician. He was considered one of the best draughtsmen in the country in the 20s and 30s. Leônidas’ drawing was published on the cover of the June 12, 1938 issue under the title “Leonidas seen by Sotero Cosme’s pencil”. 10  In relation to the Brazilian team, the French press showed a certain ambivalence regarding the analysis of the Brazilian style of play, almost always from the opposition of nature (Brazil) X culture (Europe), the French press criticized or praised the performances of the selected team. See (Damo 2007).

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symbolised a new type of imagination of success formed by individuals who came from the peripheries and working-class factories to perform in a World Cup on European pitches (Pereira 2000). Imagination built from the intermediation of stories whose circulation and production had the participation of the sports press, especially Jornal dos Sports. Leônidas and Domingos are also prominent figures in Mario Filho’s most important book, O negro no futebol brasileiro (The Black Man in Brazilian Soccer), whose first edition dates from 1947. It is a work that seeks to trace the history of Brazilian football focusing on the difficult trajectory of the insertion of black people in the sport. What is worth noting in this brief work is that the reception of the first edition of The Black Man in Brazilian Soccer had criticism written by important names in literature and sociology in Brazil, and the main vehicle that published this material was Jornal dos Sports itself. This sports journal circulated—to a wide audience—a brief debate that explained a fundamental issue not only for football: the place of black people in Brazilian society. Mario Filho’s relationship circuit was wide. Many personalities from different areas frequented the newsrooms in which he worked and as Mario Filho knew important people, others were introduced to him through them. This is the case, for example, of the sociologist Gilberto Freyre. Both had the friendship with José Lins do Rego in common, a writer from Pernambuco, in love with football and who maintained the column “Esporte e Vida” (Sport and Life) in Jornal dos Sports. José Lins, in addition to being a personal friend, maintained a strong intellectual relationship and partnership with Gilberto Freyre, notable in the work of both writers (Larreta and Giucci 2007). It is likely that José Lins played a decisive role in the exchange of Freyrian interpretations of Brazil, present in the book The black man in Brazilian soccer. On the other hand, it is likely that José Lins brought the work of Mario Filho to the attention of Gilberto Freyre for his appreciation. After all, almost a year before the book was published, José Lins comments in his column: “I know that Gilberto Freyre […] has already taken Mario Filho’s investigations for evaluation” (Jornal dos Sports, 16/06/1946, p. 7). The Black Man in Brazilian Soccer has similarities with regard to the ideas presented by Gilberto Freyre a few years earlier, regarding Brazilian football and its relationship with miscegenation.11 Here, a brief mention of the 11  Gilberto Freyre’s interpretations of Brazilian football were expressed in the article Football Mulato published in Diário de Pernambuco, 1938, p. 4.

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article “Football mulato” is valid, a text in which the sociologist managed to translate the dichotomy European football versus Brazilian football into culturalism terms (Franzini 2003, 78). Making use of Ruth Benedict’s classification, Freyre concludes that: “psychologically, to be Brazilian is to be a mulatto—enemy of the Apollonian formalism—to use Benedict’s classification with some pedantry—and Dionysian in its own way—the great mulatto way” (1957, 432). These ideas are present in the preface that Gilberto Freyre wrote for the book by Mario Filho. According to Freyre, football, unlike other sports, had incorporated characteristics of Brazilianness such as samba and trickery (1947, XI), becoming as hybrid as Brazilian society itself.12 This preface—written by one of the most important names in Brazilian Sociology—confers legitimacy on Mario Filho’s book as it is a work whose author was a journalist, without academic training and who composed his book based on undocumented oral reports as his main source. The book published by publishing house Pongetti was launched in March 1947 and had the support of Jornal dos Sports, which endeavoured to promote it through advertisements in which the sale price and the places where it would be possible to purchase a copy were informed.—one of them being the Jornal dos Sports newsroom. In these advertisements, an excerpt of praise signed by Gilberto Freyre was highlighted: “This book by Mario Filho is one of the most original and suggestive written lately by Brazilians. Lately or perhaps at any time” (20/03/1947). The importance of this preface is notable in the most important reviews about The Black Man in Brazilian Soccer, published mostly in 1948, in Jornal dos Sports. It is understood as principal since they have a dense analytical character and were written by prominent names in the Brazilian intellectual field.13 For the purpose of this article, two reviews will be cited, one by Jorge de Lima and the sociologist Maria Isaura Pereira de Queiroz, those that explicitly mention the aforementioned preface. On July 9, the review “O negro no Football” (The black man in football) was published by Jorge de Lima, a north-eastern poet who had devoted his attention to the theme of African heritage in Brazil in his production.14 The 12  In the published translation The black man in Brazilian soccer (Filho, 2021), there is no preface by Gilbeto Freyre. 13  It is possible to read analysis signed by names such as Rachel de Queiroz, Jorge de Lima, Olívio Montenegro, Nelson Werneck Sodré and Maria Isaura Pereira de Queiroz (Haag 2014). 14  The main production is called Poemas negros, from 1947, which brought together some of his productions about black presence in Brazil, and the various references to African heritage in Brazilian lands. The preface is by Gilberto Freyre.

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mention of Gilberto Freyre—with whom Jorge de Lima was a friend—is present at the beginning of his text when the poet highlights the preface that the sociologist had written for The black man in Brazilian soccer. Jorge de Lima takes this fact as an indication of the importance of the work not only for football, but for the history of black people in Brazil. Once again using the figure of Gilberto Freyre, the poet emphasises that in Mario Filho’s book the question of the black man had received a judicious treatment, marked by a seriousness only comparable to Casa-Grande and Senzala (Jornal dos Sports, 09/07/1948). Jorge de Lima’s review also highlights Mario Filho’s merit for placing black people at the forefront of the history of the most popular sport in the country, bringing to public knowledge his difficult trajectory in a markedly elitist football environment in the early years of its implementation in Brazil. Finally, it is worth mentioning the text “O futebol e o caráter dionisíaco do brasileiro” (“Football and the dionysian character of the Brazilian”) by Maria Isaura Pereira de Queiroz. Already in the title, the reference to Gilberto Freyre’s interpretation of the relationship between football and Brazilian culture is notable, explained both in the preface to The black man in Brazilian soccer and in the aforementioned “football mulato”, which is also mentioned in the text by Maria Isaura, which demonstrates his care in researching the sources he mentioned in his review. The author begins her text by affirming that The black man in Brazilian soccer, when tracing the process of integration of football into Brazilian culture, demonstrates that the Brazilian people were “predominantly Dionysian” (Jornal dos Sports, 24/09/1948). A people who privileged activities such as dance and other practices that were poorly ordered by the logic of technique but dictated by individual talent like the one that had been demonstrated by players like Leônidas da Silva. Of all the texts published in 1948 about the book by Mario Filho, this is the only one that has a more systematic scientific character, when using anthropology categories and mentioning at the end with notes of the consulted bibliography. It is not up to this work to analyse the book by Mario Filho, which still remains a fundamental reference for research on football in Brazil, however a target of recent problematisations.15 A more accurate analysis of the selected reviews cited here is also not intended. This brief incursion on the  About this question see Helal and Gordon (2001).

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part of the critical reception of the first edition of this book aimed to demonstrate that Mario Filho took to the pages of a widely circulated sports newspaper the important discussion about racial issues that marked Brazilian football. This theme was already evident in the defence that Jornal dos Sports made of professionalism, as well as in the coverage of the 1938 World Cup.

Women’s Football in Jornal dos Sports: 1940 If Jornal dos Sports made the issue of race public, it is also necessary to remember that gender issues in football also had an interesting arena of visibility in Jornal dos Sports. In Brazil, the attempt to defend certain prototypes of femininity, which includes body and beauty standards, raised a debate in the early 1940s that sought to know whether or not women should play football. At the beginning of that decade, several journalists, doctors and athletes expressed their opinions in newspapers and magazines. Apparently, this discussion was, to a large extent, fuelled when some games played by women began to draw attention from the press and the authorities. Initially, most of this news referred to matches between neighbourhood teams, mainly from the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. However, women’s football expanded far beyond the city limits, as was the case with the women’s teams of Casino Realengo and SC Brasileiro (Bonfim 2019), which, in 1940, would star in a preliminary men’s game between São Paulo and América. (RJ), to inaugurate the floodlights of the newly built Pacaembu stadium. The match between the women was postponed, being held as a preliminary of another men’s game, this time, São Paulo x Flamengo (RJ).16 The postponement was probably due to all the controversy that was surrounding women’s football at the time. We can infer the difficulties of holding the game in an article in which Jornal dos Sports thanked the president of the Paulista Federation for his efforts to: “take care of this difficult trip, since we are talking about women’s teams” (Jornal dos Sports, 14/05/1940). When the match was announced, there was outrage. A columnist for the renowned Gazeta Esportiva stated that women’s football represented a “true attack on physical education, sports and even state sports organisations” (Franzini 2022). However, the exemplification of an 16  The São Paulo and América game took place on May 11, 1940. The match between São Paulo x Flamengo (RJ) was held on May 17, 1940.

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extreme case of rejection of women’s football came from an ordinary citizen. The citizen in question was José Fuzeira who sent a letter to the President of the Republic, Getúlio Vargas, demonstrating his concern with the increase in women’s football teams (Franzini 2022). This letter reverberated far beyond the readers’ opinions. The Physical Education Division of the Ministry of Health and Education issued an opinionated document declaring that Mr. José Fuzeira’s gesture was worthy of praise, after all, the formation of football teams by women should be disapproved of by society, as the “fragile” physiology of women was incompatible with such a violent sport (Franzini 2022). Various opinions against the fact that women play football began to echo in various vehicles. The newspaper O Imparcial, for example, declared that on May 8, 1940, “Women’s football needs to be controlled”. It was believed that the practice could lead them to “become men”, a fear that, according to researcher Silvana Goellner, was constantly mentioned in the 1940s in the education sections of newspapers (Goellner 2003, 123). Jornal dos Sports pages circulated information, images and speeches about the practice of football by women who, at different times, raised strong questions about a series of oppositions to women’s football. Jornal dos Sports did extensive coverage of single games, championships, even sponsoring small events. This favourable inclination to the modality is notable in 1940, an important moment for women’s football in Rio de Janeiro. That year, some neighbourhood teams were founded, coming mainly from the Carioca suburbs and that played matches in different places in the city and in other states (Bonfim 2019). The tendency of Jornal dos Sports not only to publicise, but also to promote sports (de Hollanda 2012) is also noticeable in the case of women’s football, in 1940. For the inauguration of the spotlights on the SC Tavares pitch and, as part of the anniversary celebrations of Jornal dos Sports, the women’s football match took place between the Eva FC and S.C Brasileiro teams. The S.C Brasileiro team won and it won the “Mário Rodrigues Filho” cup, named after the owner of Jornal dos Sports. The match was reported by the newspaper in articles accompanied by photos of the teams and exalting headlines such as “The sensational matches of women’s football” (13/03/1940, p. 5). S. C Brasileiro together with another club, Casino Realengo, emerged as active teams that played on several pitches in the city of Rio de Janeiro and that played an emblematic game in the Pacaembu stadium, in a preliminary match to the men’s teams of Flamengo (RJ) and São Paulo (SP),

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mentioned above. The teams’ trip to the capital of São Paulo was sponsored by Jornal dos Sports, which also made room for some players to defend themselves against opinions against the practice of women’s football. We can see this in the edition of May 10, 1940 that gives voice to the player Adyragram17 of S. C. Brasileiro. Adyragram turns his attention to the citizen José Fuzeira who had sent a letter to President Getúlio Vargas warning about the dangers of football practice by women (Franzini 2022). This is how the player defends herself: “Mr. José Fuzeira should watch the practice of women’s football, to verify how healthy this sport is and the benefits it provides to practitioners” (Jornal dos Sports, 16/05/1940, p. 1). Even with many opponents, the trip of the Casino Realengo and S. C Brasileiro teams was announced with euphoria by Jornal dos Sports, who thanked those who collaborated with the viability of the game and who took care of the “difficulty of the trip, since we are talking about female teams” (Jornal dos Sports, 14/05/1940). Even with the problems that arose, due to the fact that they were “female teams”, the game took place on May 17, 1940, with the winner being S.C Brasileiro with a score of 2 X 0 (Jornal dos Sports, 18/05/1940). Almost a month later, Jornal dos Sports celebrated the success of the audience present in another match, this time, held in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, on the pitch of the Minas Gerais club América, involving those same teams that played in Pacaembu: “New success of Women’s Football! (…) The battle, which took place on América’s pitch, recorded the beautiful collection of 12 king’s tales” (Jornal dos Sports, 16/06/1940). The citation of the good collection indicates the newspaper’s interest in demonstrating the economic viability of the sport, which is also noted in the various mentions of the fact that women’s games used to attract “a legion of women’s football fans” (Jornal dos Sports, 08/08/1940, p. 7). During the remaining months of 1940, Jornal dos Sports continued to publish news about the formation of new women’s football teams, as well as about games being played, especially in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. Some teams managed to make short trips, as is the case of SC Opposição and Primavera AC, who played a game on the Tupy pitch of Juiz de Fora, 17  The real name of Adyragram is Margarida Pereira, was the composer of the carnival group Turunas de Monte Alegre. She was also a defender, captain and president of S.C Brasileiro. The beginning of the 1940s was a fertile period for women’s football in Brazil. There are several reports about the formation of clubs, exclusion of teams, with the episode involving S.C Brasileiro and Casino Realengo, one of the most emblematic. For more on this subject, see Bonfim (2019).

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a fact enthusiastically announced by the newspaper (Jornal dos Sports, 27/09/1940, p. 5). In 1941, with Decree-Law no. 3199, in its article 54, women’s football became prohibited because it was considered an inadmissible “deviation of conduct” in the eyes of the New State and Brazilian society of the period, as it opened up possibilities other than those consecrated by the stereotype of the “queen of the home”. ”, which praised the “good mother” and the “good wife”, preferably following Hollywood standards of beauty (Franzini 2022, 31–33 ). After this ban, news about the sport became scarce, being relevant only six years later, as is the case of the chronicle signed by Vargas Netto who, in response to a reader, tries to explain why female football was not allowed in Brazil. After the clarifications, the columnist Vargas Netto takes a position—somewhat idealistically—stating that “There are women fighters, warriors and workers of all manual services throughout the world! There are women in all sectors of the army. In the United States, women have no barriers to their activities (…). But it was forbidden here, miss” (Jornal dos Sports, 30/04/1948, p. 4). Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the newspaper rarely published anything referring to women’s football, a subject that would return with vigour in the 1970s, when two women’s football world championships were held—in Italy (1970) and in Mexico (1971) which, although they did not have the seal of FIFA, they had repercussions in Brazil. Jornal dos Sports stood out in its coverage of women’s beach soccer championships, which were fundamental for the formation of teams that would later play on the pitch, as was the case with Radar18 (Jornal dos Sports, 20/03/1983, p. 10) but by that time Mario Filho had already died.19

Provisional Conclusions It would be an exaggeration to say that Mario Filho was the inventor of sports journalism in Brazil. However, it is possible to consider the hypothesis that his contribution was significant in the process of renewing the techniques of representation of events linked to sport. In the first years of its introduction in Brazil football was markedly excluding and part of the press corroborated this perspective, but football was changing, gaining 18  Radar was the Rio de Janeiro club. It was the most important women’s football club in the 1980s in Brazil, being the base of the first Brazilian team. 19  Mario Filho died on September 17, 1966.

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popularity, spreading through cities, which included their peripheral spaces. Football became spectacles for the masses and Mario Filho, as a journalist and as a businessman, showed himself to be aware of the need to renew the modes of representation of the sport, which implied the insertion of the party, of the rivalry and of a language closer to everyday. The resource to the humanisation of characters, the dramatisation of facts, as well as the textual orality are marks of Mario Filho from his journalistic activity and that are extended to the composition of his books. There were four works dedicated to the memory of Brazilian football published in the 1940s,20 one of them remains a reference for researchers in Brazil. Its importance is evident in the recent translation into English, which represents an opportunity to bring international knowledge, one of the first attempts not only to establish a history of football, but to interpret Brazil through the sport. An interpretation that made black people protagonists—even if at times in an idealised way –, showing how difficult it was for football to grant him one of the rare opportunities for social ascension. Certainly, Mario Filho’s proposals are subject to questioning that, incidentally, were not very present in the reception of the book in 1947, marked by a complimentary and uplifting tone of the book. The problem of race brought to the fore by the book the black man in football was migrated to the pages of Jornal dos Sports, which comprises a valuable part of the critical reception of this book. Jornal dos Sports fulfilled the interesting task—perhaps unintentionally—by taking some of the discussion raised by the work to a wider audience and less restricted to the intellectual circle. Between 1951 and 1952, Jornal dos Sports published excerpts from Mario Filho’s book in a column entitled “A page ‘The black man in Brazilian football’”, which demonstrated yet another attempt to promote his work. Sometimes, in addition to the text, the newspaper published comic illustrations of some emblematic episodes reported in the aforementioned book, as in the September 23, 1951 edition.21 In 1963, Jornal dos Sports republished excerpts from chapters of the Black Man in Brazilian Soccer, which can be related to the imminence of the launch of the second edition of the book, which occurred in December 20  Copa Rio Branco 32 (1943), Histórias do Flamengo (1945), O negro no foot-ball brasileiro (1947) and Romance do Football (1949). 21  “Uma página do Negro no Foot-ball brasileiro. O Fluminense e Bangu de 33” (“A page of the Black Man in Brazilian Foot-ball. The 33’ Fluminense and Bangu”), Jornal dos Sports, 23/09/1951.

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1964.22 These initiatives were linked to marketing strategies for the dissemination of the journalist’s work, but they also made it possible to expand public access to an important debate about the role of black people in Brazilian football. Although women’s football does not appear in Mario Filho’s books, Jornal dos Sports that he directed was one of the few newspapers that tried to promote the sport at a time when a woman wearing football boots on a football pitch could provoke scandal and revolt. The newspaper’s interference in sending two clubs to São Paulo to play a representative preliminary match at the Pacaembu stadium shows that the newspaper believed in the potential of women’s football to become a strong and popular sport and, therefore, to become news and be promoted as a sporting spectacle. Even after Mario Filho’s death, there are examples of the newspaper’s valuable role in the history of women’s football, such as the fact that it was the only newspaper to cover the participation of the Brazilian team in the experimental tournament held in China in 1988. To that end, Jornal dos Sports sent a woman, journalist Claudia Silva. There is still a lot to be researched about Jornal dos Sports and Mario Filho, some brief notes were made here that aimed to show moments in which the newspaper somehow brought issues related to race and gender in football to the public eye. These notes are not intended to exhaust the subject, but rather to encourage future deepening.

References Anderson, Benedict. (1989). Nação e consciência nacional. São Paulo: Ática. Barbosa, Marialva. (2007). História da Imprensa (1900–2000). Rio de Janeiro: Mauad. Bonfim, Aira Fernandes (2019). Football feminino entre festas esportivas, circos e campos suburbanos: uma história social do futebol praticado por mulheres da introdução à proibição (1915–1941). Rio de Janeiro: Dissertação. Fundação Getúlio Vargas. Caldas, Waldenyr. (1990). O pontapé inicial: memória do futebol brasileiro. São Paulo: IBRASA. Castro, Ruy (1995). O anjo pornográfico. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras. Costa, Leda (2020). Os vilões do futebol: jornalismo esportivo e imaginação melodramática. Curitiba: Appris. 22  The first edition of The black man in Brazilian soccer is from 1948. In 1964, Mario Filho published a second and enlarged edition.

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Costa, Leda. (2017) “As pegadas douradas do sensacionalismo no esporte: Mario Filho e a cobertura da Copa de 1930 por Crítica”. In: Revista FuLiA.  Belo Horizonte: UFMG, v. 2, n. 3, set.–dez. Costa, Leda (2010). O negro no futebol brasileiro: entre a História e a Literatura. In: Revista Uniabeu. Belford Roxo, v.3, v° 5, setembro/dezembro. Couto, André A. G. (2011). A hora e a vez dos esportes: a criação do Jornal dos Sports e a consolidação da imprensa esportiva no Rio de Janeiro (1931–1950). Rio de Janeiro: Dissertação. Programa de Pós- Graduação em História Social, da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Damo, Arlei S. (2007). “Artistas primitivos: os brasileiros na Copa de 38 segundo os jornais franceses”. In: Associação Nacional de História—ANPUH XXIV Simpósio Nacional de História. Avaibable: http://snh2007.anpuh.org/ resources/content/anais/Arlei%20Sander%20Damo.pdf. Drummond, Maurício (2009). A política no jornalismo esportivo: o Jornal do Brasil e o Jornal dos Sports no dissídio esportivo dos anos 30. In: XXXII Congresso Brasileiro de Ciências da Comunicação (Intercom), 2010, Curitiba, Anais… Curitiba: Intercom/Universidade Positivo, 2009, pp. 1–14. Filho, Mario. (1947). O negro no foot-baal brasileiro. Rio de Janeiro: Pongetti. Filho, Mario. (2021). The Black Man in Brasilian Soccer. Translated by Jack A. Draper III. Franco Junior, Hilário. (2007). A dança dos deuses: futebol, sociedade e cultura. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras. Franzini, Fábio. (2003). Corações na ponta da chuteira: capítulos iniciais da história do futebol brasileiro (1919–1938). São Paulo: DP & A Editora. Franzini, Fábio (2022) Futebol é “coisa para macho”? Pequeno esboço para uma história das mulheres no país do futebol. In: KESSLER, C. Costa, L. Pisani, M. As mulheres no universo do futebol brasileiro. Santa Maria: Universidade de Santa Maria. Freyre, Gilberto. (1957). Sociologia. 2° Tomo. Rio de Janeiro: José Olympio. Freyre, Gilberto. (1938). Football Mulato. Diário de Pernambuco, 17 jun/1938. Freyre, Gilberto. (1947). Prefácio. In: Filho, Mario. O negro no foot-baal brasileiro. Rio de Janeiro: Pongetti. Goellner, Silvana. (2003) Bela, maternal e feminina: imagens da mulher na Revista Educação Physica. Ijuí: Editora Unijuí. Haag, Fernanda Ribeiro (2014). “Mario Filho e O negro no futebol brasileiro: uma análise histórica sobre a produção do livro”. In: Esporte e Sociedade. Niterói: ano 9, n 23, março. Helal, Ronaldo; Gordon, Cesar. (2001). “Sociologia, história e romance na construção da identidade nacional através do futebol”. In: Helal, R.  Soares, Antonio. J. Lovisolo, Hugo (Eds.). A invenção do país do futebol: mídia, raça e idolatria. Rio de Janeiro: Mauad.

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de Hollanda, Bernardo B.  B. (2012). “O cor-de-rosa: ascensão, hegemonia e queda do Jornal dos Sports entre 1930 e 1980”. In: Hollanda, B. B. B. de; MELO, Victor A. M. (Eds.) In: O esporte na imprensa e a imprensa esportiva no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Faperj/7Letras. de Hollanda, Bernardo B.  B. (2004). O descobrimento do futebol: modernismo, regionalismo e paixão esportiva em José Lins do Rego. Rio de Janeiro: Biblioteca Nacional. Larreta, Enrique and Giucci, Guillermo. (2007). Gilberto Freyre, uma biografia cultural: a formação de um intelectual brasileiro (1900–1936). Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira. Lopes, José S.  L. (1994), “A vitória do futebol que incorporou a pelada”. In: Revista USP. Dossiê Futebol, 22, São Paulo. Pereira, Leonardo A. de M. (2000). Footballmania. Rio de Janeiro: Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira. Santos, João M. M. C. (2010). Revolução vascaína: a profissionalização do futebol e inserção sócio-econômica de negros e portugueses na cidade do Rio de Janeiro (1915–1934). São Paulo: PhD Thesis History, USP. Santos, Ricardo P. dos (2006). “Uma breve história social do esporte no Rio de Janeiro”. In: SILVA, Francisco C. T. da; Santos, Ricardo P. dos (org.). Memória social dos esportes—futebol e política: a construção de uma identidade nacional. Rio de Janeiro: Mauad, Faperj. de Souza, Denaldo Alchorne. (2009). O Brasil entra em campo: construções e reconstruções da identidade nacional (1930–1947). São Paulo: Annablume. Schwarcz, Lilia M. (1993) O espetáculo das raças. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras. da Silva, Marcelino R. (2006). Mil e uma noites de futebol. Belo Horizonte: Editora UFMG. Stycer, Maurício. (2009) História do Lance! Projeto e prática do jornalismo esportivo. São Paulo: Alameda.

De Los Sports a Triunfo: Sport Media in Chile During XX Century Diego Vilches

In this chapter, I will essay a brief history of the discourse of Chilean sports journalism.1 I argue that the narrative of the sports press has been determined by the discourses and debates on Chilean identity that have been hegemonic. In 1955, the famous writer and columnist Joaquín Edwards opined that it was “impossible to separate sport from historical evolution”.2 Based on this theoretical framework, which proposes that the discourse on 1  For a more detailed analysis see Pedro Acuña, Deportes, masculinidades y cultura de masas, Santiago, Alberto Hurtado Editions, 2021. Vicente López, Presidentes, directivos y propietarios. Representaciones discursivas sobre el campo dirigencial del fútbol profesional chileno y sus agentes protagónicos, thesis for the degree of Sociology, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, 2019. 2  Joaquín Edwards Bello, “El Colo Colo”, in La Nación, Santiago October 30, 1955, 4.

D. Vilches (*) Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 B. Buarque de Hollanda, L. G. Burlamaqui (eds.), Latin American Sport Media, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15594-9_5

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sport reflects deeper historical, cultural, social, and political processes,3 I propose a very schematic chronology of the history of Chilean sports journalistic discourse during the twentieth century. The first part of this chronology is the oligarchic stage, which was extended until the beginning of the 1930s, with the magazine Los Sports being particularly relevant, and where the debates on amateurism/profess ionalism of sport were central. A second stage, during the middle decades of the century until the early 1980s, was dominated by a pro-development vision of sport, exemplarily expressed in the magazine Estadio. Finally, a third stage, which extends to the present day and coincides with the Chilean neoliberal cycle, in which the discourse of the sports press, losing its complexity and cultural significance, concentrates on the propagation of the values of the free-market culture, such as the cult of individualism, success and competition.4 Football, due to its popularity and massiveness, is a socio-cultural phenomenon whose episodes, read by the press, are commonly transformed into a “dramatization of society” in which more general and deeper issues are being discussed.5 Eduardo Santa Cruz even proposes that sports commentaries in the press are amalgamated with psychological, sociological, or politico-religious conceptions, thus the fundamental role played by the media in the construction of the fans’ common sense. It is important to underline that the press is not a neutral source of information, but on the contrary, in the words of Evgenia Fediakova, the media articulates the imaginaries, i.e., the emotional part of the speech, of the sectors represented by its editorial line. In this way, they aim to hegemonize their own patterns of behavior. However, especially in the case of the sports press, the success of a media depends, fundamentally, on representing its readers, thus generating a relationship of interdependence. 3  Eduardo Santa Cruz, Las escuelas de la identidad: la cultura y el deporte en el Chile desarrollista, Santiago, LOM, 2005. Eduardo Archetti, “Estilo y virtudes masculinas en El Gráfico: la creación del imaginario del fútbol argentino”, in Desarrollo Económico, Buenos Aires, N° 139, 1995, 419–442. 4  For more details Diego Vilches, De los triunfos morales al país ganador. Historia de identidad y la selección chilena durante la dictadura militar: 1973–1989, Santiago, Ediciones Universidad Alberto Hurtado, 2017. Luis Cárcamo, Tramas del mercado: imaginación económica, cultura pública y literatura en el Chile de fines del siglo veinte, Santiago, Cuarto Propio, 2007. 5  Umberto Eco, “El mundial y sus pompas”, in La estrategia de la ilusión, Barcelona, Lumen, 1999. Ruben Oliven y Arlei Damo, Fútbol y cultura, Buenos Aires, Norma, 2001, 87–101. Also see Norbert Elias y Eric Dunning, Deporte y ocio en el proceso de civilización, Mexico, FCE, 2014, 14.

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Indeed, as Julio Frydenberg proposes, “in the construction of identity, styles and likes are representations built in a back and forth”. Frydenberg himself argues that football, both for its role “in the construction of collective identities” and for being a “vehicle of emotional expression and meaning”, is an important “starting point for understanding certain habits, feelings and values of majority groups”. In the words of Aldo Panfichi, through football one can get to know the “joys and disappointments of many people”.6

The Oligarchic Stage of the Chilean Sports Press: The Case of Colo-Colo and Los Sports7 During the first decades of the twentieth century, Latin American elites occupied the diffusion of modern sports, which expanded along with British imperialism, as a way of introducing hygienic and race-improving precepts among the population of their still young republics. The Chilean Ley de Defensa de la Raza of 1925, in fact, highlighted the hygienic values of sport, especially in the work of purging the popular sectors from the vices of alcoholism and prostitution. At the same time, industrial bosses used football to generate clientelist networks with their workers and to discipline the workforce and increase productivity.8 6  Evgenia Fediakova, “Rusia Soviética en el imaginario político chileno, 1917–1939”, in Jorge Rojas (comp.), Por un rojo amanecer: Hacia una historia de los comunistas chilenos, Santiago, ICAL, 2000, 108–110. Julio Frydenberg, Historia social del fútbol: del amateurismo a la profesionalización, Buenos Aires, Siglo XXI, 2011. Aldo Panfichi (ed.), Ese gol existe una mirada al Perú a través del fútbol, Lima, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú Editorial Collection, 2008, 15–23. Valeska Navea, “El estadio de fútbol o sobre los espacios sacralizados en la era de la técnica”, in Román Domínguez Jiménez (ed.), Estética y Deporte, Santiago, Institute of Aesthetics, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile editions, 2021. 7  For more details Diego Vilches, “El despojo de un símbolo y el nacimiento de un héroe deportivo. Colo-Colo F.C. 1925–1929”, in  Seminario Simon Collier 2011, Santiago, RIL, 2012. 8  José S. Salas, “Decreto-lei sobre Defensa de la raza”, in Ministerio de Hijiene, Asistencia, Previsión Social i Trabajo, Recopilación oficial de leyes i decretos relacionados con el Ministerio de Hijiene, Asistencia i Previsión Social, Santiago, Imprenta Santiago, 1925, 15. McKay, Estatutos y Reglamentos McKay & Cía. Football Club, Santiago, Universo, 1922. Fanni Muñoz, “Las diversiones y el discurso modernizador. Los intentos de formación de una cultura burguesa en Lima (1890–1912)”, in Allpanchis N° 49, 1997, 58–81. Carlos Aguirre, “Los usos del fútbol en las prisiones de Lima (1900–1940), in Panfichi, Ese gol existe, 155–176. Pilar Modiano, Historia del deporte chileno. Orígenes y transformaciones. 1850–1950, Santiago, DIGEDER, 1997, 37.

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However, more than because of the elite’s attempts to use it as an instrument of social control, football quickly became popular because it was the middle and popular sectors themselves, such as the young Chilean school teachers, who expanded its practice, with its own meanings, throughout Chile and Latin America. In fact, and contrary to the warnings that it was not a sport for ladies, published in media such as Los Sports, many Chilean women played football, at least from 1905 onwards.9 The football fields, such as the aristocratic Parque Cousiño, became meeting places between social classes, where the common people got to know the sport by spontaneously playing against Englishmen and gentlemen from the main families of the city. In the Santiago tournaments, for example, oligarchic teams, such as the Santiago National or the English, met with the workers of the powerful 1 de Mayo.10 In this sense, the communist newspaper Justicia believed the formation of sports clubs, true civic and political base associations, would help in the formation and organization of the Chilean proletariat. In fact, the sports clubs, where people attended both for sport and for horizontal socializing, were key in the processes of politicization and radicalization of the Chilean popular sectors during the twentieth century.11 The 1920s were a particularly decisive decade for national political history, as it was in this period that Chile’s parliamentary system finally collapsed. Indeed, the oligarchic regime was incapable of institutionally processing the growing social conflict produced by the development of capitalism in the country. The popular sectors and especially the emerging meritocratic groups, which emerged in the wake of the expansion of the state and public education, represented a serious challenge to the

9  Brenda Elsey and Joshua Nadel, “La lucha histórica de las mujeres en el fútbol”, in Carolina Cabello y Carlos Vergara (comp.), Gol o penal. Claves para comprender y disputar el deporte en el Chile actual, Buenos Aires, CLACSO, 2020. Carolina Cabello Escudero, “El fútbol femenino en Chile: estrategias políticas feministas para discutir el deporte nacional, in Revista Ensambles, N° 12, 2020. Oliven y Damo, Fútbol y Cultura. 10  Santa Cruz, Las escuelas, 31–40; Sebastián Salinas, Por empuje y coraje. Los albos en la época amateur, Santiago, CEDEP, 2004. 11  “Los clubs obreros”, in Justicia, Santiago, 13 de junio 1925. Brenda Elsey, Citizens & Sportsmen. Fútbol & Politics in 20th-Century Chile, USA, University Texas Press, 2011.

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dominance of the oligarchy,12 which was reflected in the growing prominence of parties, unions and professional associations that tried to represent the interests of the proletariat and an ever-diffuse middle class. These were years of political instability, as reflected in the fact that between the two governments of Arturo Alessandri (1920–1924 and 1932–1938), there were four military uprisings and six different governments passed through the presidential palace.13 The emergence of new social actors, during Chile’s transformation into a mass society, opened a cultural front. Faced with the oligarchy, which structured its identity around a traditional “aristocratic way of being” defined in relation to spare time and “good tone”, young middle-class Chileans, more radical than their parents and inspired by the reformism of the Grito de Córdoba, opposed a nationalist identity that valued meritocracy, modernity, education and proposed that the State should play a central role in the development of the nation.14 This social conflict had a correlate in the discourse of the sports press in the debates against the professionalization of football. While the oligarchy defended the amateur spirit of sport, associated with the figure of the aristocratic gentleman who played sport as part of the leisure that his life as a rentier allowed him; the younger sectors demanded a modernization of sport identified, ultimately, with a progressive professionalization of men’s

12  Gabriel Salazar, Construcción del Estado en Chile (1800–1837): democracia de los pueblos, militarismo ciudadano, golpismo oligárquico, Santiago, Sudamericana, 2007. 13  The traditional “middle class” parties in Chile in the 1920s were the Democratic Party and, above all, the Radical Party, mainly the wing centered around the figure of Valentín Letelier. Patrick Barr-Melej, Reforming Chile: cultural politics, nationalism, and the rise of the middle class, USA, The University of North Carolina Press, 2002. Marcelo Casals, Clase media y dictadura en Chile: consenso, negociación y crisis (1970–1983), A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History), USA.  University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2017. Azun Candina, La frágil clase media: estudios sobre grupos medios en Chile contemporáneo, Santiago, Universidad de Chile, 2013. Véase Timothy Scully, Los partidos de centro y la evolución política chilena, Santiago, Cieplan, 1992; Sofía Correa, Con las riendas del poder. La derecha chilena en el siglo XX, Santiago, Sudamericana, 2005. 14  Barr-Melej, Reforming Chile. Alberto Arellano, David Arellano Moraga: el deportista mártir, Santiago, Atenas, 1929. Vilches, “El despojo de un símbolo”. For the Peruvian case, see David Parker, “Los pobres de la clase media: estilo de vida, consumo e identidad en una ciudad tradicional”, in Mundos interiores. Lima 1850–1950, Lima, Universidad del Pacífico. 1995.

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football.15 Indeed, as a young teacher named David Arellano argued, it was impossible to approximate the powerful “scientific game of the Orientals” without establishing training as a habitual practice among Chilean sportsmen.16 For the sectors that lived off their work to develop competitively, it was necessary to have some kind of economic support, which is why the defense of amateurism, adorned under the model of the classical Olympics, was the argument used by the oligarchy to try to maintain the practice and administration of sports within the exclusive aristocratic salons and clubs.17 The debates in the Chilean press about the professionalization of soccer expressed, in this way, the cultural conflicts caused by the emergence of the Chilean middle and popular classes. In effect, the vision of middle-­ class youth was part of a new conception of life, society, and the relationship with the State, which was in direct contradiction with the oligarchic vision. For this reason, the Magallanes board of directors, considering that his leadership would imply a clear turn towards professionalism that would denaturalize the practice of soccer, vetoed the designation of David Arellano as captain of the club’s first team.18 Arguing that the directors had “proceeded at their whim” and without taking into consideration the “good of the race”, David, along with fourteen other players, resigned and founded Colo-Colo F.  C. on April 25, 1925.19 As the break expressed a whole way of understanding soccer and society, Colo-Colo’s participation in local tournaments continued to produce tensions. The Sports spoke of Colo-Colo as a “monster” that showed no mercy to its opponents. It could not be in good tone that a team of middle-class youngsters publicly massacred, 14 against 2, a respectable team like Santiago National, a true martyr of the oligarchic Chile that was dying.20 15  Although there was no professionalism in Chile and Argentina until the 1930s, in the 1920s the practice of marrón (brown) professionalism was common, a kind of covert professionalism that also occurred in Europe. Frydenberg, Historia social del fútbol. Vilches, “El despojo de un símbolo”. Salinas, Por empuje y coraje. 16  See Arellano, David Arellano Moraga, 15. Salinas, Por empuje 17  Richard Mandell, Historia Cultural del Deporte, Barcelona, Bellaterra, 1986. 18  “El directorio del Magallanes F. C. hace una exposición pública de las incidencias últimas ocurridas en la institución”, in El Mercurio de Santiago, May 2,1925,12. 19  “Respuesta al Magallanes”, in El Mercurio of Santiago, May 3 1925, 25. Salinas, Por empuje. 36. 20  “Magallanes contra Colo Colo”, in Los Sports, Santiago, July 24 1925 and “Audax versus Colo Colo”, in Los Sports, Santiago, July 24 and July 31, 1925. Also see Los Sports, Santiago, June 19 1925, 5.

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After being crowned champions of Santiago, another editor of Los Sports criticized what he considered a real “mania of these anonymous” players for daily training, since it constituted the “greatest disrespect against our soccer rules”. Since he found it unacceptable that a team of upstarts would beat down established sportsmen, he hoped that a team would soon emerge that would simply pulverize Colo-Colo. However, in that same edition of Los Sports, another article appeared which, contrary to the previous one, congratulated the physical capacity of the albos,21 achieved precisely based on “sacrifice and frequent training”. The magazine had to recognize that Arellano’s team was an example of collective soccer, a true “machine that won and scored goals due to the absence of selfishness and personalism of its players”.22 Clearly, the oligarchic vision of life and sport demonstrated itself as reactionary, especially in the light of what was happening in the Chilean fields, where their teams were overpowered by teams such as Colo-Colo, who understood that to progress, methodical and planned work was the key. In view of the evident soccer superiority and like what the oligarchy tried to do with the reformist leaders of the Radical Party, the Chilean press developed a co-optation tactic. Thus, in March 1926 Los Sports interviewed David Arellano and, after celebrating him as a master, both on and off the field, the weekly closed the extensive interview by stating that, “for his mastery of the resources of the game; and for his exemplary conditions of culture and gentlemanliness, Bravo, David!”.23 Indeed, as the newspaper Justicia explained, not only was it “redundant to point out the quality of Colo-Colo’s players”, but the “mere presence of David Arellano’s team led to an increased number of spectators”.24 In fact, El Heraldo del Sur of the southern city of Temuco, comparing them to Uruguayan soccer, even spoke of the “oriental style” with which the players had “won fame and triumphs in Santiago”.25 In this way, and after being widely defeated in the soccer fields, the elites, together with reserving the practice of other more exclusive sports and the administration of

 Name given to Colo-Colo players and supporters.  “Colo Colo versus Brigada” and “La censura”, in Los Sports, Santiago, December 18 1925, 4. 23  “Entrevista a David Arellano”, in Los Sports, Santiago, March 19 1926, 7. 24  Justicia, Santiago, August 30 1925, 3. 25  “Colo Colo, el Club fantasma, campeón de Santiago.”, in El Heraldo del Sur, Temuco, January 5th 1926. 21 22

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professional soccer,26 had to accept, together with their media, the sporting values of an emerging Chilean middle class associated with methodical work, modernity, and meritocracy.

The Developmental Vision of Sport in Estadio The crisis of capitalism that exploded in 1914 and intensified in 1929 gave impulse to a series of import-substitution industrialization projects in Latin America that have been encompassed under the name of the “developmentalist period”. In the Chilean case, after the definitive crisis of the oligarchic regime, and pushed by the beginning of the Radical Party governments and the encouragement of the State through the creation of the Production Development Corporation (CORFO) in 1939, an ambitious project of inward industrialization was implemented which, by generating a common base of interests between capital and industrial labor, promoted important social policies.27 In line with the modernizing developmentalist project, Estadio magazine, the most important sports publication of the period, argued that it was the State’s responsibility to lead “society, and sport in particular, along the path of progress and modernity”. As Eduardo Santa Cruz has proposed, the magazine installed developmentalist and meritocratic sports values. The publication was given the task of contributing to the formation of a public that could critically appreciate the sporting spectacle and, therefore, understand that progress was conceived as the fruit of an internal effort, directed and supported by the State, planned in the long term, collective and possible to be measured through objective indicators. Jorge Vidal Bueno even suggests understanding Estadio’s journalists as “organic intellectuals of developmentalist Chile”, since they spread, in a sporting key, the traditional

 Elsey, Citizens and sportsmen.  Eric Hobsbawn, Historia del siglo XX, Buenos Aires, Crítica, 2011. Tomás Moulian, Chile actual: anatomía de un mito, Santiago, LOM, 2002, 87–89. Eugenio Tironi, El régimen Autoritario. Para una sociología de Pinochet, Santiago, DOLMEN, 1998, 54. Luis Corvalán Márquez, Del anticapitalismo al neoliberalismo en Chile, Santiago, Sudamericana, 2001, 487. About the process of political radicalization of the popular movement, see Peter Winn, Tejedores de la revolución. Los trabajadores de Yarur y la vía chilena al socialismo, Santiago, LOM, 2004. 26 27

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discourse associated with “the centrality of the State in the development” of the country.28 This vision had a high ethical component, since it was assumed that sport had a fundamental social function, so that the sportsman was transformed into an idol for “constituting a model of life”. In this sense, the values of developmentalist sport were “knowing how to lose with a smile on one’s face and to win without bragging, to loyally help the fallen opponent or the one who is left stranded on the field”. In Estadio’s words, “a good sportsman is a man in whom you can have confidence”. As there were different “models of duty” in sport, loss was to be understood as a new opportunity to improve oneself.29 This conception permeated was not exclusive to this magazine and, for the 1962 World Cup in Chile, the newspaper El Mercurio, to take the pressure off the national team, warned that “Chile is a small country and has never had victorious performances against the great powers”. In fact, “El rock del mundial”, with which the musical group Los Ramblers celebrated the organization of this event, sang that “as good Chileans” the players would show “nobility and correctness. And even in defeat, we will dance rock and roll”.30 Twelve years later, during Chile’s participation in the World Cup in Germany ’74, this perspective was still in full force. In the first phase of the Cup, the Chilean national team faced Federal Germany, Democratic Germany and, finally, Australia. Beyond the complexity of qualifying for the second round, Estadio reduced the drama of the situation by pointing out that, in a tournament attended by “the most qualified”, it was not necessary to worry about “good or bad luck”, but rather to prepare to compete in the best possible way, “with the utmost responsibility”, and “without thinking that it would have been more favorable to be in this or that group”.31 It was evident that the national team was in a disadvantageous position, to the point of considering it madness to go and play on equal terms with 28  Santa Cruz, Las escuelas. Jorge Vidal, “Intelectuales del deporte. Historia social de los Periodistas de Estadio”, unpublished, 18–28. Also see Carolina Cabello y Carlos Vergara, “De puertos y balnearios: Territorio, identidades y representaciones en el clasico porteño de Chile”, in Revista Encuentros Uruguayos, Vol XIII, N° 2, 22–40. 29  Santa Cruz, Las escuelas, 9–181. 30  El Mercurio de Santiago, May 30, 1962, 3. The song of Los Ramblers. https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=e_yafwjcf-w 31  “Se respeto el derecho de Chile”, in Estadio N° 1587, Santiago, January 8 1974, 3.

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the Germans. The national press argued that, while the poor aerobic capacity of the national team resulted in an irregular and inconsistent game, the physical superiority of the European powers was clear, and was expressed in the characteristics of their game: strong, fast, and vertical.32 According to the press, this weakness was one of the consequences of Chile’s geographical isolation.33 That is why in October 1973, when the Chilean national team played against the Soviet Union for a place in the World Cup in Germany, a few weeks after the coup d’état against the democratic government of Salvador Allende, the press was also pessimistic, so much so that it openly declared that it would fall to the USSR.34 Thus, the Chilean press had no confidence that its national team, after playing against Federal Germany and Democratic Germany, would reach the final match against Australia with any chance of qualifying for the second round of the ’74 World Cup. But that certainty did not stop the press from hoping that their national team would play an outstanding role in the World Cup, since it did not depend on obtaining a “place of honor in the final classification”. Although it was clear that we were facing one of the most brilliant generations of Chilean soccer, El Sur de Concepción commented that in the country there was “full awareness of the limitations and possibilities of the representation that has traveled to Europe. There are countries that, because they have more resources of all kinds, appear to have a better option”.35 Estadio’s tribute to the national team, when it set out on its trip to Berlin, was even more explicit: 32  “Selección inició Plan B-5”, in Estadio N° 1601, Santiago, April 16 1974, 27–31. “Estamos en el grupo más difícil”, in El Sur, Concepción, June 8 1974, 1. “Alamos”, in Estadio N° 1602, Santiago, April 23 1974, 57. Also N° 1605. 33  Since the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, and before the 1974 World Cup, the Chilean national team had only played 12 matches against European teams in Europe, losing 9, drawing 2 and winning only 1. Marín, Centenario historia total, 306–310. In America, the national team had played 24 matches against teams from the old continent. It had won in 11 matches and lost in 12 others, with only one draw. 34  “No están todos los que son”, in El Austral, Temuco, September 11 1973, 16. “Hay que jugarles de chico a grande”, in Estadio N° 1571, Santiago, September 4 1973,14–15. Finally, the national team obtained a draw in Moscow which, together with the no-show by the Soviet Union in the second round match at the National Stadium in Santiago, which was being occupied as a concentration, torture and annihilation center, the Chilean national team qualified for Germany. 35  El Sur, Concepción June 13 1974, 13. The ’74 team was made up of many Colo-Colo players, such as Carlos Cazcely, Francisco Valdés and Leonardo Véliz, who had been second place in the Copa Libertadores in 1973.

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No one in Chile will feel humiliated by a defeat. The millions of Chileans only ask them to play as if they wanted to win […] with the faith of those who can fall before an adversary, but never because of their own weaknesses and fears. If they fight like this, they will have fulfilled their duty. Nothing more and nothing less is asked of you. Good luck.36

Interestingly, this judgment was shared by La Tercera, one of the most popular newspapers in the country, which was of the opinion that good performance did not necessarily mean winning, but it did mean “competing in an honest way”. El Mercurio also stated that “losing cannot be a reason for disappointment. Defeat is within the possibilities, it is a logical occurrence in the contingencies of the game”. Taking pride in the fact that Chilean fans did not have “excessive euphoria or disconsolate grief”, it agreed that in Germany the national team was not required to do anything more than “decorum, show good soccer in front of the world powers and exhibit exemplary sportsmanship. That would justify Chile’s presence”.37 The national coach himself, Luis Alamos, declared: “We are going in calm because there was no pressure on the boys. We want Chile to laugh and that is why we are going to give our all”. The team’s captain, Francisco Valdés, was even clearer: “the objective is to qualify, but if we play well and lose there is nothing to say”.38 That is why the defeat against Federal Germany by one to zero, with an ultra-defensive scheme, was taken almost as a triumph. It was argued that the team, aware of its possibilities, “did not go crazy” looking for an equalizer. They valued the coach’s proposal, realistic and adequate, which had prevented a heavy defeat. As they had lost against a big team fighting, doing “what they could and were asked to do”, they said, according to Estadio, “That’s not how it hurts to lose!”.39 In the second match, Chile managed a creditable draw against Democratic Germany, so that, against all odds, they had a chance, although  “Once contra once”, in Estadio N° 1609, Santiago, June 11 1974, 66.  “El miedo de Alamos. La copa es el gran examen”, in La Tercera de la Hora, Santiago, June 10 1974, 21. “El fútbol chileno necesita más roce internacional”, in El Mercurio de Santiago, November 23 1973, 8. “Favoritos Brasil y Alemania. Chile en el penúltimo lugar”, in El Mercurio de Santiago, June 1 1974, 7. 38  “Valdés: “No nos vamos a achicar””, in Estadio N° 1607, 12–15. “Mostraremos que somos capaces”, in El Sur, Concepción, May 29 1974, 1. 39  “Una honrosa derrota”, in Estadio N° 1610, Santiago, June 18 1974, 4. “Resultado digno ante el favorito”, in El Mercurio de Santiago, June 15 1974, 2. “Se cumplió Plan Álamos”, in El Sur, Concepción, June 15 1974, 13. Also June 17 1974, 3. 36 37

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few, in the final match against Australia. Despite the disappointment of drawing against the weakest team in the group, when they needed to win by three goals, the “cold and objective” analysis was that “starting from nothing”, the team had overcome. El Austral even considered that the World Cup in Germany would be remembered “as one of the happiest for us. Patience and resignation, boys”. El Mercurio even spoke of an “outstanding” participation and “the high level reached by national soccer”.40 Although this developmentalist perspective of sport allowed transforming the constant losses of Chilean sport into moral triumphs that underpinned patriotic pride, this was not its objective. In fact, Estadio maintained this framework to analyze tournaments in which national teams did not even participate, as was the case of the World Cup of Argentina ’78. In the run-up to that World Cup, the magazine identified with César Luis Menotti, coach of the local team, who warned that, as “it is not through soccer that each country will be able to solve its specific problems, the obligation to win the championship is wrong”. Although his team had prepared conscientiously, if “in the end we did not perform as we wished, perhaps it is because we were not capable of doing so”.41 In this vision, sport had a high ethical component, to the point that success “was not necessarily to be a champion, but to have some value worthy of being imitated”.42 For example, and after the first phase of the World Cup in Argentina, the magazine highlighted the Italian Roberto Bettega and the argentine Jacinto Leopoldo Luque. But rather than highlighting how important they had been on the field, Estadio used the prominence they had reached to highlight their moral virtues. Thus, Bettega’s story was that of a young man who, with “strength, courage and sacrifice”, had overcome tuberculosis. By strengthening his “spirit in the forge of loneliness” he had managed to become one of “the greats of his time”. In Luque’s case, his story of effort and self-improvement was highlighted, which had led him, from a modest home, to reach a place in the Argentine national team. His example was particularly dramatic, since in the middle of the World Cup his brother had died, which, in the 40  “Eliminado Chile”, in El Sur, Concepción, June 23 1974, 15. “Chile cumplió. Eliminado del mundial”, in El Austral, Temuco, June 23 1973, 1. “Mundial de fútbol”, in El Mercurio de Santiago, June 23 1974, 25. 41  “La copa a sorbos”, in Estadio N° 1815, Santiago, May 24, 1978, 30–31. 42  Santa Cruz, Las escuelas., 107–125.

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magazine’s opinion, showed that “life usually gives difficult tests to the chosen ones” so that, when they manage to “overcome the barriers, their victory is doubly valuable, both as sportsmen and as people”.43

Neoliberal Phase The developmentalist vision of sports was maintained in Chile until the early 1980s, when, because of the economic recession of 1982, generated by the transition from a protected economic model to a neoliberal one, Estadio magazine ceased to circulate.44 The neoliberal refoundation of the country promoted by the Pinochet dictatorship and the big economic groups implied a business ideological offensive that ended up consolidating a version of the Chilean identity, which Jorge Larraín calls “postmodern business”, focused on the values of the free market culture, such as individual initiative, private companies, economic growth, competitiveness, and success. The media began to worship the figure of the successful businessman (sportsman), with a winning and cosmopolitan mentality, who, trained in competition, did not depend on the State to insert himself in the challenging global world.45 The fact that the sports magazine of the newspaper La

43  “Bettega”, in Estadio N° 1818, Santiago June 14 1978, 38–41. “El más importante”, in Estadio N° 1819, Santiago June 21 1978, 34–36. 44  Since the mid-1970s, the military dictatorship successfully attempted to promote a neoliberal re-foundation of Chile. In economic terms, this implied discarding the modernizing developmentalist (industrializing) project and adhering to a neoliberal project characterized by a strong economic opening to the exterior, with a drastic fall in tariff barriers, which generated an initial de-industrializing process. Public spending also fell and social security was privatized and handed over to the market. A labor reform was also implemented, which generated an imbalance between capital and labor that has benefited big businessmen and economic groups. The economic crisis of the early 1980s, when the dollar doubled its value overnight, directly affected the buying power of the middle and popular sectors, precisely Estadio’s target audience. Manuel Gárate, La revolución capitalista de Chile (1973–2003), Santiago, Ediciones Universidad Alberto Hurtado, 2012. Vilches, De los triunfos morales al país ganador. 45  Bernardo Subercaseaux, Chile ¿un país moderno?, Santiago, Ediciones B, 1996, 71–75. Larraín, Identidad chilena, Santiago, LOM, 2001, 163–171. Also Sofia Correa [et. alt.],, Historia del siglo XX chileno, Santiago, Sudamericana, 2001, 334. Corvalán, Del anticapitalismo al neoliberalismo. Cárcamo, Tramas del mercado. Eduardo Santa Cruz “Fútbol y nacionalismo de mercado en el Chile actual”, in Pablo Alabarces, Futbologías: fútbol, identidad y violencia en América Latina, Buenos Aires, CLACSO, 2003, 199–224.It is important to underline that this successful independent Chilean businessman was no more than a mere rhetorical figure, since in reality the large Chilean economic groups benefited

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Nación was entitled Triunfo46 illustrates the point to which the cult of success became one of the central values of Chilean society at the end of the twentieth century. The Chilean press, categorically censuring moral triumphs, began to demand a soccer that played to win. Fortín Mapocho, a newspaper in opposition to Pinochet, considered that the qualifiers for the World Cup Italy 90 were the stage to demonstrate “a change of mentality”, which implied “playing to win, not for a deserved draw, nor to lose honorably”.47 Although qualifying for Italy meant eliminating Brazil, El Mercurio declared that “Chile has the obligation not to be lukewarm in the face of a single slogan: to win no matter what”.48 While Ercilla magazine called on “not to shrink before these giants”, Qué Pasa assured that before “Brazil’s morenitos49” the Chilean players would fight “hand to hand, with everything, putting in iron,50 corralling them. And, in the end, they will conjugate the verb campeonar.51 We are already betting on a winner. Our prediction: 5x0”.52 The call to make home advantage in the match against Brazil was transversal. Fortín reminded that “matches are not always won on the field”, adding that “our lions, with the help of their people, will not back down”.53 At home and cheered on by “80,000 people” they could not “let the opportunity pass”.54 Orlando Aravena, Chilean coach, insisted that “we had to make the Brazilians feel that they are visitors. The match will be won by all of us”.55 discretionally from the dictatorship, for example, in the privatization processes of stateowned companies. 46  Triumph, Victory. 47  “Si los leones no reculan, nuestro equipo tampoco reculará ante Brasil”, in Fortín Mapocho, Santiago, August 10 1989, 9. 48  There had been 35 matches between the two teams. Brazil had won 25 times, while Chile had only won 5 times. El Mercurio de Santiago, August 13 1989, A16 and C11. El Austral, Temuco, August 13 1989, 27. 49  A derogatory word for a black person. 50  Chileanism that refers to acting with impetus, ferociously. 51  Become championship winners. 52  “!Vamos Chile!”, in Qué Pasa N° 957, Santiago, August 10 1989, 41. “Público al estadio”, in Ercilla N° 2819, Santiago, August 9 to 15 1989, 47–48. 53  “Si los leones no reculan”. 54  “Chile tras una sola consigna: ganar”, in El Mercurio de Santiago, August 13 1989, C11. 55  “Ganaremos”, in La Época, Santiago, August 13 1989, 26.

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According to El Sur, excessive illusions were being created, which were related to the psychological effect of the imports boom of the late 1980s, since it was this that had put an end to the traditional Chilean inferiority complex, which could now “show off shamelessly” what were once considered “signs of unnecessary ostentation”. This new character had crossed “other planes and here we are before playing against Brazil, where the press takes it for granted that we will beat the Cariocas.56” Calling not to “lose the sense of proportions”, the newspaper complained that sports commentators judged sporting performance exclusively in the light of partial results. Indeed, if one team won, everything about its performance was perfect and its rival showed a countless number of chronic defects. But it was enough to turn the scoreboard upside down to remember that the team that had failed in everything, now possessed class and was even the favorite.57 After drawing with Brazil in a scandalous match in Santiago,58 the Chilean national team was obliged to beat the Scratch at the Maracana Stadium. It was very complicated, since they had never beaten them in an official match and, furthermore, because public opinion, as well as the team, was absolutely certain that FIFA would not allow the three-time champions to miss Italy 1990. In this context, the press called on the national fans to show their unreserved confidence in the national team. Before the nearly 12,000 people who came to the Santiago airport, the members of the national team, visibly touched by a spectacle never seen before, promised to get the triumph that the whole country was demanding from them.59 Although it was accepted that their opponents were superior in soccer terms, Triunfo argued that the Chilean team was “a difficult opponent, in the style of practical, ugly, but useful soccer”. The

 Said this way to Brazilian people.  “El nuevo optimismo”, in El Sur, Concepción, August 12 1989, 3. “Como lo veo lo digo”, in El Sur, Concepción, July 8 1989, 10. “Wimbledon”, in El Sur, Concepción August 7 1987, 3. 58  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S_h1l3ytDQ. 59  The group also included Venezuela, which lost its two matches against Brazil and Chile, but the goal difference favored Brazil and, therefore, the Chileans were obliged to win in Rio de Janeiro. “Todo Chile con el alma en Maracaná”, in La Tercera, Santiago, September 3 1989, 20–22. “Jugaremos para un recibimiento aún mejor”, in El Mercurio de Santiago, September 3 1989, C10. Also see “Una despedida estilo “Luis Miguel””, in La Época, Santiago, September 3 1989, 24. 56 57

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team’s captain, Roberto “Condor” Rojas, declared that they had to “win to avoid repeating old excuses” and that “this group is hungry for glory”.60 The team was clear that any result other than qualification would be unacceptable to Chilean fans. Two months earlier, when Chile lost against Argentina with a defensive scheme, the press ironized that they had gone from “moral triumphs to the era of strategic defeats”. The criticism was that they had fallen “expressing a fear that will never have a valid explanation” and that “by mousing61 we will only get honorable defeats, which only serve for the coaches to make childish excuses”.62 That is why, although he considered that one could not confuse the “shirt with the honor of a country” or “overestimate a dispute that has no other character than a simple game”, Fortín columnist Eduardo Loyola emphasized, before the decisive match against Brazil, his confidence “in the courage, the manliness and the class of the criollo63 players”. The qualification depended exclusively on the players who “wet the shirt and put their legs into it64 […] I believe in our players, in burying for good the misfortune, the frustration, the second places and the hopes that do not materialize, let’s go Chile carajo!.65 Looking to install a winning mentality, and to make the local condition weigh, the press at the end of the century played a leading role in the transformation of the once sober Chilean fan into the furious and militant fan of today.

Conclusions The first two stages of the Chilean sports press discourse were characterized by the spreading of complex ideologies, often traditional, such as race, gender or, in the developmentalist stage, a modernizing vision that, 60  “Chile muestra su verdad”, in El Sur, Concepción, August 13 1989, 12. “El día llegará”, in Triunfo N° 161, Santiago, July 3 1989, 42. 61  Chileanism that refers to the use of a defensive scheme in soccer. 62  “El miedo a ganar”, in Análisis, N° 288, 44. “Cuando el respeto fue temor”, in La Época, Santiago, July 3 1989, 13–14. “Entre el cielo y el infierno”, in Triunfo N° 162, Santiago July 10 1989, 3–5. “No basta un milagro”, in Revista del Deporte de El Mercurio, Santiago, July 10 1989, 7. 63  In the first instance it is a term that referred to children born in Chile whose parents were European. Then the context is used to define a style of play or a particular cultural product. 64  Refers to the fact that the players must do their best, playing with courage and bravery 65   Translated literally as fuck, it is also used positively as a word that emphasizes encouragement. Eduardo Loyola,!Vamos Chile carajo!, in Fortín Mapocho, Santiago, September 1 1989, 9.

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together with a high ethical component, associated sports with the values of meritocratic and developmentalist Chile. On the contrary, during the neoliberal stage, marked by the predominance of the television industry, the discourse of the sports press has spread light ideologies and, more specifically, a cult of the consuming ostentation of the winners and successful. In this context, where complex conceptions of the world do not underlie, the current hegemonic sports discourse is characterized by a vision of exaltation in which triumph has a value in itself. In this sense, indeed, the Chilean press discourse has lost its richness, since it has lost the capacity, it had in the twenties and the central decades of the twentieth century to represent democratizing political projects.

References Acuña, Pedro. Deportes, masculinidades y cultura de masas, Santiago: Ediciones Universidad Alberto Hurtado Ediciones, 2021. Aguirre, Carlos. “Los usos del fútbol en las prisiones de Lima (1900–1940)”. In: Panfichi, Aldo. Ese gol existe: una mirada al Perú a través del fútbol. Lima: Fondo Editorial de la PUCP, 2014, p. 155–176. Archetti, Eduardo Archetti, “Estilo y virtudes masculinas en El Gráfico: la creación del imaginario del fútbol argentino”. In: Desarrollo económico. Buenos Aires: n° 139, 1995, 419–442. Arellano, Alberto. David Arellano Moraga: el deportista mártir. Santiago: Atenas, 1929. Barr-Melej, Patrick. Reforming Chile: cultural politics, nationalism, and the rise of the middle class. North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002. Cabello, Carolina. “El fútbol femenino en Chile: estrategias políticas feministas para discutir el deporte nacional”. In: Revista Ensambles. N° 12, 2020. Cabello, Carolina; Vergara, Carlos. “De puertos y balnearios: Territorio, identidades y representaciones en el clasico porteño de Chile”. In: Revista Encuentros Uruguayos. Vol. XIII, n° 2, 2020, 22–40. Candina, Azun. La frágil clase media: estudios sobre grupos medios en Chile contemporáneo. Santiago: Universidad de Chile, 2013. Cárcamo, Luis Cárcamo. Tramas del mercado: imaginación económica, cultura pública y literatura en el Chile de fines del siglo veinte. Santiago: Cuarto Propio, 2007. Casals, Marcelo. Clase media y dictadura en Chile: consenso, negociación y crisis (1970–1983). Wisconsin: PhD History, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2017. Correa, Sofía. Con las riendas del poder: la derecha chilena en el siglo XX. Santiago: Sudamericana, 2005.

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Correa, Sofía. (et al.). Historia del siglo XX chileno. Santiago: Sudamericana, 2001. Corvalán, Luis. Del anticapitalismo al neoliberalismo en Chile. Santiago: Sudamericana, 2001. Eco, Umberto. “El mundial y sus pompas”. In: La estrategia de la ilusión. Barcelona: Lumen, 1999. Elias, Norbert; Dunning, Eric. Deporte y ocio en el proceso de civilización. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2014. Elsey, Brenda. Citizens & sportsmen: fútbol & politics in 20th-Century Chile. Texas: University Texas Press, 2011. Elsey, Brenda; Nadel, Joshua. “La lucha histórica de las mujeres en el fútbol”. In: Cabello, Carolina; Vergara, Carlos (Eds.). Gol o penal: claves para comprender y disputar el deporte en el Chile actual. Buenos Aires: CLACSO, 2020. El Austral. Temuco: 1973–1989. El Heraldo del Sur. Temuco: 1925–1926. El Mercurio. Santiago: 1925a–1989. El Sur. Concepción: 1973–1989. Estadio. Santiago: 1962–1978. Fediakoya, Evgenia. “Rusia Soviética en el imaginario político chileno, 1917–1939”. In: Rojas, Jorge (Ed.). Por un rojo amanecer: Hacia una historia de los comunistas chilenos. Santiago: ICAL, 2000. Fortín Mapocho. Santiago: 1989a. Frydenberg, Julio. Historia social del fútbol: del amateurismo a la profesionalización. Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI, 2011. Justicia. Santiago: 1925b. Gárate, Manuel. La revolución capitalista de Chile (1973–2003). Santiago: Ediciones Universidad Alberto Hurtado, 2012. Hobsbawm, Eric. Historia del siglo XX. Buenos Aires: Crítica, 2011. Larraín. Identidad chilena. Santiago: LOM, 2001, 163–171. La Época. Santiago: 1989b. López, Vicente. Presidentes, directivos y propietarios: representaciones discursivas sobre el campo dirigencial del fútbol profesional chileno y sus agentes protagónicos. Santiago: PhD Sociology; Universidad de Chile, 2019. Los Sports. Santiago: 1925–1927. McKay. Estatutos y reglamentos. Santiago: Universo, 1922. Mandell, Richard. Historia cultural del deporte. Barcelona: Bellaterra, 1986. Modiano, Pilar. Historia del deporte chileno: orígenes y transformaciones. 1850–1950. Santiago: DIGEDER, 1997. Moulian, Tomás. Chile actual: anatomía de un mito. Santiago: LOM, 2002. Muñoz, Fanni. “Las diversiones y el discurso modernizador: los intentos de formación de una cultura burguesa en Lima (1890–1912)”. In: Allpanchis. n° 49, 1997, p. 58–81.

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Navea, Valeska. “El estadio de fútbol o sobre los espacios sacralizados en la era de la técnica”. In: Jiménez, Román Domínguez (Ed.). Estética y deporte. Santiago: Institute of Aesthetics, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 2021. Oliven, Ruben; Damo, Arlei. Fútbol y cultura. Buenos Aires: Norma, 2001. Panfichi, Aldo (Ed.). Ese gol existe: una mirada al Perú a través del fútbol. Lima: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2008. Parker, David. “Los pobres de la clase media: estilo de vida, consumo e identidad en una ciudad tradicional”. In: Mundos interiores: Lima 1850–1950. Lima: Universidad del Pacífico. 1995. Qué Pasa. Santiago: 1989c. Salinas, Sebastián Salinas. Por empuje y coraje: los albos en la época amateur. Santiago: CEDEP, 2004. Santa Cruz, Eduardo. Las escuelas de la identidad: la cultura y el deporte en el Chile desarrollista. Santiago: LOM, 2005. Santa Cruz. “Fútbol y nacionalismo de mercado en el Chile actual”. In: Pablo Alabarces. Futbologías: fútbol, identidad y violencia en América Latina. Buenos Aires: CLACSO, 2003, p. 199–224. Salas, José Santos. “Decreto-lei sobre Defensa de la raza”. In: Ministerio de Hijiene, Asistencia, Previsión Social i Trabaj. In: Recopilación oficial de leyes i decretos relacionados con el Ministerio de Hijiene, Asistencia i Previsión Social. Santiago: Imprenta Santiago, 1925, 15p. Salazar, Gabriel. Construcción del Estado en Chile (1800–1837): democracia de los pueblos, militarismo ciudadano, golpismo oligárquico. Santiago: Sudamericana, 2007. Scully, Timothy. Los partidos de centro y la evolución política chilena. Santiago: Cieplan, 1992. Subercaseaux, Bernardo. Chile ¿un país moderno? Santiago: Ediciones B, 1996. Tironi, Eugenio. El régimen autoritario: para una sociología de Pinochet. Santiago: Dolmen, 1998. Vidal, Jorge. “Intelectuales del deporte: historia social de los periodistas de Estadio”. (unpublished). Vilches, Diego. “El despojo de un símbolo y el nacimiento de un héroe deportivo: Colo-Colo F.C. 1925–1929”. In: Seminario Simon Collier 2011. Santiago: RIL, 2012. Vilches, Diego. De los triunfos morales al país ganador: historia de identidad y la selección chilena durante la dictadura militar: 1973–1989. Santiago: Ediciones Universidad Alberto Hurtado, 2017. Winn, Peter. Tejedores de la revolución: los trabajadores de Yarur y la vía chilena al socialismo. Santiago: LOM, 2004.

‘Playing sport is building nation’: Issues of Colombian Football and Nation in the Magazines Estadio and Semana during the El Dorado Professional League (1948–1954) Peter Watson

Introduction Football in Colombia as a mass, popular, national phenomenon was a relatively late development compared with much of the continent. Though football was introduced to different parts of the country in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, a Colombian national team did not participate in the South American Championship until 1945, a full 29 years after the first tournament in 1916. It was not until 1948 when the first national professional league was founded shortly after the

P. Watson (*) Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 B. Buarque de Hollanda, L. G. Burlamaqui (eds.), Latin American Sport Media, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15594-9_6

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assassination of Liberal politician Jorge Eliécer Gaitán. This murder led to an explosion of national political violence between Liberals and Conservatives, a period known as La Violencia (1948–1958); the football league was rushed into operation as a pacifying device against this backdrop of violence. The first six years of this league (1948–1954), organized by the Bogotá-based Dimayor organisation in competition with the FIFA-­ affiliated Adefútbol located in Barranquilla, has become known as the El Dorado period, notorious for the influx of foreign football stars who arrived attracted by the high wages paid by Colombian clubs. Many Argentinians and Uruguayan players signed had been on strike due to contract and wage demands, and Colombian clubs took advantage of the situation to offer them lucrative contracts to the anger of their original clubs and football federations. As a consequence the Dimayor league was portrayed as a ‘pirate league’ and was disaffiliated by FIFA.  Colombian clubs and the national team were unable to compete in official international competitions. Despite this, the arrival of stars such as Adolfo Pedernera, Néstor Rossi, Alfredo DiStéfano, Heleno De Freitas, and Neil Franklin stimulated huge interest with crowds flocking to the stadiums. This spectator excitement was accompanied by a parallel rise in newspaper and radio attention reporting on matches and discussing issues related to sport and nation, meaning that football in Colombia became an authentic mass phenomenon (Jaramillo Racines 2011: 122). Consequently, football also became a matter of state attention and potential national value, ripe for exploitation by press and politicians attempting to promote modernizing national narratives (Jaramillo Racines 2011: 124). The El Dorado league, however, was a short-lived boom; due to international pressure, in the Pact of Lima in November 1951, agreements were made for footballers to return to their original clubs by 1954 and Colombia being readmitted into FIFA.  Soon after, stars began to leave Colombia, crowds dwindled and many clubs were bankrupted. The juncture of La Violencia and El Dorado is a foundational national moment, marking a ‘before and after’, not just for football, but for the nation (Jaramillo Racines 2011: 127; Quitián Roldán and Urrea Beltrán 2016a: 166). This chapter analyses how sport and national questions converged and were discussed during this important period in two Bogotá-­ based weekly magazines with a national audience: the current affairs publication Semana and the sport-focused Estadio. Semana was founded in 1946 by future Liberal president Alberto Lleras Camargo in 1946, folded in 1961, but was eventually re-launched in 1983. Before the start

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of the El Dorado league, sports news was limited to one column of news in the magazine. The first fixtures of the league in August 1948, for example, merit only two short paragraphs. By the end of the year though, there were more columns dedicated to sports news, and a first footballer, Santa Fe’s goalkeeper Julio ‘Chonto’ Gaviria was on the front cover (Semana 14 December 1948c) marking the impact of the league. Footballers on the cover would become more common, with the likes of Efraín ‘el Caimán’ Sánchez, Adolfo Pedernera, Neil Franklin, George Mountford and managers Carlos Aldabe and Adelfo Magallanes featuring. Estadio was launched in 1947 under the directorship of Hernando Ferro Gómez, later to be replaced by Santiago Pardo Uribe in 1950. It had a hiatus in 1948, but then was re-established in 1949 given the popularity of professional football, but would only last until mid-1951, effectively reporting on the boom years of El Dorado. Estadio wrote on a variety of sports, predominately male but also female,1 with football tending to dominate content. Here, I argue that in these two publications sport became a focal point for wider debates about the state and improvement of the Colombian race and nation, debates foregrounded in the 1910s and 1920s. By that time, sport had moved from being an elite pursuit to becoming envisaged an instrument for educating and ‘civilizing’ different classes. Discussions in intellectual and political circles outlined sport’s potential role for modernity and civilisation, issues relating to improving health and values for Colombians while reducing violence and vice, and promoting Colombia’s name abroad. In the El Dorado period, given the backdrop of la Violencia, similar debates were held in the press. In addition to these discussions, I shall focus on how other issues related to sport’s role for national development were discussed in Estadio and Semana, including the problem of criollos vs extranjeros (native players vs foreigners), developing a truly national football, and criticisms over government actions and the lack of support for sport. I hope, therefore, that this chapter will serve as a necessary contribution from a Colombian perspective to analyses of press, sport and nation in Latin America at key historical moments when national identity was being debated. 1  Several women featured on Estadio’s cover, the first being tennis player Rosita Rivas Umaña in edition 15 on 6 August 1949, followed by golfer Beatriz Magner in edition 24, on 9 October 1949. Male footballers dominate front covers.

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Sport, Press and Nation in Colombia pre-El Dorado In her analysis of football in Medellín in the 1950s and 1960s, Bolívar-­ Ramírez wrote that ‘footballers’ and sportswriters’ cultural initiatives deserve our attention precisely because neither the state nor collective actors promoted professional football at this time’ (2018: 585). Although there was some state involvement in the El Dorado period and it has received some academic attention given its foundational nature, there has been scant analysis of the role of the press and how the league was reported and interrogated. The tendency has been to discuss El Dorado’s impact on society as a mass spectacle. Academics agree that football served as a sort of ‘circus’ (Dávila 1991: 18) that was exploited by the Ospina Pérez government (1946–1950) to ensure that the public was focussing on football and not on national social reality (Ramos Valencia 1998: 53–54; Jaramillo Racines 2011: 120). It is seen as a classic case of football as a pacifying device, mobilized to calm national political tensions and impact of La Violencia (Uribe 1976: 9; Zuluaga 2005: Galvis Ramírez 2008: 42; 157; Jaramillo Racines 2011: 122; Quitián Roldán 2013a: 30, 2013b: 61; Campomar 2014: 207; Ruiz Patiño 2017a: 41; Watson 2022: 43). The circus was not even a Colombian one; the sheer number of foreign players imported by most teams meant that the principal characteristic of the spectacle was its international component (Jaramillo 2011: 126; Quitián Roldán and Urrea Beltrán 2016b: 61); Colombia was ‘merely the location for a predominantly Latin American cast of football stars to entertain the Colombian public’ (Watson 2022: 44). This mass influx of imports meant that Colombian footballers were underappreciated and often relegated to the substitutes bench (Zuluaga 2005: 157). Their development, and that of Colombian football was stymied and stunted (Galvis Ramírez 2008: 48). No sense of a Colombian footballing style or identity was developed during this period (Uribe 1976: 9; Watson 2022: 44–45), a feature considered essential for football’s deployment for sporting nationalism and national identity construction (Archetti 1999: 59; Alabarces 2002: 43). The sense of differentiation with an ‘other’ (in this case, predominantly Argentinian football given the presence of so many Argentinians in the league) needed to articulate a Colombian style of play was unfortunately more based on a perceived difference in technical ability and art of play, embedding a sense of Colombian inferiority in the continental footballing hierarchy that would endure until the 1980s (Watson 2022: 48–49). Despite these problems, the football spectacle was arguably the most

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glorious period of Colombian club football (Arteaga 1991: 67; Galvis Ramírez 2008: 51). Despite the absence of native players, success could be potentially translated into national benefit, given the exploits of the famed Millonarios team nicknamed the ‘Blue Ballet’, who won the league in 1949, 1951, 1952 and 1953 and defeated Real Madrid 4-2 in Spain in 1952. This team, according to Colombian ambassador, Guillermo León Valencia, ‘achieved more in 90 minutes in Spain than I have in two years’ (Dávila 1991: 17), and, in fact, took on the ‘los embajadores’ (ambassadors) nickname being a rare referent of Colombian success (Quitián Roldán 2013a: 34; Jaramillo 2011: 126). El Dorado is understood as the period when football in Colombia finally moved from being seen from a perspective of social distinction, as a civilizing instrument and leisure pastime, to being principally a pure spectacle with a commercial imperative (Ruiz Patiño 2017a: 40; Arias Trujillo 2020: 85). As this chapter demonstrates, this role for sport for national benefit remained a topic of discussion in the written press. El Dorado did put Colombia on the world footballing map for the first time, although mostly in negative terms. It was criticized as a ‘pirate’ league, and due to the violence of the political backdrop ‘ingrained ideas about Colombian people as “barbarian” and “savage” reached new audiences’ (Braun 2015: 378–382, cited in Bolívar 2018: 585). The mass media has undoubtedly ‘played a key role in the history of modern sports as components of national culture’ (Mauro 2020: 933), being a vital public channel where ideas about the nation and national identity can be invented, promoted, contested and reinvented. Sport development was also linked to national questions as modernist thought associated the practice of sport with notions of civilization and progress, the health of the nation, ‘race’ and moral values (Real 1998: 17; Boyle 2009: 20). As the practice and popularity of sport increased, so did reports in the written press, with journalists arguing in favour of the modernist values sport promoted. The media also has a ‘key mythologizing role’ (Rowe et  al. 1998: 121; Mauro 2020: 934–935) which can ‘advocate, shape and generate new habits amongst the citizenry, encouraging active participation at both a physical and ideological level’ (Rowe et al. 1998: 121). This habit was certainly present in the Latin America media as the practice of sport and football grew and press reporting followed suit. Sibaja, focusing on crisis narratives in the 1950s in Argentina, argues that Argentinian sports journalists ‘regarded themselves as “respectable” citizens whose responsibility was to shine a spotlight on a series of crises

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affecting fútbol and society as a whole (2020: 358). This was certainly the case in Colombia in El Dorado. Colombian men of letters regarded writing in the press as a means of educating and civilizing the country, attempting to reduce the evils of vice and political partisanship (Castro-Gómez 2009: 67). In the Colombian context, Ruiz Patiño argues that there is a parallel process of the development and consolidation of sport and press coverage (2009: 104). Initial, sporadic reporting illustrated sport in urban centres as an elite leisure activity, signifying class distinction and differentiation (Hernández Acosta 2013: 45; Quitián 2013a: 26–27; Ruiz Patiño 2009: 42; 2017a: 32;). Gradually sport and physical activity developed as a vehicle for education and betterment of other classes, as debates about the state of the nation and degeneration of the Colombian ‘race’ became prevalent in politics and press in the second decade of the twentieth century. Discussions in the 1st Pedagogical Congress in 1917, for example, were reported on in detail by El Tiempo newspaper (Quitián Roldán 2013a: 29), with sport envisaged as a fundamental tool for Colombia to modernize and for the improvement of Colombians in general (Hernández Acosta 2013: 45 and 57; Quitián Roldán 2013a: 30; Ruiz Patiño 2009, 2017b: 63–64). Sport into the 1920s was still only sporadically reported in newspapers (Arias 2020: 73), but in 1924 a specialized section called Página Deportiva appeared in the Sunday edition of El Tiempo with the express aim of raising interest in sport, benefitting Colombian youth and reducing the temptation of vice (El Tiempo 17 August 1924, p.3 cited in Ruiz Patiño 2009: 103–105; Hernández 2013: 45), responding to an awareness of greater national practice of sport (Ruiz Patiño 2009: 101). In the same year, Patria: Revista de ideas was founded which also highlighted the importance of the practice of sport for hygiene, health and the general benefit of Colombians (Arias 2020: 73). As we shall see, Estadio in particular would continue to promote such ideas positioning sport as a counterpoint to partisan political violence and perceived national deficiencies. Following the first significant state intervention into regulating sport with Law 80 of 1925 (Ruiz Patiño 2009; Hernández 2013: 48; Quitián Roldán 2013a: 20) sport became a space for national encounters with the holding of the first National Olympic Games in Cali in 1927 (Hernández 2013: 49). As sporting practice increased and became more heterogeneous across the country in the 1930s, so did reporting, catering for new and wider audiences at a national and regional level (Arias 2020: 74). Although most reporting focused on men’s sporting endeavours, Ruiz Patiño does

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note that women’s sport was reported on in the third National Olympic Games in Barranquilla in 1935 (2017b: 66). The lack of national leagues and regular competitions, however, meant that into the 1940s, football reporting was still limited and did not enjoy specific sections in newspapers or regular coverage (Ramos Valencia 1998: 53). The press would be a focal point for supporting Colombia’s entrance into international sporting competition (Hernández 2013: 51). Colombia became affiliated to FIFA in 1935, founded the Colombian Olympic Committee in the following year, and hosted the first Bolivarian Games in 1938. This international participation was based on a need to ‘appear’ on an international stage and be seen to be competing in modern, civilized events (Hernández 2013: 59; Quitián Roldán and Urrea Beltrán 2016b: 54) but it was not until 1945 when the national football team first competed in the South American Championships. The first national teams, however, were not fully representative, being mostly comprised of players from the Atlántico region where Adefútbol was based. There is an early association of national football team and nation, though, made in Estadio after the 1947 South American championships, when the team came bottom of the table. The footballing performance and off-field behaviour was strongly criticised in national terms: ‘It matters, and matters a lot, that the sporting name of Colombia is not undone by the poor conduct of several footballers and a few directors, who, in a lamentable moment, forgot about the traditional culture that our country has displayed in international events’ (Estadio 4 January 1948: 1).2 Semana also reported on the ‘national scandal’ of the ‘unusual spectacle given by a drunk Colombian footballer in Guayaquil’, reporting that the sporting authorities and Minister of Education would be conducting an inquest (Semana 3 January 1948a: 18). Colombia’s lowly place in the continental hierarchy is already embedded with their footballing backwardness apparent in Estadio’s tournament report: ‘And now, onto the “boys’”.3 Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia have learned little. Their game is completely rudimentary’ (Estadio 4 January 1948: 3). Colombia’s game is described as being backward, lacking intelligence and movement, which are the ‘key of modern football and it seems like the boys have not been able or willing to learn this lesson’ (ibid.: 3, italics my own). This footballing inferiority is  All translations from the original Spanish are by the author.  ‘Chicos’ is the original. in Spanish. This has a dual potential meaning of ‘boys’ or ‘little ones’. 2 3

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also evident in reports of pre-El Dorado visits from Vélez Sarsfield (Argentina) and River Plate (Uruguay) to play exhibition matches. These were ‘two powerful teams, the likes of which we have not seen in many years’ (Semana 31 January 1948b: 19) who showed Colombia how good football should be played as ‘the players from Bogotá are no masters in the art of playing football’ (Semana 14 February 1948c: 29). There were, in fact, several foreigners playing for Colombian club sides in regional leagues at the time, ‘showing the inexpert native4 footballers something about technique and footballing ability’ (Dávila 1991: 13). The Colombian press were painfully aware of native players’ limited footballing qualities and knowledge compared to other South American nations, and looked enviously at the international renown gained by Uruguay (who had won the Olympics in 1924 and 1928 and hosted and won the first World Cup in 1930) and Argentina (Olympic and World Cup runners up in 1928 and 1930).

El Dorado: Popularity, Modernity and Benefits for the Nation The press were quick to see the benefits of the launch of the professional league organized by Dimayor. The embarrassing performances of the national team in the South American Championships, evident regionalism and questionable organisation of football by Adefútbol, coupled with entrepreneurial awareness of businessmen such as Alfonso Senior, strengthened press and public support for Dimayor establishing a professional national league. Although only ten teams figured and six cities (Barranquilla, Bogotá, Cali, Manizales, Medellín and Pereira5) were represented in 1948, the league was a success, even before the major stars arrived in the second season. At the end of the first season, Semana commented ‘professional football has produced a real and prolonged sporting fever in the country. The names of the teams and best players are more popular in Colombia than those of any contemporary politician or poet’ (Semana 4 December 1948d: 24). This success grew substantially in 1949 after the signing of Adolfo Pedernera that dominated national headlines. The excitement 4  ‘Criollo’ is perhaps best translated as ‘native’ or ‘Colombian’ footballers in the context in which it is used in the press articles cited in this chapter. It has other historical meanings depending on its context. 5  Universidad were actually from Bogotá but played their home games in Pereira.

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stimulated by the press was such that Colombia seemed to be suffering from a national case of ‘Pedernitis’(Gómez 12 March 2015). Semana, for example, reported that the owner of shop called ‘Marisol’, Mario de Castro, had put a sign up reading ‘Talking about Pedernera during work hours is prohibited’ (Semana 9 July 1949c: 22). Estadio attributed profound national importance to the league and arrival of Pedernera and other stars. They claimed that ‘we are obviously experiencing one of the most brilliant sporting eras in our country’ (Estadio 20 August 1949f: 2), and that ‘the first two championships marked the start of a new era in Colombian life’ (Estadio 10 December 1949o: 2). A year later, they proclaimed that ‘the creation of Dimayor is one of the most important events in Colombian history in the last 50 years’ (Estadio 18 February 1950a: 29). These are hyperbolic claims, but indicative of the fervour created by the league and acknowledging its impact upon cultural practice, predominantly in urban areas. Both newspapers noted economic benefits due to mass spectatorship across the country (though both would also criticize the drive for rapid profit over long-term sustainability), but, more importantly, it was seen to have awakened a new interest in the practice of sport. Sport had ‘become one of the principal activities of the country. With the rise of football, there has been a surge of sport in general everywhere’ (Estadio 13 August 1949e: 12). Football had ‘changed urban customs and even the mentality of a large mass of our people. It has been the entrance door to sports venues in general’ (Estadio 10 December 1949o: 2). The league and media reporting were helping to stimulate a national (though urban) culture of sport, evident in both spectating and practice. With this new mentality seemingly inspiring a mass of Colombians, sportswriters returned to the potential benefits of sport for the nation, realizing this was an important juncture for promoting modernizing values attributed to sport. Editorials in Estadio extolled the impact that sport could have on health, education, and improvement of the race, in short, in civilizing the nation. Sport had, according to these proponents of sport-­ based modernity, ‘revolutionized many aspects of the country, giving it a marked civilized profile’ (Estadio 17 September 1949i: 2). Influential journalist Gonzalo Rueda Caro6 wrote an important editorial on 27 August 1949, in a letter from Switzerland where he was Colombian vice consul. He drew comparisons between the civilized Switzerland, where 6  In addition to his renown as a journalist, Rueda Caro was one of the founding members and first president of Santa Fe football club, who won the first championship in 1948.

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‘sport has not only strengthened them physically it has also, more importantly, made them forget political grudges, daily disagreements and tedium’, and Colombia, where, given the absence of sporting practice ‘the sad, discoloured masses, crowded together in canteens or town squares, listen to speeches that they don’t fully understand but which always sow subconscious seeds of hate’ (Estadio 27 August 1949g: 2). For Rueda Caro, sport could be ‘an educating force, vital as an element to replace politics and alcohol’, a regular custom to replace the ‘only regular festival of election days that just lead to blood and revenge’ (ibid.: 2). Describing the league as ‘the greatest Colombian achievement in recent years’, he demanded that the country’s leaders make the most of this sporting opportunity to ‘promote the practice of sport in every corner of Colombia, and in this way, transform our country into a true democracy where every citizen […] has the right to be healthy, to find a path for life, to find pleasant distraction and the happy and noble education that sport provides when its true meaning is taught’ (ibid.: 2). Editorials such as these are highly aspirational, utopic, and attributing far greater power to sport than it could reasonably be expected to wield. They are, however, also indicative of a continuation of discussions of sport for the benefit of the nation prevalent in the late 1910s and 1920s, where organized sport practice was still in its relative infancy compared to Southern Cone countries in particular. The football league was seen by sportswriters as a launch pad to attempt to solve the painfully visible national deficiencies being expressed at the time in political rancour and bloody conflict. Sport was regularly positioned as an antidote to the national affliction of partisan politics expressed in antagonism, violence and divisive rivalries that undermined any semblance of national unity, particularly given the background of La Violencia. The following comments exemplify this mooted role for sport as a tool to pacify political tensions: Today, when the country finds itself convulsed to its very roots as never before, sport increasingly rises up above the violent dispute that has contaminated all citizen activities. […] The embers of the heated political atmosphere even reach the stadium gates, but they do not pass through them. Despite the immense crowds of all social classes and political representations who occupy the stands, the stadiums remain as the only places in the country that represent the most authentic and affirmative example of civilisation. […] We are convinced that sport, and hundreds of thousands of Colombians agree with us, can be called upon to resolve many of the grave problems that

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are putting our country at the risk of dissolution. “Playing sport is building country”,7 now becomes a phrase ready to assume most authentic realism (Estadio 29 October 1949n: 2).

New regional sporting rivalries and violent crowd behaviour did become an occasional phenomenon, for example in a match between Deportivo Cali and Santa Fe in 1949. On that occasion ‘a numerous, rude and indolent crowd’ and ‘uncivilized and aggressive fanatics’ engaged in fighting and throwing stones. These were described as ‘outbursts of savagery from a people, although even when they have claim not to have drunk chicha8 seem to be still victims of its effects’ (Estadio 1 October 1949m: 32). The choice of wording makes a clear distinction between the culture and civilisation of the sporting venue, harking back to the gentlemanly behaviour expected as part of the sporting pursuit, and the savage, barbaric violence which is unbefitting of the arena. Despite these isolated problems, ‘sporting fanaticism, which channels passions healthily, is preferable to political fanaticism which degenerates into dangerous hatreds’ (Estadio 20 May 1950d). Football stadiums were seen as ‘true temples of culture. Our fields of play are demonstrating, in a way that should make us proud, that not everything is lost in Colombia’ (Estadio 29 October 1949n: 2). Writers in Semana agreed, stating that ‘sport has invigorated the population; it has distanced it, where possible, from political passions as the only collective centre of interest; it has educated it, and though partially at this time, it has distanced it from vice’ (Semana 16 April 1949a: 21). Following Pedernera’s arrival, Semana wrote of the impact of the surge in football interest: This interest gives hope for the country, because it distracts Colombians, especially the popular classes, from their monomania, political passions. When it was said that buying foreign players should be banned due to the amount of money leaving the country, the Finance Minister, Jaramillo Ocampo answered “Very little money is leaving. Moreover, there will always be funds for this. Sport is saving the country” (Semana 9 July 1949c: 24).

7  The original phrase in Spanish is ‘hacer deporte es hacer patria’. This was a regularly appearing mantra for the benefits of sport, and would be the motto of another sporting magazine Afición, published in the early 1960s. 8  An alcoholic drink made from maize.

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This statement also attests to the political manipulation of football as a means to distract the nation, the awareness of football being a new opium for the masses that could help to pacify working classes and political tensions, helped by the players being neutral to the political conflict given their status as foreign ‘other’ (Quitián Roldán and Urrea Beltrán 2016a: 167; 2016b: 64). The preoccupation for sportswriters was that the sporting renaissance stimulated by football should impact where it was most needed. El Dorado was seen as the opportunity to establish a national sporting culture as well as a sense of a national football identified as being truly Colombian in nature. Estadio’s editors wrote that in July 1949 that ‘a sense of national sport is being developed, and not in any old way, but in the best way possible. Creating in people the physical and spiritual need to go to stadiums. Creating a real sporting awareness’ (Estadio 9 July 1949a: 2). It was vital to develop a culture of practice, rather than solely a culture of spectatorship, which could strengthen youth and the race in general, particularly in those ‘tropical’ areas of the country where civilisation had not reached. By 1950, Estadio was urging the government to do more to support sporting practice: We have fans watching sport, but not playing it. Amongst the immense amounts of people who fill our stadiums, very few are active players. […] The most important thing is to develop a love of sport as an activity […] The greatest problem in the country and its principal aim should be to improve the conditions of human beings, and sport should be one of the preferred activities in the budget. Due to the human values that a true athlete learns, training these athletes should be one of our most dedicated goals (Estadio 12 August 1950h: 2).

Sport needed to be present throughout the country, but the government was failing in this duty. In 1949, the editor wrote ‘ the government must urgently attend to the needs of our rural and urban children. The vast majority of children in our schools have been waiting forlornly for sport to arrive in their establishments’ (Estadio 1 October 1949l: 2). The problem of state failure was further discussed two months later: We observe with great worry the immense masses of Colombians who remain on the margins of this gigantic movement. Of the fifteen departments that make up the republic, sport is only played in an organized manner in four or five. […] It is absurd that in Colombia there are still entire

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regions where sport is the privilege of the very few, while the children of our workers, who are those who most need sport’s benefits, are on the margins of its influence (Estadio 16 December 1949p: 2).

Estadio would continue to be critical of the government’s failure to invest in sport and sporting infrastructure throughout 1950, arguing that ‘they have not thought of the future, and therefore the next generation will be developed in the same way as the previous, in other words, in complete improvisation, abandoning the chance to develop an authentic national sport’ (Estadio 27 May 1950e: 2). Given the dominance of foreign players in the league and few Colombians playing in the teams by this time, there were increasing worries about the football league and government squandering the sporting boom that El Dorado had occasioned. By March 1951, Estadio’s writers argued that: If we do not know how to profit from the millions of pesos invested in creating a fan base, a spectacle and a global renown for Colombian football, in order to create a genuine national sport, then we can ask ourselves with bitterness something that for several years enemies of professional sport have been waiting to ask: “And professionalism, what was it all for?” (Estadio 31 March 1951b).

From this, we can argue that the extent of political involvement in football was perceived to be as a pacification device and supporting its moneymaking potential. In the eyes of sportswriters, there was a failure to take measures to create infrastructure and education programmes for Colombian youth, meaning the impact El Dorado risked being wasted as a starting point for addressing recognized national divisions and underdevelopment. In 1954, in the final season of El Dorado as the best footballers went elsewhere, Semana concluded that: In the eyes of the public, professional football has just been a “booming business”. It has lost its sporting character. For many, this is an incorrect focus of the problem. Because the object of sport is to create stronger, more robust citizens removed from vice, and more spiritually well prepared. However, the professional directors seemingly have no interest in this aspect of sport (Semana 19 April 1954: 38).

This would be one of the major criticisms of El Dorado. It was a period when football was exploited politically and economically for the benefit of

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the few, rather than its potential, if utopian, values being promoted and established for the benefit of the many.

The National vs Foreign Player Quandary Sportswriter preoccupations over establishing a beneficial national sporting culture were problematized by the criollo vs foreign player conundrum, which was a major press debate from the signing of Pedernera onwards and regular topic of Estadio editorials. As has been mentioned, a sense of footballing inferiority was already embedded in Colombia. Foreign players, coaches and referees from recognized footballing nations9 were seen as teachers bringing football technique, knowledge and artistry to an uneducated nation (Arias 2020: 81).10 Estadio supported this importation of talent and knowhow at the outset, commenting ‘Colombians have to learn to play football better, and this is why foreigners are indispensable’ (Estadio 9 July 1949b: 12) and ‘the importing of players, coaches and referees in different sports is a vital necessity for national sport’ (Estadio 16 July 1949c: 2). There was a clear lack of confidence in Colombian players, and a sense they could not compete with imports as evidenced by this report on a match between Millonarios vs Atlético Municipal (the only team in 1949 to have a criollo only policy): ‘It is impossible to compete with only native players against the star figures who defend the colours of the big teams. For those of us who defend, and will continue to defend, national players, it is a painful truth’ (Estadio 24 September 1949k: 11). In the same edition, however, Universidad were urged to sign native players, as they would show more courage and fight on the pitch, qualities which were the main skills of Colombians in the absence of technical ability (Estadio 24 September 1949j: 7). A sense of ‘us’ vs ‘them’ opposition is already apparent with Colombians seen as ‘being more courageous and fighting better for his colours than the imported players’ (Estadio 16 July 1949c: 2) with some foreigners portrayed as greedy mercenaries. Players like Peruvian Valeriano López were criticized for flaunting his money when Atlético Municipal’s Colombian players were working as bricklayers or carpenters 9  Referees were brought in from the likes of Italy and Great Britain to help improve the standard of officiating and teach Colombians the rules. 10  The press also contributed to this footballing education; Estadio frequently included rules explanations to help fans understand the game.

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or studying, as their wages were vastly inferior (Semana 17 December 1949d: 27–28). It is also important to note that any sense of regionalism disappears with the use of ‘criollo’ to describe Colombian footballers. Regional rivalries have long been present in Colombia, but in this way a united national front is created, all native players representing Colombia (Watson 2022: 46). This national pride was highlighted by Estadio whenever native players outperformed foreign counterparts, as in the following example: ‘The eleventh week of the championship was a near-total triumph for national football, as in the majority of matches that took place in the different stadiums around the country, the criollo players were better than the imports’ (Estadio 23 July 1949d: 8). Such a sense of pride in success gained when Colombian effort (despite a tendency towards rough play) overcame foreign skills and experience evidences an incipient sense of national footballing pride despite the inferiority complex. However, as more foreigners were imported from 1949 onwards, the value of imports was questioned, particularly when teams began playing 11 foreign players and the total absence of ‘Colombianness’ of the spectacle became a concern. Both Estadio and Semana would criticize teams without Colombian players when it occurred (see, for example, Estadio 8 July 1950f: 3 and 1950g: 8 Semana 25 March 1950a: 2). In the interest of attracting crowds, clubs prioritized short-term economic gains with ‘exciting’ new foreign players taking the place of Colombian players. Colombians, therefore, were not given the opportunity to learn and develop on the pitch, a situation summarized by a cartoon by ‘Rajul’ playing on the ‘banca’ (bench)/‘banco’ (bank) wordplay, depicting Colombian players sitting despondently on the substitute bench while happy foreigners headed to the bank with their wages (Estadio 17 March 1951a: 13). This situation led to press debates similar to those conducted previously in Mexico given the influx of foreign players at the start of their professional league in 1943. Carrillo Reveles argues that when the visibility of the foreign or naturalized ‘other’ is greater in the public eye than native players, this creates a dangerous situation of the ‘other’ being superior to the ‘national’, thus becoming an identifying reference point. It can also lead to a sense of ‘defensive xenophobia’ aimed at protecting the nation from foreign interference (2016: 53). In the Mexican case, Carrillo Reveles demonstrates how La Prensa campaigned to safeguard the essence of national football, to protect national players and to ensure that sport could fulfil its mission of being an example to Mexican youth of the benefits of

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sport (2016: 56). Estadio, in particular, would play a similar role despite initially being in favour of foreign imports. This importing of foreigners was a national debate at the time conducted in the press as Semana shows, with a sense of national defensiveness against foreigners already evident: The debate has interested the whole country, even in those circles uninterested in sport, and it has awakened a streak of nationalism, more sentimental than anything else […] The truth is that everyone agrees that foreigners should come, but only if they really have something to teach. Some of those who have been brought do not seem to offer this minimum guarantee (Semana 2 July 1949b: 27).

Estadio was also raising concerns about the lasting benefits of foreign players and the potential damage it could do to national sport if the situation was not managed properly. In several editorials they questioned what impact on Colombian players the imports were actually having, as young players were left out of the team, were not being trained, and were prevented from developing. Money was not being invested in  local talent. These concerns are shown in the following examples: They are showing us how to play football, but we have the clear feeling that very little is being done so that these magnificent displays translate into practical benefits for native sport. Behind the brilliant curtain of professionalism, we are unjustly abandoning our own men (Estadio 20 August 1949f: 2). All this has had serious consequences. The first of these has been the gradual dislodging of native players from teams, who in the judgement of blinded owners, do not produce the same ticket office success as the foreigners. This would not be as serious if these clubs worried at all about training native players, who, in the future, would defend their colours without the need to resort to costly imports (Estadio 10 September 1949h: 2)

The series of editorials effectively became a campaign in the final months of 1949 and in 1950, with Estadio criticizing the league, club directors and the government for failing to protect national players. Writers proposed introducing rules that would ensure Colombian player development such as limits on foreign players, quality control over imports, and the obligation to create youth and reserve teams. The constant aim

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was to defend national football and sport as part of their on-going interest in promoting the benefits of sport for the nation, as mentioned previously. In just one such example, in April 1950, the editorial wrote: We have received hundreds of letters from all regions in the country, confirming the Colombian sporting public’s support for our campaign in favour of the native player […] We believe we have said this many a sufficient amount of times, but we do not want to conduct a nationalistic campaign. But we are certain that our future in this area is based on developing native footballers, and we are alarmed that the most powerful entities behind professionalism are refusing to give them the chance to rise (Estadio 15 April 1950c: 2).

The magazine repeatedly emphasized that national sporting development was at stake, as the only way to gain proper renown through sporting channels would be based on the achievements of Colombian footballers. They noted a growing disappointment in the footballing spectacle given the lack of native talents: We are starting to note a bit of disappointment. Disappointment because they [the fans] see the country absent from this movement; because the Colombian sportsmen, who were so recently their idols, are being forgotten little by little; because every day they are told that Colombia is unable to produce new stars, while fans see that this is a lie. Colombia has produced them, but they are sat on the substitutes bench (Estadio 25 March 1950b: 2)

The one club exempt from criticism for the foreigners-first policy was Medellín club Atlético Municipal, who changed their name permanently in 1950 to Atlético Nacional, a clear example of a club with an awareness of appealing to a national, as much as a local, identity. Although never in contention for winning the league in the peak years of the foreigner boom,11 the club were the only one to take a long-term perspective and aim to build for the future. They were frequently reported on favourably in Estadio in terms of effort and courage, if not ability, and Semana dedicated an article praising the club’s approach during the 1950 season, 11  Atlético Municipal/Nacional came 6th of 10 in 1948, 7th of 14 in 1949, 15th of 16 in 1950, 15th of 18 in 1951, 13th of 15 in 1952 and 7th of 12 in 1953. However, the planning paid off when the stars left, as the team won the league in 1954 and were runners up the following year.

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including the financial involvement of the local Fabricato textile company. The aim of the club was to make it into ‘a breeding ground for purely Colombian footballers […] with the healthy desire to encourage those sportsmen, who, following the example of the foreign masters, will one day ensure that the name of Colombia is valued abroad’ (Semana 9 September 1950b: 34). In an interview with Raúl H. Sánchez, a lawyer and director of the club he further outlined the national building-for-the-­ future perspective: The criterion that we have is solely to develop a school that serves as a stimulus to raise the level of the native player. We have already managed to achieve much of this programme. We want to awaken in native players the interest and responsibility involved in making the very best of his talents. We do not aim to obtain economic benefits, but to improve sport centres. And we are grateful for the support and encouragement of the press and the public throughout the country (Semana 9 September 1950b: 35).

Atlético Municipal/Nacional were the exception rather than the rule, however, and by 1951 it was clear that hopes for creating a sense of ‘our football’ for Colombians had not been realized. The reputation of the league for ‘footballing piracy’ had also done enough damage to Colombia’s international reputation as the Pact of Lima was agreed to end the illegal signing of footballers. According to Semana, ‘the Government was no longer prepared to tolerate that the good name and ethics of the country were being judged abroad due to the piracy of players and international footballing isolation’ (Semana 22 September 1951: 39). In the final years of the league before the Pact of Lima took effect, more Colombians did play as foreign players went elsewhere. Semana believed that ‘every day there are greater links between public and players due to the emergence of new and valuable Colombian sporting talents’ (Semana 10 May 1952: 32), but spectator interest in the league was dwindling, many clubs were in financial dire straits and the renown and high standard of the Colombian league was in the past. By April 1954, the atmosphere was funereal: ‘The fans commented, we are attending the funerals of professional football’ (Semana 19 April 1954: 38). The general feeling was that a chance to really establish a national sporting culture had perhaps not been fully exploited; at least memories and myths had been created that could be the basis for constructing ideas about a Colombian sporting identity.

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Conclusion This chapter has shown that the success of Colombia’s first professional league provided the opportunity for sport to return to being a central aspect of press discussion relating to questions about the development and improvement of the nation. Sportswriters, being very aware of national problems, saw in football the chance to develop a national sporting culture that could distance Colombians from political partisanship, violence and vice. Football was posited as an antidote to enduring political passions and hatreds, and a chance for Colombia to civilize itself according to modernizing essentialist values attributed to the practice of sport. This was based on the realisation that given the popularity of the league, based around the presence of imported football stars, football had become a mass popular phenomenon capable of being exploited for messages about the nation. Unfortunately, given the presence of so many imports and the relegation of native players to relative invisibility as part of the footballing spectacle, the El Dorado period only served to further embed a sense of sporting inferiority, as Dimayor, club owners and the government focused more on accruing short-term economic benefits and diverting attention from national problems. The best efforts of sportswriters in Estadio and Semana in their editorials and articles to stimulate the expansion of sports practice and physical education across the nation and develop a sense of a national sporting culture and identity were largely frustrated.

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de Bogotá, https://repository.javeriana.edu.co/handle/10554/343, accessed 17 March 2022. Ruiz Patiño, J.H. (2017a) ‘Balance sobre la historiografía del deporte en Colombia. Un panorama de su desarrollo’. Materiales para la Historia del Deporte, 15: 24–44. Ruiz Patiño, J.H. (2017b) ‘Juventud y deporte en Colombia en la primera mitad del siglo XX’, Boletín Cultural y Bibliográfico 51(93): 56–71. Semana (1948a) ‘Un héroe del deporte’, 3 January, Num. 63, pp. 17–18. Semana (1948b) ‘Dar en el clavo’, 31 January, Num. 67, p. 19. Semana (1948c) ‘Un match de oro’, 14 February, Num. 69, pp. 29–30. Semana (1948d) ‘Un héroe popular’, 14 December, Num. 110, pp. 24–26. Semana (1949a) ‘A 2 décimas de la gloria’, 16 April, Num. 131, pp. 20–21. Semana (1949b) ‘Pedernera, De Leo & Cía’, 2 July, Num. 141, pp. 26–27. Semana (1949c) ‘El balón de la suerte’, 9 July, Num. 142, pp. 22–24. Semana (1949d) ‘Equipos en out’, 17 December, Num. 165, pp. 27–28. Semana (1950a) 25 March, Num. 179, p. 2. Semana (1950b) ‘Inversión para el futuro’, 9 September, Num. 203, pp. 34–35. Semana (1951) ‘Azuero Salomónico’, 22 September, Num. 257, p. 39. Semana (1952) ‘Recuperando prestigio’, 10 May, Num 290, pp. 31–32. Semana (1954) ‘Desbandada’, 19 April, Num. 390, p. 38. Sibaja, R. (2020) ‘Anxiety in the Sports Pages: The ‘Crises’ Narratives of 1950s Argentina Fítbol’, The International Journal of the History of Sport, 37(5–6): 357–377. Uribe, J. (1976) ‘Esto fue el Dorado…’, in H.  Peláez Restrepo (ed). Nuestro Fútbol 1948–1976, Bogotá: Alfonso Rentería Editores, p. 9. Watson, P.J. 2022. Football and Nation Building in Colombia 2010–2018, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. (This is due for publishing in August 2022—page references are TBC, numbers based on first proof) Zuluaga Ceballos, G. (2005) Empatamos 6 a 0: Fútbol en Colombia 1900–1948, Colombia: Divegráficas Ltda.

Football, Ethnicity and the Visual Representations of Ecuadorian National Identity in Estadio Enrico Castro Montes

Many foreigners see Ecuador as one of the Latin American countries with the largest indigenous population, while Ecuadorian elites conceive the nation as “mestizo”. In the 1960s, however, more and more football teams began to integrate Afro-Ecuadorian and black players from abroad into their squads. In this way, an ethnic population group that the elites had ignored in their dominant views on Ecuadorian national identity now came to the fore. By examining articles and images related to Alberto Spencer, Ecuador’s most famous Afro-Ecuadorian football player, in the Ecuadorian sport magazine Estadio, this chapter explores the textual and visual representations of national identity in Ecuador in the 1960s. The analysis shows that football was one of the sectors in civil society that

E. Castro Montes (*) Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 B. Buarque de Hollanda, L. G. Burlamaqui (eds.), Latin American Sport Media, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15594-9_7

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provided a popular public arena for neglected ethnic groups to negotiate subaltern national identities that differed from the dominant narrative of the (white)mestizo elites.

Introduction At the beginning of the twentieth century, the first sport reports began to appear in the form of small notes in newspapers such as El Comercio in Quito and El Telégrafo in Guayaquil, later accompanied by photographs.1 New printing technologies provided publishers the opportunity to mass-­ produce illustrated journals specialised in sport.2 Such magazines also began to appear in Ecuador, but only from the 1920s onwards.3 These publications, however, were all short-lived. The turning point in Ecuadorian sport journalism came with the creation of Estadio in Guayaquil in 1962, which still publishes today. It first appeared monthly, then fortnightly and later weekly, but finally it became fortnightly again and has remained so until today.4 In the early years, the focus was mainly on regional sport news in Guayaquil, but Estadio soon changed its approach and started covering sport news on a more national level.5 Sport magazines, like other forms of the press, contribute to the construction of national identities. Journalists write stories, reports, interviews and opinion pieces in which “different forms of nationalism intensifying class divisions, racial stereotypes and gender affirmations” permeate.6 These sport texts fit into Homi Bhabha’s concept of the nation as “a system of cultural signification” built through “national narratives”.7 Estadio’s 1  Lucas Kintto, ‘De La Información Sobre Fútbol a La Futbolización de La Sociedad’, in Con Sabor a Gol… Fútbol y Periodismo, Biblioteca Del Fútbol Ecuatoriano 2 (Quito: FLACSO—Sede Ecuador, 2006), 28. 2  Mike O’Mahony, Photography and Sport (London: Reaktion Books, 2018), 8, 60. 3  Kintto, ‘De La Información Sobre Fútbol a La Futbolización de La Sociedad’, 28–29. 4  Jaime Naranjo Rodríguez, ‘Las Revistas Deportivas Del Ayer’, in Con Sabor a Gol… Fútbol y Periodismo, Biblioteca Del Fútbol Ecuatoriano 2 (Quito: FLACSO—Sede Ecuador, 2006), 88–89, 91–92. 5  Kintto, ‘De La Información Sobre Fútbol a La Futbolización de La Sociedad’, 35. 6  Pedro Acuña Rojas, Deportes, Masculinidades y Cultura de Masas: Historia de Las Revistas Deportivas Chilenas, 1899–1958 (Santiago de Chile: Ediciones Universidad Alberto Hurtado, 2021), 13. 7  Homi K.  Bhabha, ‘Introduction: Narrating the Nation’, in Nation and Narration (London: Routledge, 1990), 1; Homi K. Bhabha, ‘DissemiNation: Time, Narrative, and the Margins of the Modern Nation’, in Nation and Narration (London: Routledge, 1990), 295.

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sport journalists, all (white)mestizo men in the 1960s, did, however, disseminate national narratives that corresponded to the dominant views of their ethnic group. Ecuador has a very diverse population of more than 17 million people and the largest ethnic group (around 65%) are the mestizos, people of mixed European-indigenous ancestry. The Ecuadorian indigenous people account for a quarter of the total population. The whites and Afro-Ecuadorians each represent around 5%. Nevertheless, these figures change constantly due to fluidity of ethnic self-identification of the Ecuadorian people.8 The country is also divided in four geographical regions: the coast (Costa), Andean highlands (Sierra), the Amazonian region (Oriente) and the Galapagos Islands, but the main political and economic powerhouses are located at the coast, with the main port city Guayaquil, and in the Andes with the capital city Quito. The intense political and economic rivalry between these regions has its origins in the colonial period and has led to a profound form of regionalism, insofar that political scientists such as Erika Silva state that regional identities are still much stronger than national identities in Ecuador.9 The two regions also differ in terms of ethnicity. The indigenous people are much more predominant in the highlands than at the coast where more Afro-Ecuadorians live.10 Despite the strong regionalist sentiments, the white-mestizo Ecuadorian elites tried since the early twentieth century to create a national identity through the ideology of (monocultural) mestizaje, which could be defined historically as “the mixing of Spanish and indigenous people through the process of colonization and rape”.11 In the twentieth century, however, mestizaje was “a nation-building discourse that celebrates the racial and cultural mixing of indigenous and white people”.12 At first glance, the elites were seemingly promoting a positive view on the blending of 8  Ketty Wong, Whose National Music? Identity, Mestizaje, and Migration in Ecuador, Studies in Latin American and Caribbean Music (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2012), 23; ‘Ecuador—World Directory of Minorities & Indigenous Peoples’, Minority Rights Group, 19 June 2015, https://minorityrights.org/country/ecuador/; ‘Ecuador— People | Britannica’, https://www.britannica.com/place/Ecuador/People. 9  Erika Silva, Identidad nacional y poder (Quito: Editorial Abya Yala, 2005), 41. 10  Wong, Whose National Music?, 23–25. 11  Marjolein Van Bavel, ‘La Chica Moderna and the Virile Sport of Boxing: Women Boxers, Gender Politics, and Identity Construction in Mexico in the 1920s and 1930s’, The International Journal of the History of Sport 38, no. 4 (2021): 353. 12  Wong, 2–3.

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indigenous and Spanish culture, but this is very ambiguous. With this national narrative, the elites clearly aimed to homogenise the population, but in doing so they excluded populations that did not belong to the mestizo group.13 Thus, in fact, the ideology of mestizaje has been interpreted more as “an aspiration to whiteness, functioning as a symbol of civilisation and modernity, than as an ethnic or cultural integration”.14 This was definitely the case for the Afro-Ecuadorian population, because they were considered the “ultimate Others”. The (white)mestizo elites completely ignored the Afro-Ecuadorians in the dominant national narrative because they were not part of the mestizo blend.15 Incorporating subaltern theories into the history of nationalism and football demonstrates how sport media can intensify or channel issues of ethnicity.16 This chapter investigates these national narratives textually, but above all visually. The visual analysis is important for two reasons. Firstly, as Fernando Coronil stated so eloquently, just as researchers must seek to “listen to the muted voices of subaltern actors”, they “must also attempt to see their visions by recognising the traces of their accents in cultural landscapes largely shaped by imperial eyes”.17 Secondly, until now, academic attention to the relations between sport and photography has been scarce both in the field of photographic history as in sport history, and especially related to Latin America.18 According to Mike Huggins, however, there is much potential for this kind of research if sport historians would “think about the visual materials of sport in terms of their cultural significance, their social practices, and their power relations”.19 Pedro Acuña, for example, has shown the importance of sport images “in their central role of making football a more understandable spectacle to mass 13  Karem Roitman and Alexis Oviedo, ‘Mestizo Racism in Ecuador’, Ethnic and Racial Studies 40, no. 15 (2017): 2770. 14  Wong, Whose National Music?, 37. 15  Jean Muteba Rahier, ‘Soccer and the (Tri-) Color of the Ecuadorian Nation: Visual and Ideological (Dis-) Continuities of Black Otherness from Monocultural Mestizaje to Multiculturalism’, Visual Anthropology Review 24, no. 2 (2008): 150. 16  Acuña Rojas, Deportes, Masculinidades y Cultura de Masas, 13. 17  Fernando Coronil, ‘Seeing History’, Hispanic American Historical Review 84, no. 1 (2004): 4. 18  Pedro Acuña, ‘Snapshots of Modernity: Reading Football Photographs of the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay’, The International Journal of the History of Sport 36, no. 9–10 (2019): 834. 19  Mike Huggins, ‘The Sporting Gaze: Towards a Visual Turn in Sports History— Documenting Art and Sport’, Journal of Sport History 35, no. 2 (2008): 322.

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audiences, many of whom were illiterate or semi-literate.”20 Thus, on the one hand, sport photos were a suitable channel for the dominant national narratives to reach subaltern groups. On the other hand, sport pictures were also useful for subaltern groups to create their own national narratives. In this chapter, the analysis of articles and images in Estadio in the 1960s related to Alberto Spencer, the greatest Afro-Ecuadorian football star of all time, shows that subaltern groups, ignored by the Ecuadorian elites in the dominant ideology of mestizaje, used football to create alternative national identities.

Luxury for the (White)Mestizo Man The dissemination of the dominant narrative of mestizaje as a symbol of civilisation, modernity and “whiteness” through sport magazines was most evident in Estadio’s advertisements. These portrayed almost exclusively white men, sometimes accompanied by a child and/or wife, promoting luxury products, which indicated that Estadio was targeted at a white(mestizo) affluent male reading public. Despite his popularity, Spencer barely appeared in these advertising pages. Nevertheless, the advertisements in Estadio offered him the opportunity to promote his own business, which sold sport equipment and supported social sport projects. In this way, he could also show himself as a civilised, modern man who embodied the values of the mestizaje ideology, even though he belonged to a neglected subaltern group. Hence, he was able to create a different national narrative that included Afro-Ecuadorians in a positive way. Since the emergence and subsequent popularity of these specialised sport magazines, both in Europe and Latin America, commercial entities rapidly embraced sport. The advertising in Estadio in the 1960s demonstrates that the magazine was aimed at an elite and middle-class audience that could afford luxury products. The most common advertisements promoted beer and spirits, cars (jeeps, pick-up trucks and sport cars), stylish clothing and jewellery, male beauty products (deodorant and hair products), garden and agricultural products and finally, cigarettes. The link between sport and tobacco already had a long history. Tobacco companies were among the first to make use of the popularity of sport heroes in their sales strategy. At the end of the nineteenth century in the United States,  Acuña, ‘Snapshots of Modernity’, 833–34.

20

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for example, tobacco products included the very popular “cigarette cards” with pictures of sport celebrities.21 The people who appeared in these advertisements in Estadio are almost all white or (white)mestizo. The majority are men, but children and women also appear regularly. The women featured mainly as beauty queens and lovers to promote male products or as mothers that took care of their husband and children. The children emphasised the father-son relationship or family environment in advertisements. The magazine’s advertising promotes to its readers the ultimate masculine mestizo ideal of a successful, stylish (white)mestizo family man. The process of whitening in the ideology of mestizaje as a symbol of civilisation and modernity is clear in this respect.22 Although many black footballers already played in Ecuador, they hardly appeared in the advertisements. The success of Estadio in its early days, however, was largely due to the exploits of the Afro-Ecuadorian footballer Alberto Spencer, who became Ecuador’s first world-class football player.23 Spencer was born on 6 December 1937 in Ancón, a small village at the Pacific coast near the city of Santa Elena in the West of the province of Guayas. In 1914, English, Polish and Scottish geologists arrived here to check the presence of oil in the soil. After World War I, the British created an oil mining site at this place with the Anglo Ecuadorian Oilfields company. In their wake, they also brought cheap labourers from their colonies in the Caribbean. This is how Walter Spencer, a black worker from the island of Barbados ended up in Ancón. There he married América Herrera, a young Ecuadorian woman with whom he formed a large family. Alberto Spencer played in his youth for the local football team Club Deportivo Andes. His older brother Marcos, who was already a professional football player at Everest, took Alberto to this club in Guayaquil as an adolescent. Here he made his professional debut in 1955 at the age of 17. In July 1959, a tournament took place in the Estadio Modelo in Guayaquil between Barcelona and Emelec, the two most important football clubs from this city, Huracán from Argentina and Peñarol from Uruguay. Alberto Spencer joined in as a reinforcement in the Barcelona attack. In the game against Peñarol he made such an impression, especially with a

 O’Mahony, Photography and Sport, 89, 95–96.  Wong, Whose National Music?, 37. 23  Kintto, ‘De La Información Sobre Fútbol a La Futbolización de La Sociedad’, 38–39. 21 22

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beautiful goal, that the Uruguayan club wanted to sign him immediately.24 After difficult negotiations with Everest, Peñarol eventually paid a transfer fee of 15,000 dollars to the club to acquire Spencer. On 20 February 1960, he finally arrived at his club in Montevideo.25 During his spell with one of the best Latin American football teams, he won eight Uruguayan championships, three Copa Libertadores and two Intercontinental Cups. With this, he became a true Ecuadorian sport celebrity. Yet, Spencer only appeared very rarely in Estadio’s advertisements. Apparently, Spencer’s status as a sport celebrity did not really attract yet the attention of commercial companies that advertised in Estadio. In the 1960s, he only appeared for two companies in their advertising: just once for the spare parts warehouse of Peñaherrera in Guayaquil and several times for a “sport house”, in the same city, of which he was co-owner together with entrepreneur Francisco Jiménez Buendía and which bore his name. This “sport house” was a combination of a regular sport equipment store and a social institution that promoted and fostered sport in Ecuador through the sale of domestic and foreign sport products and social projects related to sport.26 A 1967 advertisement (Fig. 1) for this “sport house” included an image of Alberto Spencer. The advertisers called it the “first sport house of America” and they wrote at the top right that they imported the world’s best (sport) brands, sold football shoes and balls of the brand named after the Afro-Ecuadorian idol and made team equipment. In a slightly smaller font, the institution indicated that it was also involved in the planning, project development and financing of stadiums, indoor sport arenas (coliseos), gymnasiums and swimming pools. The logo figures at the bottom right and at the bottom left, the advertisers were promoting one of the products, a ball, by saying that Spencer recommended “his” sport house directly from Uruguay. The attached picture suggests that Spencer conveyed this message from Uruguay to the local radio journalists. However, although he wears the yellow-and-black shirt of Peñarol, the background indicates that Spencer was photographed in Ecuador. First, the grandstand in the background looks very similar to the one at the Estadio Modelo in Guayaquil in the 24  Freddy Alava Muentes, El Señor Spencer (Montevideo: Ediciones de la Plaza, 2002), 13–17, 28, 31–33, 51–53. 25  “Asi Vive Spencer”, Estadio, August 1969. 26  “Abrió Sus Puertas: Spencer. Primera Casa Del Deporte”, Estadio, April 1967.

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Fig. 1  “Primera Casa Deportiva En America”, Estadio, April 1967 (Biblioteca Ecuatoriana Aurelio Espinosa Pólit)

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1960s. Secondly, behind the stadium towers a hill that has the same shape as a hill close to the Estadio Modelo, also visible on (aerial) photographs of this ground from that period. Furthermore, Uruguay is a very flat country, with the highest point being only a little over 500m and no stadium nearby. Nevertheless, Jiménez Buendía, on the one hand, cleverly exploited Alberto Spencer’s popularity and name recognition to promote his products and sport projects, and on the other hand, the football star lent his name and invested in this sport house to make money and to contribute to the development of grassroots sport in Ecuador, which earned him a good image. (White)mestizo men clearly dominated the images and drawings in Estadio’s advertisements of luxury products, as they most closely corresponded to the intended target group. This ethnic group also represented, in their own eyes, the ideals of civilisation and modernity espoused by the dominant ideology of mestizaje, and were consequently the preferred models for the advertisers. Spencer did not appear in this type of advertising. He did, however, make use of this space in Estadio to promote his own commercial and social project of the “sport house” in Guayaquil. In this way, Spencer attempted to create an image of himself in which he embodied the civilised and modern values of the mestizaje ideology, even though he belonged to the subaltern group of Afro-Ecuadorians. His success in football gave him the opportunity to invest in a business that helped him create an alternative national narrative that conveyed a positive, ambitious and modern image of Afro-Ecuadorians.

The Triumph of the Black Football Player: Alberto Spencer as a Hero on and off the Pitch Cover photographs are one of the most important elements in the image-­ building process of the media because they are the most visible part of the publication. Even people who cannot afford the newspaper or magazine can catch a glimpse of this picture. Therefore, sport magazines like Estadio did not hesitate to put Ecuador’s most famous sport heroes, such as Alberto Spencer, on the front page. This was in line with Estadio’s goal of raising the prestige of sport in Ecuador. However, the editors were ambiguous in their treatment of the Afro-Ecuadorian superstar. On the one hand, they lightened Spencer’s skin in cover pictures. This corresponded with the prevailing national narrative of mestizaje which aimed to “whiten”

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the population rather than praising the mixing of ethnic groups. This whitening also included the pursuit of values associated with the civilisation and modernity of the nation in the eyes of the (white)mestizos. Since the (white)mestizo editors of Estadio wanted to present Spencer on the front page as a role model embodying these values, they portrayed him with a lighter skin colour in order to better fit in the dominant ideology of mestizaje. Spencer also represented himself as a responsible, serious sportsman on these covers, demonstrating that Afro-Ecuadorians could also articulate the modern and cultured values of the mestizo narrative, which was in stark contrast to the violent way in which journalists usually portrayed black people. On the other hand, they still very often “othered” Spencer, especially in coverage of football matches, but also in reports and interviews, using adjectives and nicknames that emphasised his black skin colour or compared his physical abilities to those of animals. Estadio benefited from Spencer’s fame, but the magazine also contributed to the enhancement of his popularity by distributing reports of his matches, personal interviews and many photos of him to the general public in Ecuador. A good way to put a football player in the spotlight in a football magazine was to put him on the front page. This was the most visible part of the magazine as it was the first page readers observed.27 Moreover, people who could look at the magazine but not buy it, only saw these pictures. Estadio used five types of covers: single individual portraits, multiple person portraits, action shots, team pictures and collages (a combination of all or some of the previous types). On a sample of 144 front pages (of a possible 149), most front pages consisted of collages (38%), followed by multiple person portraits (29%) and single individual portraits (22%). Team pictures and action pictures appeared only marginally on the front pages (respectively 7% and 4%). The cover photographs closely resemble those of the English magazine Football Monthly in the 1950s discussed in Joyce Woolridge’s article on English football magazine cover portrait photographs. Woolridge argues that “Football Monthly’s covers positioned the professional footballer at the centre of the football world and in doing so announced that the ideology of the magazine was to elevate and laud the status of the professional player and professional football in post-war Britain.” According to her, this was part of an “elevatory project which aimed to raise the status of the professional both as an admirable 27  Joyce Woolridge, ‘Cover Stories: English Football Magazine Cover Portrait Photographs 1950–1975’, Sport in History 30, no. 4 (2010): 542.

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Fig. 2  Cover, Estadio, July 1964 (Biblioteca Ecuatoriana Aurelio Espinosa Pólit)

figure and a national hero”.28 The same applies to the covers of Estadio. In the editorial of the second issue, the editors also explicitly affirmed a similar goal by stating that “its main concern was to ensure the prestige and proper orientation of local and national sport.”29 The best way to do this for Estadio was to put Ecuador’s biggest football stars on the cover. Between 1962 and 1969, Alberto Spencer appeared six times on the cover, twice as a single individual portrait, once in a multiple person portrait and three times in a collage. This section firstly scrutinises a 1964 single individual portrait cover (Fig. 2) and a 1967 collage (Fig. 3). The 1964 cover features a single individual portrait of Alberto Spencer, with the title Alberto Spencer. Mágica Cabeza (“Magic Head” was his nickname) in the service of football and of Peñarol.30 A neat white house or apartment building with a ground floor and at least three upper floors is visible in the background. Spencer is wearing the traditional yellow-­and-black shirt of Peñarol and he appears to be wearing a white  Woolridge, 529–30.  “Editorial”, Estadio, November 1962. 30  Translation of the Spanish title Alberto Spencer. “Magica Cabeza” al servicio del fútbol y de Peñarol. 28 29

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Fig. 3  Cover, Estadio, May 1967 (Biblioteca Ecuatoriana Aurelio Espinosa Pólit)

t-shirt or undershirt underneath. Spencer does not look straight into the camera either, but looks up at an unknown subject. He furrows his forehead and has a very small smile on his lips. Estadio reused Spencer’s picture from 1964 in a 1967 cover. The photo no longer appeared alone on the entire front page, but was part of a collage in which the visual editors have placed a small version of the picture over the large cover photo of two boxers. Spencer is still raising his hand while posing with his yellow-and-black shirt of Peñarol, looking up with a serious impression and a small, friendly smile, but there are two remarkable things. Firstly, Spencer appears to have a much lighter skin tone compared to the 1964 photo. The comparison of even more cover photos starring Spencer shows that the pictures represented different tones of his skin colour. Only the 1964 cover photo presents his skin colour realistically. In the other photos, the (visual) editors tried to lighten his skin tone by means of photographic manipulation techniques, as is also clearly the case in the 1967 cover picture. Secondly, another element indicates that the editors manipulated Spencer’s photograph. In the background, the white, well-kept house or apartment building is still visible, but the different floors are no longer distinguishable. Behind Spencer’s head, brown

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sun blinds are noticeable in front of a window in both pictures. In the lower left corner of the 1967 cover photo the blue and white striped awning of the ground floor was less clear than in the 1964 image, and the editors made the top of the awning brighter. The apartment building also suddenly appears diagonally behind Spencer, which is very unrealistic. These elements are all indicators that the editors of Estadio manipulated this photograph. This manipulation fits perfectly in the dominant mestizaje ideology to “whiten” the population rather than praise the mixing of ethnic groups. This idea especially applied to the Afro-Ecuadorians because this population group was not part of the mestizo mixing and were seen as the ultimate others.31 So the (white)mestizo editors portrayed Spencer with a lighter skin colour in order to better match the dominant ideology of mestizaje. This whitening also included the pursuit values such as dignity, responsibility and seriousness, supposedly representing the civilisation and modernity of the nation.32 The same values were visible in the way Spencer depicted himself on the cover of Estadio. Spencer’s mysterious but friendly and serious impression indicates dignity, poise and contemplation according to the aesthetic and cultural traditions in art applied to photography.33 In doing so, however, he proved that Afro-Ecuadorians could also embody the values propagated by the mestizo narrative, regardless of their skin colour. In fact, he tried to create an alternative national narrative in which Afro-Ecuadorians had a place and pursued the same values as the (white) mestizos. Alberto Spencer reinforced this narrative even more by portraying himself as a stylish well-educated family man off the field as in the pictures on the second page of the article In this way lives Spencer (Fig. 4).34 At the top left is a photo where Spencer poses with his Chilean wife and his daughter, who was born in Uruguay, on the balcony of their house in Montevideo, which according to the magazine was a mansion worth twenty million pesos. Spencer wears a dark cardigan with a light-coloured shirt underneath and light-coloured jumper and pants. His wife is wearing a light-­ coloured dress with a dark-coloured collar and transparent tights and his daughter is wearing dark trousers, a light-coloured shirt and a dark jumper  Rahier, ‘Soccer and the (Tri-) Color of the Ecuadorian Nation’, 150.  Wong, Whose National Music?, 37. 33  Woolridge, ‘Cover Stories’, 531–34. 34  Translation of the Spanish title Asi Vive Spencer. 31 32

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Fig. 4  “Asi Vive Spencer”, Estadio, August 1969 (Biblioteca Ecuatoriana Aurelio Espinosa Pólit)

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vest. So all three of them have a well-groomed appearance and stylish clothes. The caption of this photo says that it is “a happy family in a happy home”. In the large photo below Spencer, in the same outfit, is sitting very relaxed on the sofa in his home facing the Ecuadorian journalist Guillermo Valencia Leon, better known as Valenciano. The interior looks very clean and modern. The caption says that Spencer loved picturesque paintings, like the one on the wall, and modern comfort. In the accompanying text, the journalist described him as a responsible family man who had always maintained his modesty and simplicity, but who could now live in luxury by properly handling and investing the money earned in football.35 Due to the further professionalisation of football in the 1960s in Europe and Latin America, clubs started paying their players better and better. As O’Mahony stated: “Virtually overnight this resulted in footballers, including many young players from traditional working-class backgrounds, being catapulted into a life of high financial reward” creating “a nouveau riche generation of young sportsmen” that “soon came to embody the changing lifestyles […] in the swinging sixties”.36 This certainly applied to a top club like Peñarol, and in this way, Spencer managed to buy himself several houses, including one for his mother. Besides portraying him as a good father, the journalists often characterised Spencer in articles as the ideal son, often accompanied with photos of him in loving embrace with his mother.37 Being one of the youngest children, he had a special bond with his mother.38 By portraying him both in text and image as a gentleman and a family man, the journalists, on the one hand, made him connect with the values of responsibility, modernity and civilisation promoted by the mestizaje narrative. On the other hand, Spencer presented himself in this way to show that Afro-Ecuadorians also considered financial responsibility and family values important, and once again he tried to establish an alternative national narrative. Furthermore, Alberto Spencer had managed to become a national hero through his sporting achievements, despite his skin colour. This representation as a national hero is nicely illustrated in the following photo (Fig. 5) from an Estadio article in 1963. In this picture Spencer walks away from a  “Asi Vive Spencer”, Estadio, August 1969.  O’Mahony, Photography and Sport, 97. 37  “Una ‘Cabeza Mágica’ que conquistó a Uruguay”, Estadio, January 1963. 38  Alava Muentes, El Señor Spencer, 32. 35 36

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Fig. 5  “Una ‘Cabeza Mágica’ que conquistó a Uruguay”, Estadio, January 1963 (Biblioteca Ecuatoriana Aurelio Espinosa Pólit)

statue of two men. Not just any two men, but the famous freedom fighters Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín. This monument was inaugurated in 1937 in memory of the Guayaquil Conference that took place in July 1822. Bolívar and San Martín agreed to meet in the Ecuadorian port city

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to discuss the liberation of Peru. The latter’s campaign faced difficulties and he therefore enlisted the help of the former. However, the two warlords did not reach an agreement due to their mutual rivalry and Bolívar liberated Peru two years later on his own.39 On this picture, Spencer was walking in this iconic location. He wore a dark-coloured shirt with thin white stripes, stylish dark trousers and elegant dark shoes, giving him a classy but informal look. The two men of the statue on a raised platform are wearing their full military gear including cape. Bolívar, on the left, and San Martín, on the right, shake hands. San Martín holds his helmet in his left hand and Bolívar is amicably putting his left hand on his warrior brother’s back. Behind them are Greek columns and above them the pediment with laurel wreaths and coats of arms. All these elements give this site an elevated status. By shooting Spencer here, the photographer included him in this laudatory setting. Because of the heroic deeds he did for Ecuador on his field of battle, the football field, he deserved according to his compatriots to be included in the pantheon of national heroes like Bolívar and San Martín. A few years later, in 1967, the then president of Ecuador, Otto Arosemena Gómez, effectively decorated Spencer with the National Order of Merit, the highest civil award, because the footballer was an “exemplary Ecuadorian” in the words of the president.40 This confirmation of Spencer’s Ecuadorian nationality was very important for Ecuadorian football fans. Since Spencer shone in Uruguay for Peñarol and played a few times for the Uruguayan national team (it was still allowed back then), there was a fear among his countrymen that the Uruguayans would nationalise him. However, he himself always emphasised that he remained an Ecuadorian until death.41 Alberto Spencer thus managed to gain a place in the national narrative of the elites, or to put it another way, as a member of a subaltern group, the Afro-­Ecuadorians, he succeeded in creating, through his achievements in football, an alternative national narrative in which black Ecuadorians also play a role. The contrast is great with the way editors in the mainstream media usually depicted non-sporting Afro-Ecuadorians. Anthropologist Jean Muteba Rahier’s research found that journalists of the popular magazine Vistazo 39  https://www.britannica.com/event/Guayaquil-Conference; http://www.enciclopediadelecuador.com/historia-del-ecuador/bolivar-y-san-martin/. 40  “Spencer Rompió El Protocolo”, Estadio, June 1967. 41  “Con Los Nervios De Punta”, Estadio, February 1967.

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usually portrayed black Ecuadorians visually and textually as dangerous and extremely violent criminals. They eagerly accentuated the so-called bestiality and innate physical strength of Afro-Ecuadorian men. Rahier also pointed out that “it has been rare that the black skin of these athletes has not been emphasised in one way or another” in Vistazo’s sport pages. This kind of representation contributed to the construction of Afro-­ Ecuadorians as the “ultimate others”.42 Despite his footballing successes and the many positive ways in which Spencer presented himself, Estadio’s (white)mestizo journalists still regularly “othered” Alberto Spencer by emphasising his black skin colour and alleged innate physical superiority. This was the case in all sorts of articles about Spencer, although this was more common in match reports and specific football articles than in interviews or personal reports. Figure 6 is a good example of this. In 1967, the journalist Carlos Jimenez discussed the successes of black footballers in the article the Triumph of the Black in Football.43 Three pictures figure on the first page of this article. The journalist compared Alberto Spencer with the Portuguese superstar Eusebio, the revelation and top scorer of the 1966 World Cup, and the Brazilian Didi, elected best player of the 1958 World Cup. Didi is wearing a suit and the typewriter suggests that two men are interviewing him somewhere inside. The man on the right calmly lays a hand on the player’s shoulders. In the background, there appears to be some kind of guard. The upper body of a smiling Eusebio in sport equipment in the open air features above Didi’s picture. Finally, at the top right, the editors used an action picture of Alberto Spencer at the moment he fires a powerful shot during a match with Peñarol, deducing from the striped kit. In the background stands a white Peñarol player on the pitch with a packed stadium behind him. In this way, the editors give three shots of three black footballers in three different settings. In the accompanying captions, Jimenez always used the adjective “negro” to stress the skin colour of the protagonists. Furthermore, in the case of Eusebio, the journalist mentioned his origins (Mozambique), and in Didi’s case, his creation of a technical masterpiece, the “folha seca” or “knuckleball”. Spencer’s caption emphasises the physical qualities that are also partly visible in the photo: “fast as a gazelle, master of the header and with a devastating shot” that, according to the authors, earned him the nickname “Negro de Oro” (The Black Golden Boy).44  Rahier, ‘Soccer and the (Tri-) Color of the Ecuadorian Nation’, 150, 159, 163.  Translation of the Spanish title el Triunfo del Negro en el Futbol. 44  “el Triunfo del Negro en el Futbol”, Estadio, July 1967. 42 43

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Fig. 6  “El Triunfo Del Negro En El Futbol”, Estadio, July 1967 (Biblioteca Ecuatoriana Aurelio Espinosa Pólit)

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This article was representative of the way Estadio portrayed Spencer textually and visually in football-related pieces during the 1960s. The journalists praised Spencer’s performances, but often using adjectives referring to his skin colour and to stereotypes of the supposed innate physical superiority of black football players.45 Commonly used adjectives were “negro” (black) and “moreno” (brown), but the journalists also applied terms such as “morocho” (dark), “sepia”, “canelo” (cinnamon) and “ebano” (ebony). Spencer also had several nicknames that emphasised his physical superiority or skin colour. His most famous nickname was “Cabeza Mágica” (Magic Head) because of his impressive strong heading game with which he scored most of his goals. The other nicknames like “Monster of the Andes” and “Crucifier of the Goalkeepers”, emphasised his strength and goal-scoring ability, and “Cyclone of the Pacific”, highlighted his speed. The article mentioned a popular nickname, often used for other top black football players too, that emphasised his skin colour, namely “Negro de Oro” (The Black Golden Boy). In Spencer’s case, this nickname is metaphorical because he came from the region of oil. This fossil fuel is also called “el oro negro” (the black gold) in Ecuador.46 The youths from this area possessed, according to the (white)mestizo journalists, “innate abilities of dominators of the ball”.47 In addition to the speed highlighted in the caption of the photo in the above article, Estadio described Spencer in another piece as having “a flexible physique, elastic like gelatine, but at the same time sinewy, energetic and powerful”.48 The fact that journalists emphasised Spencer’s physical attributes so strongly and compared his speed to that of a gazelle showed that (white)mestizos still often animalised Afro-Ecuadorians in their minds. This animalisation was still a remnant of ideas from Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and the colonial era. In the second half of the nineteenth century, Darwin confronted humans with their animal nature. Therefore, intellectuals felt compelled to create a new worldview that made an explicit distinction between humans and animals. Most (Western) people at that time associated animals with negative meanings such as culturally undesirable behaviour (e.g. defecating or copulating in public), indecent eating and the

 Rahier, ‘Soccer and the (Tri-) Color of the Ecuadorian Nation’, 163.  Alava Muentes, El Señor Spencer, 17. 47  “Allí, Donde Nació Spencer No Hay Canchas”, Estadio, June 1964. 48  “Los Tres Grandes Del Peñarol”, Estadio, July 1964. 45 46

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uncontrolled pursuit of urges.49 During the colonial period, colonisers believed that the indigenous people of other continents resembled humans, but behaved like animals. Consequently, the colonised people did not meet the supposed “human standard”, so the colonisers saw them as animals and simultaneously created a binary opposition between civilised and primitive.50 The article about the black football players showed that the animalisation of Afro-Ecuadorians was still present in the reports of Estadio’s journalists. On the front pages, Estadio’s editors lightened Spencer’s skin colour using editing techniques to better fit him into the dominant mestizaje ideology. This whitening, which was an integral part of the mestizo narrative, also encompassed the pursuit of values associated with the nation’s civilisation and modernity. Spencer also wanted to show himself as a responsible, serious sportsman, because in this way he could propagate that Afro-Ecuadorians could convey the same values. The inside pages of the magazine made it clear that Spencer had succeeded in becoming a national hero through his sporting achievements, despite the colour of his skin. Furthermore, by creating the image of an educated family man, he managed to construct an alternative national narrative in which Afro-­ Ecuadorians also played a role and shared the same ideals as (white)mestizos. However, despite Spencer’s success in football and his positive portrayal in Estadio, (white)mestizo journalists still described him with adjectives and nicknames that emphasised the blackness of Spencer’s skin and equated his physical prowess with that of animals, particularly in coverage of football matches, but also in reports and interviews.

Conclusion The professionalisation of football in Ecuador led to the emergence of sport celebrities in the 1960s. Alberto Spencer, who played for Uruguay’s top team Peñarol, was its exponent. From a poor Afro-Ecuadorian boy raised in a large family next to the oil fields in his hometown of Ancón near 49  Raymond Hubertus Antonius Corbey, ‘De Mens Een Dier?: Scheler, Plessner En de Crisis van Het Traditionele Mensbeeld’ (Doctoral Thesis, Nijmegen, Catholic University Nijmegen, 1988), 126; 167–68; Raymond Hubertus Antonius Corbey, Wildheid En Beschaving: De Europese Verbeelding van Afrika (Baarn: Ambo, 1989), 97. 50  Catherine Parry, Other Animals in Twenty-First Century Fiction, Palgrave Studies in Animals and Literature (Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2017), 43–44; Corbey, ‘De Mens Een Dier?’, 169; Corbey, Wildheid En Beschaving, 84.

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Guayaquil at the Pacific coast, he developed into a world-class football star. His popularity reached unprecedented heights in Ecuador as a result of his football successes in the 1960s. This was quite unusual for an Afro-­ Ecuadorian. After all, the (white)mestizo elites had consistently ignored this subaltern group in the dominant national narrative of mestizaje in the previous decades. This ideology promoted a racial and cultural mixing of white and indigenous people, but was actually an aspiration to “whiteness”. The elites therefore completely excluded the Afro-Ecuadorians as they were not part of this blend. This was most evident in the visual images of the advertisements in Estadio. These depicted almost exclusively white males, sometimes accompanied by child and wife, promoting luxury products. Clearly, the publishers of Estadio aimed primarily at a readership of white(mestizo) wealthy men. Despite his popularity, Spencer hardly appeared in the advertisements. He did, however, use this space in Estadio to promote his own commercial and social project in Guayaquil. His football success allowed him to invest in a company that helped him construct an alternative national narrative that positively portrayed Afro-Ecuadorians as ambitious and modern. Because they are the most visible section of the magazine, cover images are one of the most essential aspects of the media’s image-building process. Even those who cannot purchase a newspaper or magazine will see this image. As a result, sport magazines such as Estadio have not shied away from featuring Ecuador’s most famous athletes, such as Alberto Spencer, on the front page. This corresponded to Estadio’s “elevatory project” to raise the status of sport and sport people in Ecuador. The editors were nonetheless ambivalent in their portrayal of the Afro-Ecuadorian sport celebrity. In cover photos, they lightened Spencer’s skin. This matched the “whitening” process that was inherent to the dominant national narrative of mestizaje. In the eyes of the (white)mestizos, this whitening also encompassed the pursuit of values associated with the nation’s civilisation and modernity. Because the (white)mestizo editors of Estadio intended to represent Spencer on the front page as a role model who embodied these principles, they gave him a lighter skin tone to better blend him into the dominant mestizaje ideology. On these covers, Spencer also showed himself as a responsible, serious sportsman, showing that Afro-Ecuadorians could also convey the modern and sophisticated values of the mestizo narrative, regardless of their skin colour. Off the sport field, Alberto Spencer reinforced this narrative by showing himself as a well-educated family man. Spencer presented himself in

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this manner to demonstrate that Afro-Ecuadorians also recognised the importance of financial responsibility and family values, as prescribed in the mestizaje ideology of the elites. Spencer had also managed to become a national hero, despite his skin colour, through his exploits on the sport field. This was metaphorically represented in the picture of Spencer at the monument of Bolívar and San Martín. Thus, Spencer eventually managed to carve out a place for himself in the national narrative of the elites. In other words, as a member of the subaltern group of Afro-Ecuadorians, he succeeded in constructing, through his successes in football and through the creation of an image of a sophisticated athlete and family man, an alternative national narrative in which Afro-Ecuadorians also played a role and shared the same ideals as (white) mestizos. However, this was in stark contrast to how the mainstream media normally depicted non-sporting Afro-Ecuadorians. According to anthropologist Jean Muteba Rahier’s research, journalists for the popular magazine Vistazo frequently depicted black Ecuadorians as dangerous and extremely violent criminals, both visually and textually. They avidly emphasised Afro-­ Ecuadorian men’s so-called bestiality and intrinsic physical prowess, contributing to the construction of Afro-Ecuadorians as the “ultimate outsiders.” Despite his football success and the many positive ways in which Spencer presented himself, the (white) mestizo journalists of Estadio continued to “other” Alberto Spencer by using words and nicknames that emphasised Spencer’s black skin colour or by comparing his physical abilities to those of animals, especially in coverage of football matches, but also in reports and interviews.

References Acuña, Pedro. ‘Snapshots of Modernity: Reading Football Photographs of the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay’. The International Journal of the History of Sport 36, no. 9–10 (2019): 832–53. Acuña Rojas, Pedro. Deportes, Masculinidades y Cultura de Masas: Historia de Las Revistas Deportivas Chilenas, 1899–1958. Santiago de Chile: Ediciones Universidad Alberto Hurtado, 2021. Alava Muentes, Freddy. El Señor Spencer. Montevideo: Ediciones de la Plaza, 2002. Bhabha, Homi K. ‘DissemiNation: Time, Narrative, and the Margins of the Modern Nation’. In Nation and Narration, 291–322. London: Routledge, 1990a. Bhabha, Homi K. ‘Introduction: Narrating the Nation’. In Nation and Narration, 1–7. London: Routledge, 1990b.

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Corbey, Raymond Hubertus Antonius. ‘De Mens Een Dier?: Scheler, Plessner En de Crisis van Het Traditionele Mensbeeld’. Doctoral Thesis, Catholic University Nijmegen, 1988. Corbey, Raymond Hubertus Antonius. Wildheid En Beschaving: De Europese Verbeelding van Afrika. Baarn: Ambo, 1989. Coronil, Fernando. ‘Seeing History’. Hispanic American Historical Review 84, no. 1 (2004): 1–4. ‘Ecuador–People | Britannica’. https://www.britannica.com/place/Ecuador/ People. Estadio. Guayaquil: 1962–1969. Minority Rights Group. ‘Ecuador—World Directory of Minorities & Indigenous Peoples’, 19 June 2015. https://minorityrights.org/country/ecuador/. Huggins, Mike. ‘The Sporting Gaze: Towards a Visual Turn in Sports History— Documenting Art and Sport’. Journal of Sport History 35, no. 2 (2008): 311–29. Kintto, Lucas. ‘De La Información Sobre Fútbol a La Futbolización de La Sociedad’. In Con Sabor a Gol… Fútbol y Periodismo, 27–74. Biblioteca Del Fútbol Ecuatoriano 2. Quito: FLACSO—Sede Ecuador, 2006. Naranjo Rodríguez, Jaime. ‘Las Revistas Deportivas Del Ayer’. In Con Sabor a Gol… Fútbol y Periodismo, 81–96. Biblioteca Del Fútbol Ecuatoriano 2. Quito: FLACSO—Sede Ecuador, 2006. O’Mahony, Mike. Photography and Sport. London: Reaktion Books, 2018. Parry, Catherine. Other Animals in Twenty-First Century Fiction. Palgrave Studies in Animals and Literature. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2017. Rahier, Jean Muteba. ‘Soccer and the (Tri-) Color of the Ecuadorian Nation: Visual and Ideological (Dis-) Continuities of Black Otherness from Monocultural Mestizaje to Multiculturalism’. Visual Anthropology Review 24, no. 2 (2008): 148–82. Roitman, Karem, and Alexis Oviedo. ‘Mestizo Racism in Ecuador’. Ethnic and Racial Studies 40, no. 15 (2017): 2768–86. Silva, Erika. Identidad nacional y poder. Quito: Editorial Abya Yala, 2005. Van Bavel, Marjolein. ‘La Chica Moderna and the Virile Sport of Boxing: Women Boxers, Gender Politics, and Identity Construction in Mexico in the 1920s and 1930s’. The International Journal of the History of Sport 38, no. 4 (2021): 345–67. Wong, Ketty. Whose National Music? Identity, Mestizaje, and Migration in Ecuador. Studies in Latin American and Caribbean Music. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2012. Woolridge, Joyce. ‘Cover Stories: English Football Magazine Cover Portrait Photographs 1950–1975’. Sport in History 30, no. 4 (2010): 523–46.

“The world united by a football …”: The Mexican Televisa and Their Football World Cups Sergio Varela

Introduction This chapter establishes the relationship between the most important television company in Mexican history and professional football. In the 1950s, Telesistema Mexicano (later it changed its name to Televisa) was consolidated, under the protection of the national government that emerged from the Institutional Revolutionary Party, as an almost monopolistic telecommunications company. To understand the relationship between Televisa and professional football, in the first part of this chapter a genealogy of the company is briefly outlined, with the aim of understanding its political, economic and cultural relevance in Mexico between the decades of the 50’s and 80’s, the time of its greatest power

S. Varela (*) Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Center for Anthropological Studies, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 B. Buarque de Hollanda, L. G. Burlamaqui (eds.), Latin American Sport Media, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15594-9_8

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and when it took control of professional football and held two World Cups. In the second part, it is explained how Televisa entered the football broadcasting business in a haphazard and, to a certain extent, reactively way, during the celebration of a Latin American championship in the mid-1950s held in Mexico City. In a third part, the analysis is centered in the way in which Televisa, already controlling the professional football business, managed to obtain the 1970 World Cup. Finally, in full swing of its power, in the fourth part it is described how Televisa obtained the venue and broadcasting rights for the 1986 World Cup, which could not be held in Colombia, as initially planned.

Brief Genealogy of an Empire: Televisa What is known today as Televisa S. A. de C. V. is linked to the technical development of telecommunications during the Mexican twentieth century. From the third decade of that century, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI from its Spanish initials) and its predecessors: the National Revolutionary Party and the Mexican Revolution Party, hegemonized the Mexican political system from 1929 to 2000. Thus, Televisa developed itself together with television technology and within the political framework of the PRI. It was during the 1930s that the first television tests took place in Mexico. According to Sánchez Ruíz, between 1933 and 1934, Guillermo González Camarena carried out his first television experiments: “Most of the equipment he used was built by González Camarena himself. It is said that President Lázaro Cárdenas made the XEFO studies of the National Revolutionary Party available for the engineer and pioneer” (Sánchez Ruíz 1991, 236–237). In that decade, TV was basically experimental. Its broadcasts were obviously restricted to a circuit of technicians, as well as some politicians and businessmen who were beginning to glimpse the possibilities of the new technology. By the 1940s, closed-loop broadcasts gave way to remote broadcasts. This generated a great business-oriented push, which led to the creation of the first industrial groups and commercial companies in search of exploiting this new technology. Thus, on December 15, 1941, the National Chamber of the Broadcasting Industry was born (Sánchez Ruíz 1991, 237), and in 1946, Televisión Asociada emerged as “an organization

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that group[ed] the main owners of radio stations of Latin America” (Sánchez Ruíz 1991, 238). During this decade, some businessmen, already linked to the radio industry, also began a strong lobbying for concessions on television broadcasting. Among these businessmen, the following stood out: Cecilio Ocón, Gonzalo J.  Escobar, Santiago Reachi, Julio Santos Coy, Alberto Rolland, Guillernlo González Camarena, Rómulo O’Farrill, Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta, and the Americans Lee Wallace, David Young (then senator in American Congress) and the inventor and pioneer of broadcasting Lee de Forest (Sánchez Ruíz 1991, 238) Under this pressure, the Mexican government proposed the creation of a commission that would study two television models: (1) the American, eminently commercialized and concessioned, and (2) the British, especially controlled by the State. The commission was headed by Salvador Novo and the engineer Guillermo González Camarena (Sánchez Ruíz 1991, 239). This commission differed in their views. On the one hand: “Novo recommendations clearly lean towards the ‘monopoly’ system that governs English television, and that justifies its existence by the cultural, educational and specialized interest of its content. (Corona Berkin 1992–1993, 202) For his part, González Camarena: “[R]ecommend North American TV because it considers that the image has better quality and therefore ensures better entertainment to its audience. In this way, the engineer linked technology and contents. He also recommends North American TV because the receiving devices would be easier to acquire in the US” (Corona Berkin 1992–1993, 202). In a strict sense, Novo’s recommendations did not prevail, and finally, the Mexican TV was concessioned to the private initiative. In February 1950, a presidential decree was published setting the installation and operation standards for TV in Mexico (Sánchez Ruíz 1991, 240). In July of that same year, a concession was authorized to Televimex, a company owned by Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta, which led to the creation and operation of XEW-TV Channel 2, the biggest station ever to be established in Mexico (Sánchez Ruíz 1991, 240). By March 1951, XEW broadcasted a sporting event for the first time: a baseball game from Delta Park (Sánchez Ruíz 1991, 240). During the first half of the 1950s, a few more television stations were established in the country. However, in March 1951, “the concessionaires of television channels 2, 4 and 5 decided to establish the company

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Telesistema Mexicano, S.A. (TSM), to and operate them jointly” (Sánchez Ruíz 1991, 242). In fact, the creation of TMS allowed a monopoly of television broadcastings in Mexico. TSM was evolving, adapting quickly and efficiently to the different technological advances, such as satellite and colour broadcasting. This was accompanied by a society that was also experimenting and adapting to new technological conditions and products, such as television and its byproducts: soap operas, sports, commercials, news, etc. Ramírez Bonilla says that household appliances revolutionized life at home and, in particular, “television was linked to the discourse of progress and a desire to modernize that Mexico had been experiencing since the second half of the 1940s. This media embodied the urgency of keeping up with the technological advances of developed countries. This narrative seemed to almost contravene the effects of the newcomer: it will mark ‘indelible pages of the material progress of our country,’ said Novedades News a few days after its inauguration” (Ramírez Bonilla 2015, 300). It was in the 1950s that the TSM quasi-monopoly capacity was further entrenched as it managed to absorb a good part of the competition. Thus, in May 1972, TSM bought the chain Telesistema Independiente de México. In September of that same year, Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta died (Sánchez Ruíz 1991, 249) and his son, Emilio “El Tigre” Azcárraga Milmo, became the corporation’s chairman. This change is very significant for the purposes of this work, as Azcárraga Milmo is the key figure in the development of television and the football business in Mexico. His biography is marked by his sports passion and his perspective to commercialize certain sports on a massive scale through television. Finally, “the Televisa consortium was created on January 8, 1973, as a result of the merger of the companies Telesistema Mexicano S.  A. de C. V. and Televisión Independiente de México, S. A.” (Espino 1979, 1447). Throughout the 1980s, Televisa became the most important Latin American television content producer and distributer. Very timidly, the Mexican State tried to regulate the performance of private concessionaires and it established a public station through Channel 13 that would compete against Televisa, that “entered its golden age, producing 80% of their content by their own resources and concentrating 93% of the national audience” (Fijałkowska 2013, 184). In complete collusion with the PRI political regime, Televisa managed to preserve and increase its economic and cultural power in what could be

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defined as the “Mexican formula” that was “a kind of entente cordiale between Televisa and the political structure, that for decades and although never formalized, was a natural form of coexistence of both sectors. The status quo was maintained thanks to the continuity in both spheres. While Televisa was a family business belonging to the Azcárraga family, power between 1929 and 2001 remained in the hands of the same political party, the PRI” (Fijałkowska 2013, 185). More recently, other changes have also taken place in the political, legal, and social spheres that have transformed the nature of Televisa. However, as they are outside the scope of this work, they will not be considered for the moment, and we will leave this brief historical account up to this point.

The Venturing of Private Television into Mexican Football During the 1930s, among other regional leagues, the Major League of the Federal District (LM, by its Spanish initials) was in a phase of social rooting. In several Latin American countries, the transition from amateur to professional football was being experienced. In Mexico, the debates between those who opposed and those who favored the professionalization of the game did not wait. In 1943, the forces in favor of professionalization overcame the amateur resistance, and in that year, a league with national and professional aspirations was finally consolidated. Simultaneously, the communication media and certain activities were consolidated as part of Mexican urban culture and gave rise to the massification of modern shows, such as sports. From the 1910s to the 1950s, in Mexico “the spectators discover[ed] and recognize[ed] each other thanks to their scenic counterparts and applaud the novelty” (Monsiváis 1978: 100), moving at the speed of technology and the media walked, the political impulses that were launched and the rhythm of capitalism that was imposed. The football show was acquiring its own cultural mass to the extent that the media and the cultural industry were shaping it. The move to professionalism was essential for the maturity of show football. This could only be understood to the extent that the football infrastructure was being objectified in new stadiums and clubs.

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Similarly, the professionalization of football in Mexico led to an organization of stronger instrumental rationality. The consolidation of the Professional League in 1943 forced the clubs that funded it to take an eminently entrepreneurial position, subordinating any “traditional” or pre-modern element in their organic structures. In 1942, a year before football professionalized, its two great Mexican institutions, the Major League (LM, by its Spanish initials) and the Mexican Federation of Associated Football (FMFA, by its Spanish initials) broke ties. The LM was established in 1943 basically as a business entity and consolidated professionalism in Mexico. The FMFA was technically bankrupt and only organized amateur football in certain parts of the country, and their only asset to negotiate was that FIFA recognized it as the representative body of Mexican football. The LM exacerbated and radicalized professionalism through the massive importation of South American players, especially Argentines. On December 13, 1948, the LM, already professionalized, and the FMFA re-joined to finally establish the Mexican Football Federation (FMF), which continues to be the organizational body of Mexican football under eminently capitalist and business premises. It is in this context that in 1956, Mexico City hosted the Second Pan American Football Championship. In addition to Mexico’s representative team, those from Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and Chile attended. Newspapers of the time showed that prior to the championship, the expectations were flattering for the organizers, especially the leaders of the FMF. The Ciudad Universitaria Stadium (CU Stadium) was the venue for this event. That tournament was crucial for the Azcárraga’s entry into the football world. I will give a version of what happened. Initially, and even contradictorily from a contemporary gaze, the FMF was straightforwardly opposed to allowing the television to broadcast the tournament. A note from that year was titled as follows: “The Mexican Football Federation declared television as its greatest enemy.” As stated by the then president of the FMF, “[…] television [is the] main enemy against our box office and we will not allow remote controls of the Second Pan-­ American Tournament to be made” (‘La Federación Mexicana declaró, 1956, 27-A). On Sunday, February 26, the Tournament was inaugurated with a match between the Mexican and Costa Rican teams. The fans who attended the stadium far exceeded the number of seats available. A journalistic note pointed out that “thousands of people were unable to enter

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the Stadium, which was filled with more than 100,000” and “the policemen had to take action to contain the crowds gathered on the outskirts of the Stadium and were trying to enter by force” (‘Cómo fue a detalle’, 1956, 1). Although some media reported the inauguration as an “emotional and simple” ceremony in which the CU Stadium had been “full of euphoric fans of joy” (Esto 1956, 1), the problems of crowding and resale became evident because of the massive response of Mexico City fans that wanted to attend the tournament. Two days later, Argentina played against Peru. They tied scoreless as Mexican fans supported the Peruvians. The Argentines, in return, began a tremendous row on the field. However, the most important facts happened off the field of play: as in the past matches, overflowing masses of fans with and without tickets arrived at the stadium and jumped over its walls. About one hundred thousand tickets were put up for sale, but the stadium only had room for seventy thousand people. The press and fans severely questioned the organizers. Like never in the country’s history, crowds gathered outside the offices of the FMF, chaired by Salvador Guarneros, in search of a ticket to go to the stadium. For the capital’s government, the tournament was becoming a matter of importance. The then called Office of Spectacles of the Department of the Federal District finally intervened on March 2 with the celebration of “a meeting with the leaders of the FMF, [in which the following measures were taken] to benefit the public that attends the games of the Second Pan-American Football Championship. 1. Only 70,290 tickets will be sold for each match. 2. From tomorrow, the games will be televised” (‘Espectáculos intervino’, 1956, 24-A). It can be asserted that the same day, March 2, Mexican television began football broadcastings against their (at least explicit) desire and bound by the government. A news story from El Excelsior reported these facts as follows: “Starting tomorrow football will be televised (by order of Lic. Uruchurtu).” The news story stated that this measure “will end the excesses that the Mexican Football Federation tolerates” and that it was “an express order from Mr. Ernesto P.  Uruchurtu, head of the Central Department.” In addition, the story reads that “Don Emilio Azcárraga, informed that the broadcasts would be made through channel five” and that this was an “emergency” measure that had already been communicated to the FMF (De León 1956, 14-A).

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Telesistema Mexicano, the 1970 Football World Cup, and the Mexican Fandom During the 1950s and 1960s, the official discourse of modernity and modernization was very persistent. Nevertheless, multiple movements such as the railroad movement (1958–1959) or the medical movement (1964–1965), and finally, the student movement of 1968 demonstrated that the Mexican political system and its modernity narrative did not correspond to the Mexican social and political reality. However, the political and economic elites bid for the venues of the two most important sporting events in the world: the Olympic Games and the Football World Cup. The stories of how the venues of the 1968 Olympics Games (OG 68) and the 1970 World Cup (WC 70) were obtained have points and characters in common. Some academics have studied the OG 68 (Brewster 2010; Bolsmann and Brewster 2009; Castañeda 2012; Rodríguez 1998, 2003; Zolov 2004). However, none of them have established the connection that exists between the OG 68 and the WC 70. It is not the purpose of this chapter to make an exhaustive historical review of the OG 68, but rather to point out that obtaining the two venues was a part of the so-intended economic and political modernization project. The OG 68 were a venture spearheaded by the federal government. According to Zolov, winning the games venue was an “obsession of former president Adolfo López Mateos” (2004, 164). Since 1963, through presidential decrees (López Mateos 1963, 10; Díaz Ordaz 1966, 27 and 1967, 34) and public resources, the Mexican government acceded to all the requests of the International Olympic Committee. Pedro Ramírez Vázquez was appointed president of the Organizing Committee of the OG 68 with the slogan of holding an Olympiad “with decorum [and] without useless luxuries” (Rodríguez 1998, 112). The first intersection between hosting the two events is clear with the participation of TSM. The Azcárraga television company led the international consortium that broadcasted the OG 68. Together with the American ABC, the Japanese NHK, the Canadian CBC, and the European EBU, TSM carried out the broadcasting, production, and administration of images of those games (IOC 1999: 19). The live and colour broadcast of the OG 68 was an international television milestone. Although not all the merit or the awards could be attributed to TSM, Emilio Azcárraga

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Milmo already had perfectly calculated that the great event arranged for his personal and corporate benefit would be WC 70. Since the end of the 1950s, Emilio Azcárraga Milmo was very interested in consolidating his power over professional football, not only in Mexico but on a planetary scale. With Guillermo Cañedo de la Bárcena,1 Azcárraga achieved many of his goals. In 1959, his first objective was to take over the popular professional club America FC in Mexico City. Azcárraga appointed Cañedo as president of the club, and immediately, the latter also became president of the FMF in 1960. Later (as part of their plans for the organization of WC 70), Azcárraga and Cañedo managed to unify the now-extinct North American Football Confederation and the Central American and Caribbean Football Confederation into a single entity: The North and Central American and Caribbean Football Confederation (CONCACAF). Finally, the ascending and increasingly influential careers of Azcárraga and Cañedo led the latter to one of the vice presidencies of FIFA in 1974, which was fundamental for the management of the 1986 World Cup (WC 86). In 1964, during the Congress of the International Federation of Football Association (FIFA), held on October 8, two days before the opening of the Tokyo Olympic Games, Mexico won the venue for the WC 70. That day Guillermo Cañedo declared: “This is the happiest day of my life. For five years we have fought to host the World Cup. This work ends now; but we began to prepare the stage for the competition” (‘Gran triunfo’, 1964). One of the pillars of this project was the construction of a large stadium, which eventually was named the Azteca Stadium.2 Its architect, Pedro 1  To have an idea of the importance of Guillermo Cañedo in the international football stage, the day of his dead, this news story was published in the New York Times: “The death of Guillermo Canedo in Mexico on Tuesday deprives world soccer of its second most influential administrator. Canedo, senior vice president of FIFA and a lawyer who specialized in World Cup organization and television rights, was a significant presence at the world soccer federation since 1962. He headed the organization for two World Cups in his own country, in 1970 and 1986, he led the committee for the 1998 World Cup in France and he was a broker trying to soothe the diplomatic waters for a shared World Cup between Japan and South Korea in 2002” (Hughes 1997). 2  The land where the Azteca Stadium stands was (at least in) part property of the Santa Úrsula Ejido, which by law could not be sold to any private interest individual or company. There is no document available to prove that the Ejido was expropriated by the Mexican government in order to build it, which in any circumstance would have been illegal, as the only possible cause would have been a public interest cause.

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Ramírez Vázquez, was, as has been pointed out, the president of the Organizing Committee of the OG 68 and brother of Miguel Ramírez Vázquez, who at that time was the president of the Necaxa Club that competed in the first division and eventually took part in the consortium that built the Aztec Stadium. Obtaining the WC 70 attracted criticism and suspicion. It is a fact that the Mexican media elite led by Azcárraga and Cañedo did an outstanding job inserting themselves in all possible nooks and crannies of power at the local, national and international professional football levels. On voting day in Tokyo, October 8, 1964, the FIFA president himself noted that “never before has a similar campaign been staged for the honour of hosting the Jules Rimet Cup. «Both Mexico and Argentina literally spent thousands of dollars trying to win the favour of the delegates».” The Argentines, who had disputed the WC 70 venue as their forces permitted it, were outraged, and one of their representatives declared: “What surprised us was the vote of Italy in favour of Mexico and the Spanish abstention. I believe that extra sport considerations of a political nature intervened there” (‘Dios hizo justicia’, 1964). How many thousands of dollars were spent to obtain the “favours” of the delegates? How many other types of “considerations” aside from the sports ones were involved? These are open-ended questions that are presented as contemporary questions to be investigated. González de Bustamante points out: “Very similar to what was said about the Olympics, two years earlier, the World Cup pushed the country onto the international stage, allowing media executives and the government to steer the nation towards modernity and order. Behind the scenes, the country remained in conflict” (2012, 178). Whereas the press, the national advertising industry, and the official discourse affirmed that Mexico was “preparing” to receive the WC 70 celebration presenting an orderly and modern country, in Mexican cities and especially in the capital, many groups armed themselves for the revolutionary struggle in response to the brutal repression that took place to two years before in Tlatelolco. Pedraza summarizes it very well: “Since the beginning of 1969, in various cities of the country, small groups of young people had been emerging, convinced of the need to arm themselves to confront the repressive forces of the State. The intransigence of President Díaz Ordaz and his Interior Secretary, Luis Echeverría Álvarez, had polarized broad sectors of the student movement and the middle classes against them” (2008, 98)

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Despite this, the country that TSM was eager to present was one fully inscribed into modernity. In this sense, football practice and fandom have been conceived as healthy and moralizing. Thus, for example, in the months prior to the cup, Alfonso Corona del Rosal, Head of the Federal District Department (a position that, by that time, was appointed by the president himself), inaugurated the Mexican Football Training Centre, financed by the FMF. Emilio Azcárraga Milmo, Guillermo Cañedo and his entourage from the FMF were at this event. In the journalistic chronicle, it was highlighted that the main objective of this facility was to “create” athletes specialized in football and other necessary professionals such as masseurs, doctors, and physical trainers. The news story speculated the possibility that the centre could be available for the population in general and, more specifically, for that sector that would like to become a professional footballer. This vision handled the interests of the government and the owners of the private Training Centre with ambiguity. Although the fundamental aspects of the organization of WC 70 were carried out by TSM and the entities subordinate to it, such as the FMF itself and, of course, the Organizing Committee, the Federal District Department had to carry out expropriations of land and apply for resources to renovate certain areas of the city, despite the lucrative goal of opening the WC 70. Since 1965, according to two corresponding presidential decrees, the Federal District Department expropriated “for reasons of public utility” several lands that served to connect the Tlalpan Driveway with Insurgentes Avenue (Díaz Ordaz, Gustavo 1965a, 4 and 1965b, 8). How justified were these government interventions in terms of “public utility” for a private interest competition? The question still remains unanswered. However, and largely echoing what happened previously to the OG 68, perhaps the main concern of the WC 70 organizers (Azcárrga included, of course), the press and the government was the behaviour not only of the fans and those attending the matches but of the general “citizens.” They had in mind the events of 1956, during the Second Pan-American Football Tournament that let the Azacárraga get into organized football. A journalist pointed out that the sport chroniclers highlighted the “good” and “exemplary behaviour of their countrymen” during the opening ceremony at the Azteca Stadium. He went on to point out that the “Mexican public offered, according to the spoken and written chronicles, unequivocal proof of their maturity, of their impeccable sportsmanship, of their solid citizenship training.” And he added that this would have been

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very good if it had not been for “the insistence on the subject” and “the abundance of references” in this regard, which “seemed aimed at dispelling doubts, rather than confirming opinions. Fears and doubts, regarding the unpredictable reactions of the Mexican public. Something like if the chroniclers had attended the ceremony with the conviction that there would be plenty of reasons to be ashamed of the behaviour of their countrymen, and they have had the surprise of their lives at the admirable behaviour of the public” (Elizondo 1970, 64). Another columnist noted on the opening day: “As for colour and emotion, there is a unanimous opinion: once again the Mexicans offered the world a beautiful display of taste, euphoria and colour” (Matus 1970, 62). And he finished off his perception this way: “It was an emotional act, capable of shaking us, that behaviour of the great Mexican public! And the whole ceremony, the beginning of the work, the first results of the difficult work of attending to everyone trying to please them, meant a boost for the efforts of those who make up the Organizing Committee of the event” (Matus 1970, 62). In order to demonstrate civility, good behaviour, and hospitality, the organizers and other social groups took an active role before and during the competition. For example, taking advantage of the occasion and on the eve of the presidential elections and renew the chambers of deputies and senators, the PRI distributed flags and twenty-four thousand tournament schedules. These were delivered by Federal District deputies Edmundo Gaona, Secretary General of the United Fans of the city, who in turn gave them to the fans with limited economic resources (‘El PRI distribuyó, 1970). In the same fashion, the National Chamber of Commerce of Mexico City “with the representation of its 27 thousand associated establishments, will lend all its collaboration to the best display of the metropolis on the occasion of the IX World Football Championship […] In coordination with the Federal District Department, CANACO has started an intensive cleaning campaign, both of the shops and of the streets and the sidewalks, in order to give a positively and healthy aspect to the tourism that will visit us within few days” (Betancourt 1970, 17). In many ways, the “private sector” fuelled nationalism and good behaviour. Among many advertising strategies that sought to demonstrate civility was that of Messrs. Alejandro Hernández and José Altamirano, president and director, respectively, of the International Bank, which would be carried out during the inauguration. This “idea consisted of

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distributing to all the fans who attend the Azteca Stadium, the printed National Anthem, so that when the time comes, everyone can sing it.” General Motors Co. printed the anthem on tricolour sheets to be sung and then displayed the national flag. Undoubtedly, these two ideas would make a colourful and beautiful inauguration and celebration and would, the said, contribute to encouraging the National Team (‘Todos a cantar’, 1970). WC 70 was inaugurated on May 31, with the match between the teams of Mexico and the then USSR. The final score was 0-0. This score generated an avalanche of criticism of the football performance of the Mexican team, and the journalistic reports focused their attention on “the most brilliant, spectacular and beautiful [opening ceremony that the world has ever witnessed” (‘Inolvidable ceremonia’, 1970). The poor result on the field caused fans in the Mexican capital and in the rest of the country to hold back the “football euphoria” for the next matches.

A Tiger on the Hunt: Televisa’s 1986 World Cup During the seventies and early eighties, Mexico underwent great social, political, and economic transformations. Economically, during those decades, “the industrial process stopped and [was channeled] towards the tertiary sector (Álvarez 2009, 70–76). It should also be noted that mainly during the period (1970–1982), the Mexican economy was characterized by a great capacity to absorb foreign resources. At the beginning of the 1980s, the economic outlook in Mexico was bleak (Bortz and Mendiola 1991, 44). Politically, the regime gradually gave in to the conflicts that were presented to it from different fronts, such as the union and the strictly citizen-electoral (Tarrés 1994, 186). However, the big issue linked to the WC 86 was the earthquakes of September 1985, which devastated large areas of Mexico City and caused an unknown number of deaths. The WC 86 had initially been assigned to Colombia. A news story of the time reads: “At 4:30 in the morning on Sunday, June 9, 1974—the newspapers in Colombia were already printed and for that reason they did not give the news—at 11:30 am Frankfurt time, the FIFA Executive Committee unanimously accepted the Colombian petition to host the 1986 World Championship” (Carvajal 2010). The Colombian government initially accepted the organization, but a large number of internal contradictions with the Colombian capital greatly

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complicated the process. In 1982, the government withdrew the financial support it had promised for years and only assured a “moral support” to the Colombian capital that wanted to participate in the Colombia 86 Corporation, which had been created for this purpose. The project shipwrecked, and FIFA pressed as it demanded that the “government support could be not only moral but also in financial terms and in good measure. In this regard, at the end of the World Cup in Spain, the president-elect Belisario Betancur stated that he was a supporter of the venue for Colombia, as long as “it does not cost a single penny to the State” (Carvajal 2010). The corporate and personal interests of Joao Havelange, then president of FIFA and Hermann Neuberger, at that time vice president (and in charge of the organization of the World Cup), played important roles to back down the Colombian venue. Adidas, the sporting goods firm and one of FIFA’s most important business partners, was also reluctant. FIFA rushed to change the venue. According to Sudgen and Tomlison, the withdrawal of the Colombian venue and the designation of Mexico can largely be explained by “the influence of certain central figures in international sports policy such as that of the financier Dassler”, owner of the firm Adidas (Sudgen and Tomlison 1998, 108). At the end of the WC 82 in Spain, the bet for Colombians to organize the WC 86 went up, and this is a matter of utmost importance since that was the bet that Mexico took up. On September 16, 1982, in the so-called “Book of Charges”, Neuberger drew up a series of conditions that Colombia had to meet to carry out WC 86. Among the conditions, “to have a 24 teams World Cup in 12 venues. Colombia argued that when they asked for the World Cup, the championship was planned with only 16 teams and it was not so sumptuous” (Escorcia 1982). Furthermore, FIFA “demanded the construction of stadiums with capacity for 40,000 spectators for the first phase; 60,000 for the second and 80,000 for the opening and the final phase. The modernization of lighting was required in some stadiums” (Escorcia 1982). FIFA also demanded luxury cars and free passage in the country, the free circulation of foreign currency and the guarantees on access to TV, radio, and telex signals in a centre for this purpose, state-of-the-art airports and railways, freezing hotel rates, reduced taxes on entry tickets, and adequate offices with three simultaneous translation rooms and a room for eighty people for the referees, all at public expense. FIFA warned that “before November 10 [1982] it [should] be provided with guarantees of compliance with all these conditions” (Escorcia 1982).

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Given this circumstance, the then Colombian President Betancur announced in a very brief speech the resignation of his country to organize the WC 86. “Here in the country”, said Betancur, “we have many things to do and there is no time to attend to the extravagances of FIFA and its partners” (Escorcia 1982). Immediately, Canada, the United States, Brazil and Mexico raised their hands up for the new venue. From that moment, there was almost no doubt that the WC 86 would be awarded to Mexico, despite the intentions of the other competing countries. Immediately and under the pretext of the youth football tournament that was played with his name in Acapulco between November 5 and 14, 1982, Joao Havelange flew to Mexico and met with Rafael del Castillo, president of the FMF and Guillermo Cañedo (already vice-president of FIFA) and very likely with Emilio “El Tigre” Azcárraga3 himself, to technically got hold of the WC 86 venue. According to Fernández and Paxman, once Colombia “retired”, Havelange flew to Mexico to meet with his “good friends” (Fernández and Paxman 2000, 268) Cañedo and Azcárraga, a meeting in which, unofficially, Mexico secured the venue. In his column, Herreros pointed out: “Mexico has a chance, of the highest order, to be the hosting country. Those who were silent and cautious—Del Castillo and Cañedo were with the president [elect] Mr. Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado. And with them Joao Havelange” (Herreros 1982, 15). On March 10, 1983, Brazil withdrew because their federation did not obtain the corresponding government endorsement. For its part, the FMF (and Televisa) managed and pressured the Mexican government to obtain the venue. Through a rigged opinion poll, called the “World Cup Consultation Forum 86”, the government allegedly consulted the 3  According to Fernández and Paxman: “Emilio Azcárraga was baptized as El Tigre (The Tiger) at the end of the sixties, before taking control of the company that his father had founded. That nickname did not become well known until the eighties. […] Rightly, the nickname also reflected the sharp edges of Azcárraga’s character: the veiled threat that often accompanied his greetings, a demanding attitude towards employees that bordered on possession and the habit of reminding people, out loud—even to his closest friends- that he was the boss. In other words, ‘even when he stroked, he scratched’. Or as Valentín Pimpstein, the guru of Televisa soap operas, said: ‘They call him the Tigre because when he hugs you he draws blood’. Or as Vélez described: ‘he slaps you and then licks you’. The sharp angles of Azcárraga’s personality were most evident in his language. Like his father, he used to address people by calling them ‘assholes’ and he enjoyed using threatening expressions when he wanted something done. ‘I’ll hang you by the balls if you don’t do it on time’, he yelled at his employees” (Fernández and Paxman 2000, 18).

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population about the endorsement that should be given to nominating Mexico. The organizer of the supposed consultation, Segundo de la Fuente, affirmed on March 9, 1983 that “the people said yes to the organization of the World Cup. It is estimated that, of the total expressions, 75% were in favor” (‘El pueblo de México’, 1983). The Miguel de la Madrid governmental endorsement was based on the consideration that “a World Football Championship is, sportingly speaking, a high-ranking event, with strong recreational content for the people of Mexico, which has marked fondness or predilection for this sporting branch” (‘El sentido recreativo’, 1983). In addition, they argued that it was “clear that public funds will not be used for any item or expenses involved in the Football World Cup, which will be in charge of the sponsors and the Organizing Federation” (‘El sentido recreativo’, 1983). Once the government endorsed the venue and used the capacity granted by FIFA vice president Guillermo Cañedo and CONCACAF president Joaquín Soria Terraza, the FMF, fully supported by Televisa, launched with strength the candidacy of the WC 86. On April 13, 1983, the FIFA Technical Committee in charge of “inspecting” the applicant stadiums in Mexico, met with then president Miguel de la Madrid. At this meeting, he said that “the Mexican fans are excited about the possibility of witnessing a World Cup, but we cannot be sure that we already have it.” He recommended to FIFA members that “they should not be pressured when offering their report after completing their work in our country” (Ponce 1983). In addition to visiting Mexico, Neuberger affirmed without hesitation (despite the fact that the other candidates, the United States and Canada, still had expectations to be elected) that “this commission would not visit their facilities” (Ponce 1983). Meanwhile, the general secretary of FIFA and member of the Technical Committee, the Swiss Joseph Blatter, assured that “neither Pelé, nor Beckenbauer nor Henry Kissinger, will be able to pressure FIFA to make the final decision” (Ponce 1983). Finally, and still with the support indicated above for the US candidacy, in an extraordinary session on May 20, 1983, the FIFA Executive Committee granted the venue to Mexico with a unanimous vote (UPI 1983). After that meeting, Geroges Schwartz, head of the Canadian nomination for the venue, stated that “if you read the 90-page document that Canadians submitted to FIFA and compared it to the 10-page mimeographed document submitted by the Mexicans, the latter is nothing more than ‘a joke’” (UPI 1983).

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El Tigre’s Televisa (with full support of the FMF and the Mexican government) had stalked, briefly chased, and abruptly caught, for the second time, a World Football Cup venue. Nevertheless, the WC 86 was prepared under the shadow of a country devastated by the economic crisis perpetrated by the neoliberal dogma and amplified by the earthquakes of September 19 and 20, 1985. Civil society, especially those affected by the earthquakes, organized and protested against the infamous, late, and terrible government response to the social, economic, and political disaster resulting from them and the financial crisis, which did not yield despite multiple government promises. Meanwhile, the government continued to offer all the necessary guarantees for the celebration of WC 86. “The people and the government of Mexico are fulfilling,” asserted the then-president Miguel de la Madrid in 1985 (Ponce 1985). The security for the World Cup was a priority at all times. The Undersecretary of the Interior, Jorge Carrillo Olea, assigned twenty thousand elements of different corporations to achieve this task (‘Dispositivo de seguridad’, 1986). WC 86 was inaugurated on May 31. The most outstanding and significant response was the fans, who took an open position against the president of the republic and the presidents of the organizing committee and FIFA, Guillermo Cañedo and Joao Havelange, respectively. The opening ceremony was lacklustre and unappealing. When Miguel de la Madrid took the floor to inaugurate and welcome WC 86, a very loud boo and whine were heard during his speech, making it impossible for his words to be heard in the stadium (Galarza 1986). The celebrations were massive in the streets, mainly in Mexico City. What in 1970 was “euphoria” in 1986 became “vandalism.” A society less and less subject to the designs of autocratic power seemed to defy it, even in extreme forms. The Mexican team had a relatively notable participation, which significantly increased the nationalist impulse and collective euphoria. On June 3, the Mexican representative defeated Belgium by 2 goals to 1. On June 7, it drew against Paraguay 1 to 1. Finally, a victory over Iraq by 1 to 0 on June 11 secured the pass to the next round. The authorities, together with Televisa, sought to lessen the effects of the excesses and quickly implemented measures to contain the mob. Grenadiers, police on horseback, patrols, and the installation of “blowouts”

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were the option. The “reventódromos”4 were aseptic and controlled places in which people “waved little flags in front of the pavilions and obeying the white slogans of the animators, as naive as their jokes” (Avilés 1986, 17) The joy and the party took over a city as had not been experienced before. It was, however, a country battered by the economic crisis and the seismic devastation that was rebuilding itself under the influence of the football carnival and the expensive World Cup party obtained by Televisa and its private benefit in accordance with the FIFA elite and sponsors. Televisa only broadcasted the beautiful and funny parts of the event omitting the public cost of the WC 86. Under their propaganda and in their pay roll, they depicted a country of deep-rooted traditions with actors and actresses all white and classy. As part of their propaganda, Televisa made the National Team sang a ridiculous nationalistic anthem called “The Tricolour Team” (as the national team is popularly known): The tricolour team has a big heart As in the pitch it will be demonstrated. At the stadium with the fans With courage and fearlessness Joyful to be the host country (‘El Equipo Tricolor, 1986).

They also designed Pique, a green chile with moustache and sombrero carelessly dressed up like the national team. Televisa decided to represent the WC 86 with a map as a logo. The east and the west hemispheres were divided by a ball, but their slogan presented: “The world united by a football.”

Conclusions Televisa has had a drastic drop in its audiences and in its political power in the last five years. Its cultural influence has also been affected by the technical transformation that audiovisual media has undergone, largely thanks to streaming and the internet. The composition of the professional league and the FMF has also changed. As noted, Emilio Azcárraga Milmo controlled Mexican television 4  “Reventar” in Mexico means to party. So a “reventódromo” is a kind of fan fest predecessor.

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and football from the 1960s until the late twentieth century. However, his main heir, Emilio Azcárraga Jean, cannot boast in that regard. This does not mean that Televisa has ceased to be a main actor in the configuration of contemporary Mexican football. For the seasons carried out in 2021, its affiliate TUDN broadcast the home matches of seven of the eighteen teams that make up the league, but competition from the US networks: ESPN and Fox Sports, and their rivals in Mexico: TV Azteca, Claro Sports, and Imagen present an increasingly competitive panorama. Mexico has acquired the rights to host a Football World Cup for the third time in 2026. However, the venue will be shared by the United States and Canada, leaving Mexico almost as a comparsa of the two northern powers. Televisa has failed to establish that third venue as an achievement, paling in front of the two previous venues in 1970 and 1986. Football in Mexico continues to be a good business and attracts millions of fellow citizens countrymen. The slice of that cake for Televisa, however, is getting smaller and smaller.

References ‘¡El pueblo de México Dijo Sí al Mundial 86!’ (1983) La Afición, 10 March. ‘¡Gran Triunfo de México! Obtuvo 56 votos por 32 de Argentina’ (1964) La Afición, 10 October. ‘Cómo fue a detalle el primer juego del Torneo Panamericano’ (1956), El Informador, 27 February. ‘Dios hizo justicia- dijo Memo Cañedo’ (1964), La Afición, 8 October. ‘Dispositivos de seguridad para el mundial México 86’ (1986), El Heraldo de México, 13 January. ‘El Equipo Tricolor—Sel. de México’ (1986) https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=PtQCRftEFrA&t=108s, accesed 23 November 2021. ‘El PRI distribuyó banderitas a los aficionados de fútbol’ (1970), El Heraldo de México, 31 May. ‘El sentido recreativo del fútbol, base del gobierno para dar el aval” (1983), La Afición, 11 March. ‘Espectáculos intervino en el desorden del Panamericano’ (1956), El Excélsior, 3 March. ‘Inolvidable ceremonia que hizo historia’ (1970), Esto, 7 June. ‘La Federación Mexicana declaró al fútbol como su mayor enemigo’ (1956), El Excelsior, Sunday, 26 February. ‘Todos a cantar el Himno Nacional’ (1970), La Afición, 16 May.

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Álvarez Enríquez, Lucía (2009), Distrito Federal. Sociedad, economía, política y cultura, México: Centro de Investigaciones Interdisciplinarias en Ciencias y Humanidades-UNAM. Avilés, Jaime (1986) ‘Orden y concierto en reventódromos’, La Jornada, 8 June. Betancourt, Antonio (1970), ‘La CANACO Colaborará con los Turistas del Mundial’, La Afición, 9 May. Bolsmann, Chris and Keith Brewster (2009) ‘Mexico 1968 and South Africa 2010: development, leadership and legacies’, Sport in Society 12 (10): 1284–1298. Bortz, Jeffrey L. y Salvador Mendiola (1991) ‘El impacto social de la crisis económica de México’, Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 53 (1): 43–69). Brewster, Keith (ed) (2010) Reflections on Mexico ‘68, Chichester, U.K.; Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. Carvajal Crespo, Tobías (2010) ‘Así renunciamos al mundial de fútbol de 1986. Colombia habría sido la sede del Mundial de 1986’. Arcotriunfal.com. Un portal a la historia del deporte, 15 June, http://www.arcotriunfal.com/328/ asi_renunciamos_al_mundial_de_fútbol_de_1986.html, accessed 2 Fbruary 2014. Castañeda, Luis (2012) ‘Choreographing the Metropolis: Networks of Circulation and Power in Olympic Mexico’, Journal of Design History, Oxford University of Oxford Press (3): 285–303. Corona Berkin, Sarah (1992–1993) ‘La Televisión: Informe de Salvador Novo y Guillermo González Camarena’, Comunicación y Sociedad, Sept–April (16–17): 195–239. De León, Federico (1956) ‘El futbol será televisado (por ordenes del Lic. Uruchurtu) desde mañana’, El Excélsior, March 3. Díaz Ordaz, Gustavo (1965a) ‘Decreto que declara de utilidad pública diversas obras, para lo cual se expropian varios inmuebles en el Distrito Federal, en relación con el Estadio Azteca’, Diario Oficial de la Federación, 14 July. Díaz Ordaz, Gustavo (1965b) ‘Decreto que declara de utilidad pública diversas obras, para lo cual se expropian varios inmuebles en el Distrito Federal, en relación con el Estadio Azteca’, Diario Oficial de la Federación, 4 August. Díaz Ordaz, Gustavo (1966) ‘Decreto por el que se dispone la forma en que queda integrado el Comité Organizador de los XIX Juegos Olímpicos’ Diario Oficial de la Federación, 26 October. Díaz Ordaz, Gustavo (1967) ‘Decreto por el que el Comité Organizador de los XIX Juegos Olímpicos tendrá el carácter de organismo público descentralizado, con personalidad jurídica y patrimonio propio’, Diario Oficial de la Federación, 25 July. Elizondo, Antonio (1970) ‘Un elogio insolente: Nuestro Público’, Siempre! Presencia de México (886). Escorcia, Dagoberto (1982), ‘Betancur: ‘Colombia no tiene tiempo para atender las extrava-gancias de la FlFA”, El País, 27 October, http://elpais.

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com/dia-­rio/1982/10/27/deportes/404521215_850215.html, accessed 3 February 2014. Espino, Efraín Pérez (1979). ‘El monopolio de la televisión comercial en México (El Caso Televisa).” Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 41 (4): 1435–68). Esto (1956), 27 February. Fernández, Claudia and Andrew Paxman (2000) El Tigre. Emilio Azcárraga y su imperio Televisa, México: Raya en el Agua-Grijalbo. Fijałkowska, Alicja (2013) ‘¿La “fórmula mexicana” siempre viva? Televisión y poder en México’, Itinerarios: revista de estudios lingüisticos, literarios, históricos y antropológicos, (18): 181–193). Galarza, Gerardo (1986) ‘Las rechiflas al presidente marcaron la inauguración: al segundo juego asistió sigilosamente’, Proceso (501), 8 June. González de Bustamante, Celeste (2012) ‘Muy Buenas Noches’: Mexico, Television and the Cold War. USA: Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. Herreros, Brigitte (1982) ‘Acapulco y los mundiales en la vieja polémica de qué vale más: ¿las individualidades o el conjunto?’, La Afición, 12 November. Hughes, Rob (1997) ‘Canedo’s Death Shakes Up Soccer’, The New York Times, 23 January, https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/23/sports/IHT-­canedos-­ death-­shakes-­up-­soccer.html, accessed 7 February 2014. Laura Camila, Ramírez Bonilla (2015) ‘La hora de la TV: incursión de la televisión y la telenovela en la vida cotidiana de la ciudad de México (1958–1966)’, Historia mexicana, 65(1): 289–356). López Mateos, Adolfo (1963) ‘Decreto por el que se autoriza al Departamento del Distrito Federal para que con la cooperación de la Secretaría de Educación Pública, gestione que la ciudad de México sea la sede de los Juegos Olímpicos de 1968’, Diario Oficial de la Federación, 29 June. Matus, Ignacio (1970), ‘¡Cosas de la… patada! Comenzó el Mundial’, Esto, 1st June. Monsiváis, Carlos (1978) ‘Notas Sobre Cultura Popular en Mexico’, Latin American Perspectives, 5(1): 98–118). Pedraza Reyes, Héctor (2008) ‘Apuntes sobre el movimiento armado socialista en México (1969–1974)’, Nóesis. Revista de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades (34): 92–124. Ponce, Francisco (1983) ‘De la Madrid se une a la petición del Mundial; los estadios, medianos’, Proceso (337), 17 April. Ponce, Francisco (1985) ‘El pueblo y el gobierno están cumpliendo, dijo el Presidente. Con el sorteo empezaron el Mundial 86 y el baile de los dólares’, Proceso (476), 15 December. Rodríguez Kuri, Ariel (1998) ‘El otro 68: política y estilo en la organización de los juegos olímpicos de la ciudad de México’, Relaciones (76): 107–130. Rodríguez Kuri, Ariel (2003) ‘Hacia México 68. Pedro Ramírez Vázquez y el proyecto olímpico’, Secuencia (56): 37–73.

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Sánchez Ruiz, Enrique E. (1991) ‘Hacia una cronología de la televisión mexicana’, Comunicación y sociedad, Sept-April (10–11): 235–262. Sudgen, John y Alan Tomlinson (1998) FIFA and the Contest for World Football: Who Rules thePeoples’ Game?, Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. Tarrés, Ma. Luisa (1994) ‘Demandas democráticas y participación electoral en la Ciudad de México: dos estudios de caso’, Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 56 (4): 185–207. UPI (1983) ‘Mexico Is Chosen As World Cup Host’, The New York Times, 21 May, http://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/21/sports/mexico-­is-­chosen-­as-­ world-­cup-­host.htm, accessed 5 February 2014. Zolov, Eric (2004) ‘Showcasing the ‘Land of Tomorrow’: Mexico and the 1968 Olympics, The Americas 2. Berkley, California: The Academy of American Franciscan History (159–188).

The Print Media and Sport Nationalism in the Caribbean: The Case of Trinidad and Tobago’s 1990 World Cup Campaign Roy McCree

Introduction Whether big or small, developed or developing, sport on the whole and soccer in particular has become an indissoluble part of the construction of nations, nationalism and national identity across the world due in part to the global status of the sport. In fact, whereas the FIFA consists of 204 members, the United Nations consists of 193. However, for small states in general and small island states in particular, like those in the Caribbean, sport has become a more important mechanism for achieving international visibility, recognition and respect (James 1963; Sam and Jackson 2019). A critical or decisive factor, however, which has served to facilitate and solidify this sport-nationalism nexus has been the media, whether electronic or print, as part of the broader ‘sport, media production complex’ or the

R. McCree (*) The University of the West Indies, Saint Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 B. Buarque de Hollanda, L. G. Burlamaqui (eds.), Latin American Sport Media, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15594-9_9

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‘global sports media complex’ (Maguire 1999, 2011). While the electronic media has assumed prominence in the study of contemporary sport and particularly with the recent emergence of the phenomenon of social media (Pedersen 2014), it must not be forgotten that the forerunner to the electronic media was the print media which laid the original foundation for what has also been called, the ‘sport sponsorship/advertising/ media axis’ (Hargreaves 1986) and the ‘media sports cultural complex’ (Rowe 2004). Additionally, the print media did not only pioneer the incorporation of sport into the world of commerce and material consumption. Equally important, it facilitated its incorporation into a particular matrix of power relations related to race, ethnicity, colour, gender, disability and nationalism which it has served to reflect, reinforce as well as resist. In other words, the print media did not only lay the foundation for the commercialization or commodification of sport but its mediated politicization. Consequently, one can reasonably argue that what we have is not just a sport media production or industrial complex in a narrow sense but a sport media political, ideological and nationalist complex as well, which are both intertwined. Rowe et al. (1998) also called it the ‘sport-nationalism-media troika’. Against this background, the primary objective of this chapter is to examine the role played by the local print media in Trinidad and Tobago in reflecting and (re)producing notions of nationalism, national identity and national unity during the country’s participation in the 1989 play offs to qualify for the 1990 World Cup in Italy. These play offs took place in a period characterized by mass discontent and opposition to the Government of the day that ultimately resulted in a very short lived coup d’état in July 1990 (Ryan 1991) just 8 months after the play offs had ended.

Background Citing McDonald and Birrell (1999), Vincent and Hill (2011) rightly noted that ‘Mediated sport must be understood within its social, cultural, political and historical context’. Informed by this analytical injunction, it should be noted that Trinidad and Tobago has a very multi religious and multi racial population as a consequence of plantation slavery and Indian indentureship under British colonialism (Williams 1962; Harewood 1974). This period of colonialism lasted from 1797 to 1962, when it became politically independent of Britain (Williams 1962). While its current population stands at 1.3  million people (GORTT 2012, 3), at the

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time of the 1990 World Cup playoffs, it was around 1.1 million (GORTT 2002, 9). In relation to its composition, it is dominated by persons of African and Asian Indian origin which, at the time of the playoffs, amounted to 39.6% and 40.3%, respectively followed by those considered Mixed (18.4%), Whites(0.6%), Chinese (0.4%) and Syrians (0.8%) (GORTT 2002, 9). Before 1990 however, persons of African origin were the dominant group numerically. In relation to religion, the vast majority of the population is Christian (60.5%) followed by Hindus (23.7%) and Muslims (5.8%) (ibid.). As a result of its diversity, social and political relations in the society have been heavily influenced by race and ethnicity, historically. In this regard for instance, the two major political parties have historically drawn the bulk of their support from either persons of Asian Indian descent or African descent (Ryan 1988a). However, although Indians have always formed a significant proportion of the population, for most of the country’s post-war and post-independence history, political power has been dominated by persons of African descent although there were always a sprinkling of Indians in the predominantly African dominated Government (Ryan 1988a; La Guerre 1974). As a consequence, Indians have always felt a sense of exclusion and marginalization from the society politically, as well as culturally and made to feel as if they were second class citizens. This situation started to change slowly in the 1980s when, in 1986, the African based People’s National Movement(PNM), which had ruled the country un interruptedly from 1956, lost the national parliamentary elections in that year to a coalition of political parties called the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR). One of the political parties that formed an important part of this coalition was the United Labour Front (ULF), which drew the bulk of its political support from Asian Indians most of whom were Hindus (Ryan 1988a). The slogan of ‘One Love’ was the major rallying cry of the coalition of ethnic forces under the NAR. However, the joy that many Indians felt in finally becoming a part of the ruling Government and political decision making in the country was short lived (Ryan 1988b). This happened because within 2 years of getting into power, the coalition collapsed as the principal leaders of the ULF were ejected from the Governing coalition due to political differences with the other main faction of the coalition. The latter faction consisted mainly of black, mixed and white elements in the society, historically referred to as creoles (Ryan 1996). In response to their ejection from the Government, the leaders of the ULF left the political coalition entirely and formed a

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new political party called the United National Congress (UNC) in May 1989 (Pantin 1989a, 1), the very same month that the qualifiers started for the 1990 World Cup. Additionally, at the same time that the country was unravelling politically along racial and ethnic lines, it was also undergoing severe economic decline due to a fall in export revenues, increase unemployment, inflation, poverty and a 10% cut in the salaries of public servants as a result of structural adjustment measures dictated by the IMF (Ryan 1991). As a consequence, trade unions were up in arms and organized public marches to protest vehemently the worsening socio-economic climate. This included calling for a ‘Day of Resistance’ by asking all workers to stay at home (Johnson 1989, 1; John 1989a, 2) followed by a ‘March Against Hunger’ which involved over 3000 protestors in the capital city Port of Spain (John 1989b, 2). In the midst of this public opposition, an opinion poll conducted around the same time revealed that 64% of the persons polled (n = 1034) had expressed dissatisfaction with the Government’s performance (Trinidad Express, Sunday March 26 1989a, 1) with the most dissatisfied groups being persons of African descent (80%) followed by Indians (73%), Hindus (72%), Anglicans (69%) and Muslims (68%). Not surprisingly therefore, 46% wanted the Prime Minister replaced which was slightly greater among persons of Indian descent (52%) followed by those of African descent (48%) (Trinidad Express, Monday March 27 1989b, 1). On July 27 1990, this sociopolitical disenchantment reached its apogee or dénouement when the Government was violently over thrown by a group of urban based Muslim insurgents (Ryan 1991). It is in this broader political and socio-economic context therefore, that one has to situate Trinidad and Tobago’s participation in the 1989 play offs for the 1990 World Cup in Italy and the national importance it assumed. The playoffs had marked the second time that the country had come close to qualifying for a World Cup final, the first time being in 1973 for the 1974 World Cup in Germany (Cummings 2020, pp.  59–72). The CONCACAF play offs for this World Cup took place in Haiti and involved six countries: Haiti, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Netherlands Antilles, and Trinidad and Tobago. In a decisive game against the home country Haiti to secure qualification, Trinidad and Tobago had 5 goals disallowed but went on to lose the game 1–2. The referee and his assistants were subsequently banned for life by FIFA but this was very little or no consolation. Participation in the qualifiers for the 1974 World Cup would have

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represented only the 3rd time that the country was taking part in the World Cup since it only qualified to do so after becoming politically independent from Britain in 1962.

Print Media and Sport Nationalism Whatever the media, be it electronic, print, old or new media, the issue of nationalism and national identity has been one of the major common themes in the study of the contemporary sport media alongside, and often related to issues of sexism, racism, and ableism in society (Raney and Bryant 2006; Pedersen 2014; Phillips et al. 2021). The centrality of the nation to reporting in the print media was illustrated in the 2011 International Press survey of 22 countries around the world, where it was found that the vast majority of articles sampled (18,388) focused on sport at a national (45.5%) and international level (43.1%) almost in equal degrees (Rowe 2014). This was seen as reflecting the “the prominence of the nation as a key organizing context in contemporary sport—newspapers here are covering sporting contests both within (that is, nationwide) and between nations.” Relatedly, two of the major global events that have been a focus of the study of the sport media production, political and ideological complex have been the Olympic Games and the FIFA men’s World Cup (Vincent et  al. 2010; Vincent and Hill 2011; Pedersen 2014; Nicholson et  al. 2016). Therefore, this study on the print media, soccer and nationalism in Trinidad and Tobago based on the 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifiers is consistent with this focus. However, most of these studies have tended to focus on established soccer playing nations in the developed North and a few in the developing south, notably Brazil (Gastaldo 2014; Helal and Soares 2014) and Argentina (Alabarces et al. 2001). This study departs from this pattern by focusing on a much lesser known country and small island state in the English speaking Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago. While sport is laced with contradictions, conflicts and controversies of one kind or another, be it in relation to racism, sexism, sexuality and ableism, it is still generally seen in functionalist terms as a major source of social stability, cohesion or unity, nationalism and national identity (Bairner 2015; Vincent and Hill 2011; Phillips et  al. 2021; Ziaee et  al. 2021). Nationalism generally represents an affective and active identification with a particular socially constructed collectivity called a nation that is distinguished, demarcated or defined by particular sovereign geographical

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boundaries (e.g. land, sea and air) as well as by certain political, cultural, sporting, and historical practices, experiences, traditions and memories that transcend the individual (McCree 2022). In addition, nations maybe also distinguished by a particular cuisine, colours, flags, anthems, artistic and musical expressions. Nationalism and national identity, therefore, are basically two sides of the same collective coin since identity here refers to how people define or see themselves in relation to this territorially grounded entity called ‘nation’. Sport nationalism therefore is just a subset of nationalism that is expressed though or in sport which also contains its general contradictions and tensions. To be accepted as part of a nation however has been contested along lines of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and disability that has served to contradict the supposed unifying function of sport in society []. This unifying function or symbolism of sport and soccer in particular, has become even more important and potent in countries that have been historically plagued by deep divisions particularly those of a racial or ethnic nature (Hagay and Meyers 2015; Goig 2008; Tuñón and Brey 2012; Rojo-Labaien 2017; O’Callaghan 2021). Invariably, the sport media has been seen as playing a major role in the construction of this functionalist role assigned to sport while also reflecting, reinforcing as well as resisting the various fissures and cleavages which permeate society (Rowe 2004; Raney and Bryant 2006; Pedersen 2014). The plethora of work on the sport print media-nationalism nexus is replete with examples of this contradictory role of soccer as a source of unity and disunity in the construction of nations, nationalism and national identity. In this regard, it has focused on the particular ‘discursive strategies’ employed to activate nationalist feelings through the use of a particular language (e.g., ‘we’, ‘us’, them), symbols (flags, colours, national heroes), images, stereotypes as well as memories of past leaders and past victories either in sport or war (Alabarces et al. 2001; Maguire et al. 2009; Vincent et al. 2010; Helal and Soares 2014; Falcous 2015;Nicholson et al. 2016; Kozon 2018) This language has also been associated with the use of vitriolic and even physical violence among fans which speaks to a particular form of toxic nationalism. Within the wider Caribbean, there has been little or no scholarly work examining the sport media, either electronic or print, in relation to the issues of nationalism and national identity, particularly in soccer. The work that currently exists in relation to the sport print media is concentrated on the island of Trinidad and Tobago and limited to the sports of boxing

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(McCree 2011), athletics (McCree 2016a) and netball (McCree 2022). In addition, previous work on soccer has focused mainly on the issues of professionalization (McCree 2000), athletic migration (McCree 2014); sport diplomacy (McCree 2020) and gender (McCree 2016; Tantam 2019) without examining the media and soccer. This study hopes to contribute to filling the current void in the study of the sport print media in soccer in the Caribbean. Other Jamaican Book on soccer

Methodology Content analysis has been one of the dominant methodological approaches used to study the workings of the media in general and the sport media in particular, in order to decipher or understand its various social, political and ideological functions in society. Neuman has defined this approach as ‘a technique for gathering and analyzing the content of text’ (Neuman 2006, 322) and, more specifically, as ‘a systematic method for examining the message or content of the print media to draw inferences about the communication system.’ In examining the print media, three broad markers were used to analyze the ways it reflected, produced and reproduced or reinforced nationalist feelings or sentiments in the coverage of the qualifiers for the 1990 World Cup in Italy: the quantity of reports, their positioning, the quantity of photos, and their content. While the quantity of the reports and the photos aimed to get an idea of the prominence the play-offs assumed in the sport media as well as the public imagination, the content paid particular attention to the kind of language or descriptors, symbols and images that were used to in reference to the team, particular individuals, events, moments and results during the competition. Although the country had two major daily newspapers at the time of the play offs, The Trinidad Express (est. 1967) and the Trinidad Guardian (est. 1917), the study was based solely on the former due mainly to the constraints in accessing the University and public libraries as a result of COVID 19 since the newspaper records are not digitized and accessible remotely.1 In relation to the time period, the examination of the newspaper 1  From March 2020, there was little or no access to the libraries of the University of the West Indies as well as the national archives of Trinidad and Tobago as a result of a curfew and multiple lock downs related to the COVID 19 pandemic. Although the University’s library reopened in late November 2021, access was very limited since it was only opened for three days of the week and for three hours on any of these days.

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in question covered the 11 month period spanning January 1st to December 3rd 1989. This period was broken down further into three periods: (1) the build up or period of preparation from January 1st to May 13 which included 5 warm up matches with English club teams Aston Villa, Leicester, Queens Park Rangers as well as Paraguay and Bermuda; (2) the actual play offs from May 14th to November 19th 1989, which involved 8 games on a home and away basis with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and the USA and (3) the two week period following the final and ill-fated game on November 19th from November 20th to December 3rd 1989. It must be noted however, that since media reports may not always adequately or accurately represent the situations to which they refer, this analysis is based on the reporting of ‘media personnel and not the practical, everyday actions of people’. Consequently, in interpreting the various media reports, it is not assumed that they are necessarily the same as the actual views of spectators or the general public.

Findings In relation to the number of reports or stories, 535 were identified in the 11month period examined (see Table  1) which included 16 Editorials. Understandably, the majority of these reports or 67.5% appeared during the longer period of the play offs from May 14 to November 19 1989. In addition, there were also 217 photos which consisted in the main of individual players, the team, both on and off the field, the coach as well as team officials. Two of these photos took the form of a full page spread showing the national team during the play offs in Haiti in 1973 where it was unfairly denied the opportunity to qualify for the 1974 World Cup in Germany (Trinidad Express, November 14 1989, p. 24). In a review of a 2011 survey of the print media in 22 countries, Rowe (2014) noted that Table 1  Reports in Trinidad Express, by Time Period January 1–December 3 1989 Period

Days

Reports

Photos

Pre-January 1–May 13 During-May 14–November 19 Post-November 20–December 3 Total

103 190 14 307

14.4%(77) 67.5% (361) 18.1% (97) 535

26 148 43 217

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“almost two-thirds of surveyed newspaper articles on sport contained at least one photograph”. The use of photos therefore still remain an important part of the workings of the print media for they help to give stories more attention and prominence. While the absence of comparative figures for a previous play-off or that of another appropriate country of similar size makes it difficult to comment on the significance of these numbers (of reports and photos), it seems plausible to contend that they do strongly suggest that the newspaper did give substantial national attention and importance to the play offs. However, it may still be noted that Falcous’ study of nationalism and New Zealand’s World Cup qualification in 2010 was based on a sample of 534 articles drawn from 8 print media sources (Falcous 2015, 558) compared to 535 articles used for this study based on one newspaper. In addition, the fact that some 16 Editorials were devoted solely to these playoffs can attest further to the national importance they assumed for the newspaper as a source or symbol of nationalism, and national unity in the prevailing unstable social climate in the country. The socio-political functions of the play-offs however, are brought out more clearly when we examine not the quantitative markers but the qualitative content of the reporting. In this regard, the examination of the newspaper reports reflected several major related themes which included notably: team preparation, team selection, coaching, playing tactics, quality of performance, results, nationalism, making the country proud and uniting the country. While the technical issues associated with coaching were prominent throughout the period examined, particularly finding “the right mix” or combination of players, they were particularly salient in the 4 month build up before the start of the play-offs on May 14th 1989 against the USA. However, while these issues are surely important, the focus of this study are the issues related to nationalism, national identity and uniting the country, particularly in the context of the social, political and economic crisis it was undergoing. In relation to the discursive strategies employed to signify and activate that sense of national identity, the language of the reporting was permeated with such expressions as “our boys,” “our team,” “our hearts”, “we” and “us.” Relatedly, the headline of one particular story also read, “Red, White and Black”, which are the colours of the Trinidad and Tobago national flag (Pires 1989, p. 8). The print media therefore had clearly set the nationalist tone for the play-offs, the team and the country.

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During the build-up period, the unifying function assigned to sport, particularly in the context of the political fragmentation that existed in the country, as well as the extent to which national athletes are seen as an embodiment of the nation were clearly illustrated by one member of the World Cup organizing Committee when he commented that ‘We have to put our differences aside and put Trinidad and Tobago first. When we get there [i.e. World Cup finals], it will not be just the 16 players on the match card-it will be the whole country born and unborn’. (Trinidad Express, Tuesday April 11 1989c, p. 47). The socio-political function of the team in the midst of the country’s political fragmentation was further evident in commentaries both before and after games during the play offs. For instance, before the return game against Costa Rica which was played at home on Sunday May 28 1989, it was stated in one of the 13 editorials devoted to the campaign that ‘…what ever the results of today’s match and the rest of the journey on the Road to Italy, the country already owes them the debt for the way they have united a fragmented country into a cohesive supportive force.’ (Trinidad Express, May 28 1989, p. 1) In addition, the players themselves were also reported as stating that “Trinidad and Tobago was in a bad state ‘politically and economically’ and it was up to them to lift the hearts and spirits of their country men.” (ibid.) The national importance of the play offs was also further captured in the headlines and contents of two other Editorials. The first, which was a response to two issues related to player (non)selection and the staging of a controversial warm up game against a Panamian club team, read “T & T Football Public Business” and stated in part that “…since we believe that the national interest is best served when there is a full airing of issues and football, given the depth of feeling surrounding the present World Cup campaign, is more than ever now a part of that national interest.”(Trinidad Express, Friday June 9 1989, p. 8). The second Editorial was a reaction to the home victory against Guatemala on September 3 1989, which was won with just 2 minutes to go after the teams were deadlock at 1 all up to the 88th minute. The team had previously beaten Guatemala in Guatemala and beating them at home meant they had now won two back to back games since their away defeat to Costa Rica in Costa Rica on June 11. As a consequence, this second victory against them and, on Trinidad and Tobago home soil, had sent the country and spectators numbering around 30,000 into a state of euphoria or heavenly bliss as it meant that they were back on the Road to Italy after

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the defeat against Costa Rica. Describing the crowd response, the Editorial noted seeing “Thousands of strangers hugging up and kissing thousands of strangers as Trinidad and Tobago went to the front, the goal magnificently struck in the dying minutes of regulation time.” (Trinidad Express, Monday September 4 1989, p. 8), while another journalist reported that “All I see was the net looking like it shaking and all around me men hugging men, women hugging men, men hugging women, women hugging women, hugging hard, Trinidad exulting as Jamerson pulled off his trick…” (Smith 1989a, 1). Hopes of qualifying for Italy were raised even more because this final game was to be played at home, in Trinidad, on November 19th 1989. Following this victory, the headline of the Editorial in question read, ‘A great filip to the nation’ and pondering the possibility of this historic qualification which had moved from the world of dreams or illusions and, much closer to reality, it was stated further, “What this would do for this country both in terms of the restoration of national self-confidence and in terms of international prestige boggles the imagination.” (Trinidad Express, Monday September 4 1989, p. 8). Relatedly, what was significant was not only the Editorial but the fact that the victory over Guatemala was the only story on the front and back pages of the newspaper the following day as the team was the subject of 6 stories accompanied by 5 photos. In addition, the fact that the game was attended by members of the beleaguered Government that included the beleaguered Prime Minister, the Minister of Sport and other members of the Cabinet also added to the national importance of the game for the country in the throes of structural adjustment policies. Relatedly, on August 31st 1989, 3 days before this phrric victory against Guatemala, the Government had underlined the importance of the game and World Cup qualification to the young nation when the team was awarded the country’s third highest honour (the Chaconia Medal) on the celebration of its 27th anniversary of political independence from Britain even though they were yet to qualify for the World Cup. Since the Government had become very unpopular, it is plausible to see this decision as well as attending games as an attempt to do some political damage control, and regain some measure of popularity, if only symbolically Several other commentaries focused on the significance of this victory and the themes of national confidence, unity and nationalism were most salient (see Box 1).

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Box 1  Print Media and Nationalism in Trinidad and Tobago Soccer, 1989

“The crowd thrilled and warmed me. I felt very, very good about being a part of it. I know there are people… (the NAR, the UNC) who would divide the population of this country into so many interest, ethnic and pressure groups… There was one people there… (Pires 1989, p. 8) “I believe that the emotions expressed after Jameson scored the winning goal … were expressions of overwhelming relief, of believing in ourselves as a nation, a recognition of our individual and collective self-worth. It was also an expression of a deeply felt sense of fellowship, of national unity.” (Abdullah 1989, 9). “Sunday was of course no ordinary day in Trinidad and Tobago… I looked at the clock: 10 hours still to go before we, the nation, faced off Guatemala in the National Stadium, once more this expression of our bold faced ambition to play world class football… This ambition has marked a phenomenal upsurge of healthy nationalism of a kind perhaps not witnessed in this country since August 31 1962. …all those who still preach or harbour the old tired divisions of race and class and those who regard us as forever doomed to be a third-rate country need only ponder on the real meaning of such spirited ambition and the unity it brings in its wake. I dare say no single politician, no political party, no institution, no event in 27 years of Independence has been able to evoke the response, cutting across every social and racial barrier, to produce that exhilarating communal bath we witnessed Sunday of nail biting doubt and soaring triumph, than this sudden appearance on the national stage of 11 young men in whose exploits on a football field, the nation has placed its highest hopes. (Pantin 1989b, 8) However, on September 8 1989, just five days after the euphoric victory over Guatemala and the mind boggling prospect of a World Cup qualification, the country was brought back to its dire socio-economic and political realities after a reported assassination attempt on the life of the wife of the then President of the country, Mr Noor Hassanali, who belonged to the Muslim faith (Viarruel 1989, 1; Pidduck 1989, 1). While no one was ever arrested over this incident, it was a reminder of the

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precarious conditions or circumstances in which the country had found itself. Notwithstanding this, as the final game against the USA approached, one newspaper columnist called it, ‘Our moment in history’ (Frankson, October 15) while another described it as ‘A November to Remember’ (Smith 1989b, 1) although it turned out to be a November to forget. In this last game, Trinidad and Tobago just had to earn a draw with the USA to qualify for the World Cup because although the two teams had the same 9 points, the former had a better goal difference (Trinidad Express, November 6 1989, 1). With this mouth watering prospect in mind, the newspaper went into overdrive for between November 1 and November 19, the day of the match, there were 95 reports or stories concerning the game compared to 77 for the 5 month build up period and 61 for all of September following the victory over Guatemala. There were also 3 Editorials, 95 stories and 22 photos in the 18 days leading up to the match. Relatedly, the newspaper had provided a day by day ‘Countdown to Italy’ feature on its front page as well as a national flag (Trinidad Express, November 17 1989, 1). As it helped to mobilize the country and stirr nationalist sentiments through these discursive strategies, one day before match, the headline of 1 of the 3 Editorials read, ‘A perfect display of national spirit’ as “Almost everyone wore red clothes, often in combination of red, white and black”, this being the national colours (Trinidad Express, November 18 1989, 8). However, although Trinidad and Tobago lost the game 0–1and failed to qualify (Trinidad Express, November 20 1989), which remains a crushing defeat, it has not taken away from the significance of the game and the play offs in general for understanding the ‘sport nationalism media troika’ or nationalism in general.

Discussion The participation of Trinidad and Tobago in the 1989 playoffs for the 1990 World Cup in Italy, dubbed the Road to Italy campaign, took place at a time when the country was experiencing a heightened period of economic decline and socio-political fragmentation along ethnic lines and it is in this context that one has to situate print media reporting of the event. One can argue that the country was in fact heading down two roads: the Road to Italy and the Road to Anarchy which collided and became intertwined as the former was used as if to help save the country from the latter through appeals to national unity and the supposed oneness of the people

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which were clearly reflected and reinforced in the print media through both the quantity and content of the newspaper reports. Through the quantity of reports (535), the use of numerous Editorials(16), as well as photos (217), the newspaper had clearly indicated that football was “public business” that was part of the “national interest” and had to be treated accordingly. In relation to the content of the reporting, the use of first person language like “we”, “us”, “our boys,” “our team” further reflected and reinforced its use as a signifier or symbol of national identity. The language used however, did not have the type of vitriole and negative stereotyping associated with the reporting of soccer rivalry between say New Zealand and Italy, New Zealand and Australia, England and Germany or Russia and Poland. This difference is perhaps explainable by the fact that Trinidad and Tobago has never had any antagonistic political, military or economic history with at least the Central American countries involved: EL Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala. In addition, as a small island state, there has been no significant military or political rivalry with the United States of America outside of the protest march by Trinidad and Tobago nationalists in the early 1960s calling for the end of the US occupation of a naval base on the island which was constructed during WWII.  During that march, the expression ‘Yankee Go Home’ was a popular slogan but such vitriole has been absent from the soccer matches between the two countries. Nevertheless, through the prominence it gave to the coverage of the event and the affective language employed, the print media served to activate nationalist sentiments in Trinidad and Tobago and invariably mobilise the population along the ill-­ fated Road to Italy. In addition, the reference to the loss and anguish suffered in Haiti 16 years earlier, as well as the use of an actual photo of the 1973 team just two days before the final game against the USA, can be seen as evidence of “the importance of shared history to the construction of national identity” similar to the use of winning the 1966 World Cup by the English print media as well as their military victories to help drum up support for the English national team (Nicholson et  al. 2016, 14). In addition, the mention of the Haitian experience can be possibly seen as an illustration of what Vincent et al. (2010, 218) have referred to as a form of ‘sleeping memory’(Vincent et al. 2010, 218) that became (re)activated during the campaign as a deliberate strategy to (re)activate nationalist sentiments and help mobilize public support. The print media reporting however, was not just about drumming up nationalist sentiments or shaping a sense of national identity in Trinidad

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and Tobago during these play offs. It was also about uniting the nation in the midst of social, economic and political turmoil expressed in widespread disaffection with the Government in power, public demonstrations, trade union strikes, and even the attempted assassination of the wife of the President. However, the stress on unity and oneness of the people appeared sometimes to eschew or deny the deep ethnic differences and disaffection in the society. In that context, the approach of the print media can be likened to what Steenveld and Strelitz (1998) refer to as the integration model of sport which stresses “the unity of the nation state and dismisses inner social rifts” (cited in Hagay and Meyers 2015, 533). Relatedly, it has also been noted that “Media discourses intentionally block out divisive realties such as political divisions or socioeconomic inequalities that could undermine national unity” (Anderson 1983, cited in Vincent and Hill 2011). In addition, Wensing and Bruce (2003, 388) have also noted that due to the value of international sport in gaining visibility and prestige, particularly in such major sport events like the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup, nationalism or national identity tends ‘to over ride all other identity markers’ or divisions be it in relation to race, ethnicity, gender or sexuality although research has also shown that sport competition can also serve to bring more attention to these differences (Falcous 2015; Nicholson et al. 2016). For instance, the racism faced by colored players in playing football for white dominated countries or clubs also serve to illustrate this. However, while (sport) nationalism has been generally seen as having the capacity to trump racial, ethnic and gender divisions, its impact seems to have been more ephemeral and symbolic rather than permanent and organic since nationalism does not make these realities disappear. The case of Trinidad and Tobago can also serve to illustrate the integrative or cohesive limits of sport nationalism for after 11 months of undergoing an orgy of national unity during that campaign and just around 8 months after it ended in sheer misery on November 19th 1989 following defeat to the USA, the Government was violently overthrown by Islamic insurrectionists on July 27 1990 (Ryan 1991). In the process, 24 persons were killed and although the siege only lasted for six days, it remains a painful memory just like November 19th 1989, the day the national team lost to the USA and missed the chance to qualify for the World Cup. Unfortunately therefore, the Road to Anarchy had over taken the Road to Italy. However, notwithstanding these limits, print media reporting of Trinidad and Tobago’s 1989 Road to Italy football campaign did serve to

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reflect and reinforce nationalism and national identity in the country, as well as help develop a sense of national unity although this did not erase the deep social, ethnic, economic and political cleavages in the society which were accentuated by economic decline and political fragmentation.

Conclusion The print media laid the basis for what has come to be called the ‘sport nationalism media troika’ or ‘the sport media production complex’ and the symbiotic relationship between the media and sport in general. However, the scholarly study of this dynamic relationship and the related issues of consumerism, classism, sexism, racism, ableism, and nationalism in which the media have been implicated has been generally dominated by first world or more developed countries across all media, old as well as new. As a consequence, in order to expand the vistas of this area of research, it is important that we also examine the experiences of small island states like Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica in the Caribbean as well as others in order to broaden our scope of knowledge about this subject. This has become even more important with the growth of the media and sport globally, particularly soccer. In pursuing this research however, the research agenda needs to examine both old and new media in all its varieties both within and across countries. Of particular interest would be to see the extent to which the traditional print media is still important as a source of nationalist sentiments or sport coverage as a whole with the emergence of social media. It is hoped that this study can make a small contribution to advancing this process or research agenda.

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Conclusion Matthew Brown

At the time of writing, the Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi @leomessi has 350 million followers on the social media site Instagram. Photographs display his respectable domestic lifestyle in Paris with his wife and children, and his athletic body clothed in the national colours and in advertisements for corporate communication firms. In a globalized world, the reach of Messi’s posts is greater than that of the Argentinian president or any other citizen. The frame of reference for his output, however, was set up in the twentieth century when, as this book has set out so effectively, the relationship between Latin American sports, media, society and the world was set out. In 1969 Alberto Spencer was photographed by Ecuadorian sports media to present him as a unifying national hero. Even further back, in 1908 the Tour de France winning Franco-Argentinian cyclist Lucien Mazan posed for a lifestyle feature in the main Parisian sports magazine Al aire livre, topping Messi by dressing as a Breton peasant, posing for

M. Brown (*) Department of Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, Bristol University, Bristol, UK e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 B. Buarque de Hollanda, L. G. Burlamaqui (eds.), Latin American Sport Media, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15594-9_10

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photographs wearing a top emblazoned with the French cockerel, and changing his name to Lucien Petit-Breton.1 Sports stars have long used and been used by the media to present themselves to the world. The legacy of sports as spectacle, entertainment and social aspiration continues.

Diversity and Plurality in the History of Sports Media This book sets out a framework for understanding Latin American sports media in the twentieth-century, or more precisely, until the invention and popularization of the internet at the end of the century. The main interest of most of the authors is on football above other sports, and on newspapers above other media. This is likely because of author preference for football, and is reflective of most of the historiography up to now, and is a result of the relative ease of access to printed newspaper archives as opposed to television or radio archives. The volume does not interrogate the ways in which the internet has further commercialized or popularized Latin American sports media—that remains a question for another day. The editors have made great efforts to present a diverse and plural history of sports media in Latin America. The book is aware of and attentive to the ways in which sports histories are gendered and racialized. The volume does a good job of going beyond the Brazilian and Argentinian cases that provide the majority of the historiography, with the case studies from Trinidad and Tobago, Chile and Ecuador particularly welcome. Of course, the approach of amassing a series of nation-state focused chapters does mean that some areas go missing: Venezuela, Peru, Paraguay and Bolivia in South America, all of Central America, and some potentially important case studies from the Caribbean, most obviously Cuba. Having just the one chapter on Brazil means that its rich regional differences are absent here. I would love to have seen more of an engagement between the chapters—Costa’s analysis of Mario Filho and The Black Man in Brazilian Soccer are crying out for a conversation with Castro’s discussion of visual images of Spencer in Ecuador, for example. But generally speaking, the editors have succeeded in bringing together enough perspectives to move us towards the possibility of a holistic understanding of the subject. They have provided the foundations for a newly rigorous approach. 1

 Brown, Sports in South America: A History (Yale University Press, 2023), pp. 137–8.

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Media Outlet Case Studies as Building Blocks for General Conclusions This collection provides us with the first steps towards a comprehensive understanding of sports media in Latin America. As Brenda Elsey and others have noted recently, historians’ reliance on newspapers as their principal primary source material for sports history has not been matched, in Latin America at least, by a critical analysis of—or even a basic mapping out of—what that media was, how it changed over time, and who the publishers, journalists and readers were.2 Pioneering scholars have observed the recent flowering of wonderful research on sports history in Latin America that has critiqued some of its central tenets. Elsey and Josh Nadel’s magnificent Futbolera has newspaper archives as one of its central sources, and they have picked out a rich seam of hitherto ignored examples of women playing sports, which is certainly yet to be exhausted. Other milestones in the historiography over the last decade, from Wilson Gambeta, Gregg Bocketti and Roger Kittleson on Brazil, Ingrid Bolívar, Jorge Ruiz Patiño and Manuel Morales Fontanilla on Colombia, Elsey and Vilches on Chile, Jeffrey Richey on Argentina, and Martin da Cruz on Uruguay, have put similar store on newspaper archives. Even David Wood’s magisterial study of football and literature found incredible examples of sporting poems published in newspapers, entirely overturning many assumptions about sports writing and its relationship to cultural production. Many of these have emerged from doctoral theses, and many more are in production.3 Here, we have an excellent series of case studies on individual media outlets, from bespoke sports magazines like El Gráfico, Sportsman, Crítica, Los Sports and Estadio (one each from Colombia and Chile, a national newspaper (Trinidad Express) a weekly general interest magazine (Semana) and communications giant Televisa. As Priscila Lessa’s recent PhD thesis on media promotion of cycling races in São Paulo revealed, and as these chapters confirm, sports media can be used to elucidate particular configurations of local-global social processes as they coalesce around much

2   See the discussion in this tribute to David Wood: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=jx0OkgjXfZ0&t=5s (2022). 3  In addition to some of the authors in this collection, look out for future publications from Mark Biram, Júlia Belas Trinidade and Emma Frazer.

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reported sporting events.4 We can certainly see that there continues to be a need for more systematic analysis of other sporting publications in this mode. One of the themes which seeps from the collection is that of translation. It has become a commonplace that the early twentieth-century saw the Criollization or appropriation of sports from elsewhere, and their incorporation into Latin American cultures. The media played an important role in this process. Newspapers like El Grito del Pueblo in Guayaquil, the Estado de São Paulo and El Telegrama in Bogotá published translations of the rules of soccer into Spanish or Portuguese. Mainstream national newspapers in many places printed translations of sports reports from France, the UK and the USA, with accounts of boxing fights, horseracing and athletic races filling many columns and whetting the appetite of local sports fans to organize and compete in events of their own. The first volumes of sports guides published in Europe and the US were also often translated and disseminated before 1930, meaning that the speculations of French and German doctors upon the appropriateness of certain sports for women, or the health risks of cycling, were widely shared and commented upon far away from their original intended readerships. The printed media was a crucial carrying agent for translations of European sporting ideologies up to 1930.5 After 1930, however, we can detect a shift away from translations of works from elsewhere, and the creation instead of local cultures of sport media. The Criollization of sports and the adoption of Spanish and Portuguese sporting vocabularies in this decade, linked to the professionalization of men’s football in particular, meant that models from elsewhere were less relevant. Latin American sports administrators sought to develop and export their own models of sporting governance.6 Classics of sports writing from the English-speaking world in the mid-­ 1900s went untranslated, most notably C.L.R.  James’ Beyond a Boundary, and also Arthur Hopcraft’s The Football Man. In the other direction, Gabriel García Márquez’s sportswriting on the Colombian 4  Priscila Requião Lessa, ‘A paulicéia em duas rodas: dos primeiros passeios de bicicleta à criação da corrida ciclítica nove de julho (1895–1933)’, Unpublished PhD thesis, Universidade Federal do Paraná, 2021. 5  Matthew Brown, ‘Translating the Rules of Football in South America, 1863–1914’, Estudos Históricos, 32:68 (2019), 569–88. 6  Paul Dietschy, ‘Making Football Global? FIFA, Europe and the Non-European Football World, 1912–1974’, Journal of Global History, 8:2 (2013): 279–98.

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cyclist Ramón Hoyos remains accessible only to Spanish readers, as is Horacio Quiroga’s ‘Juan Polti, half-back’. One of the most interesting trends of the late 1900s and early 2000s has been the revival of translations of sports writing, with specialized sports translations travelling in both directions between English, Spanish and Portuguese.7 Notable examples would be Eduardo Galeano’s Football in Sun and Shadow, David Goldblatt’s Futebol Nation, Matt Rendall’s Kings of the Mountains and Colombia es pasion!, Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch and Juan Villoro’s God is Round. These writers, with considerable backgrounds in sports media both in print and on television, have successfully written for and about globalized sports. Perhaps a tipping point has been reached, however, with Jack Draper’s 2021 publication of Mario Filho’s The Black Man in Brazilian Football. Difficulties with Concepts This book, therefore, is part of a wider trend to be better understand the role of media in the development of sports, and has made an important and overdue contribution to our understanding of Latin American sports history, and in particular to the ways in which it has been mediatized and produced by local and national media. It has also, as is the case with any pioneering project such as this, made clear the gaps in our knowledge and some of the differences in approach which could still be clarified. To my mind there are three main questions which remain to be answered. The first is the English-language question. As several of the contributors note, many of these first reports of sporting events in Latin America were written in English, from The Standard in Buenos Aires to the Chilian Times in Valparaiso and the many English-language titles across Brazil that reported on nineteenth-century cricket.8 As McCree’s chapter shows, English-language sports reporting remained a constant in some places, such as Trinidad’s national papers, as well as 50% of the production of Leo Messi’s Instagram in 2022. But what happened in between was not a smooth handover from English to Spanish or Portuguese around 1930. 7  See also the volume of sports media translations: Jethro Soutar and Tim Girven, eds. The Football Cronicas (London: Ragpicker Press, 2015). 8  Victor Andrade de Melo and Matthew Brown, ‘Cricket in the Country of Football: Sport and Social and Cultural Exclusion in Nineteenth-Century Brazil’, International Journal of the History of Sport, 37:11 (2020): 1025–45.

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Criollization, of sports media as well as sports administration, was a political ideology as well as a process. Alexander/Alejandro Watson Hutton is referred to in Hémeury’s chapter as part of the early history of Argentinian sports, his British background the defining part of his character. Other central figures in the early history of sports in South America were children of British migrants like Watson Hutton, for example Charles Miller in São Paulo, and Lilian Harrison in Buenos Aires. But for Alberto Spencer, the Ecuador-born child of a British subject discussed in rich detail by Enrico Castro, his British heritage has been irrelevant to the stories told about him. Did he speak or write English? We would not know. As Pete Watson observes, the debate over ‘national’ and ‘foreign’ players became of increasing importance in sports administration during the twentieth-­ century, as travel for teams became cheaper and easier, and national media outlets sought stories to tell about homegrown heroes. We need to diversify our understanding of the migratory histories that underpin competitive sports, and to move beyond the simplistic ‘British’ origins of national sporting cultures. The second assumption underpinning the studies presented here which merits revisiting is the automatic correlation between sports and modernity. Whilst many of the authors observe that the promotion of modern sports was a central part of many nation-states’ drive towards development and international respect, by focusing primarily on football they tend to replicate this paradigm. The sports-media-popularization-nationalism connection looks different when we focus on motor sports, golf or athletics, with class, region and gender factors explaining each sports’ relationship with the media and modernity. But it barely holds at all when we look capoeira, for example, or bullfighting, both of which continued to garner many centimetres of newspaper coverage throughout the twentieth-­ century. The photo-editing of Alberto Spencer’s skin colour (p. 109) gives us a clue here: in the same ways that sporting heroes were racialized by the media, the very recognition of certain activities as sports and others as hobbies or even as criminal behaviour was also shaped to varying degrees by elite attempts to protect their social spaces, economic interests and political power. The marginalization of indigenous sports as folklore, which took place during the early twentieth-century, is only now and slowly being recuperated through grassroots movements and events such

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as the Indigenous Peoples World Games.9 Historians need to constantly critique their assumptions about what counts as a sport, and therefore as an object of study. Just because something did or did not appear on the sports pages of national newspapers closely linked to nation-building projects, did not mean that it was or was not a sport.10 Finally, some of the chapters here continue to subscribe to the obsession with primacy/lateness/backwardness that haunted much of the first generation of sports history written by its protagonists and their journalists in the mid-twentieth-century. Scholars of the coloniality of power have begun to apply their insights to sports, and the first works in this area suggest a fruitful line of enquiry. If it is no longer useful to think of the Colombian economy or its people, for example, as ‘backward’, why should we apply those ideas to their sports? The legends of the heroic founders of surviving clubs provide the grit to the myths of sporting identities that are being monetized in the 2000s. But now that the chronologies of these clubs and their institutions have been set down by sociologists and journalists, historians can start to see the connections between local and global in different social, economic and cultural contexts across Latin America.11 We can detect (often) when we are reading an attempt to create a national identity, and (only occasionally) when a sporting event does erupt into particular circumstances and change those identities and their political meanings. As César Menotti said in 1978, (p. 70) ‘it is not through soccer that each country will be able to solve its specific problems’, no matter how much its promoters wish for it to do so. Technological Change One of the interesting points upon which this volume invites us to reflect is the changing nature of sports media over time, and whether by 2022 we may already have passed what David Goldblatt called ‘peak football’. Did the multivocality of web 2.0 combined with the increasing monopolization of professional football’s collective meanings by corporate interests destroy the foundations of the productive relationship between sports and 9  https://www.notimerica.com/deportes/noticia-juegos-mundiales-pueblos-indigenas-­­ imagenes-deportes-mas-curiosos-20151029183246.html. 10  Matthew Brown, Sports in South America: A History (Yale University Press, 2023). 11  Pablo Alabarces, Historia minima del futbol; David Goldblatt, The Ball is Round: The Global History of Football; Andreas Campomar, Golazo.

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media embedded by the 1920s? We won’t find out by looking at Leo Messi’s Instagram posts. This volume, however, does show the ways in which sports were a focus for technological innovation. From the coded grid systems shared by magazine editors in Buenos Aires stadia (p. 17) to the ‘progressive listening’ of match reports through loud-hailers and telegram-reporters (p. 30) to the eight cameras and twelve radio stations operating at the 1930 World Cup final in Montevideo, popular demand for stories drove new, more immediate ways of reporting. By 1956, as Varela shows, live television broadcasts were introduced in order to stop fans attending stadia and behaving in unruly and disordered ways (p. 130). It is a timely reminder that, although sports reporting does provide sometimes unrivalled insights into social and cultural processes, a lot remains unsaid. How useful is the sports media for understanding stadia disasters, or opposition to governing parties? McCree’s chapter gives us a good sense of how close readings of runs of newspapers can give good insight into political change. We still know much less than we could, however, of how Latin American sports were able to channel resistance to dominant groups, and this is precisely because of how much of the sports media was part of the political and economic elites, as Varela and Costa show beautifully. New Directions The digitization of sports media in the 2000s has had unexpected consequences, from the collapse of previously unquestionable icons of the genre—the closure of El Gráfico in 2019, the decline of literary-­aspirational match report, the collapse of fan-produced printed fanzines—to the unrivalled access to player lifestyles and opinions, and increased exposure of corruption scandals and their fallouts. Gradually the history of Latin American sports media is being enriched by the digitization of the primary sources produced during the twentieth-­ century. Whilst still incomplete and cumbersome in comparison with the riches of the catalogued, digitized archives of Bell’s Life in the UK or Sporting Life in the US, let alone the searchable newspaper archives of The Times or the National Library of France, Latin American newspapers are increasingly emerging in searchable digital forms.12 Perhaps one day El 12  For Bell’s Life, see https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/. For Sporting Life, see https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll2.

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Gráfico, Estadio and others can be combined into one Latin American sports media searchable portal, enabling no end of transnational biographies of players, tournaments and administrators. In addition to these big sources, other standalone digital projects have brought rich media sources to the access of global researchers. These range from the Endangered Archives Project that has digitized newspaper clippings and photographs from the Haynes Publishing Company in Buenos Aires (https://eap.bl.uk/collection/EAP375-­1), to the sports media collection of the Peruvian scholar Aldo Panfichi, now available to be downloaded from (http://repositorio.pucp.edu.pe/index/handle/123456789/168211). The digital availability of visual sources has already opened up new possibilities for Latin American sports media research, for example the work of Pedro Acuña on the photographs of the 1930 Uruguay World Cup, and Enrico Castro’s chapter in this book. The establishment of a rich, detailed and engaged historiography of sports in Latin America over the last decade has meant that the scholars have been able to move beyond the original paradigms on the media as set out in Eduardo Archetti’s classic text. While Archetti was able to persuasively argue for the importance of sports journalism—and particularly El Gráfico—in inventing and solidifying ideas about ‘national playing styles’, the increased attention to diverse media forms, and the gendered nature of sports participation and spectatorship, has placed this particular interpretation within its own historical and regional context, rather than applying it to all of Latin America as a whole. The increased availability of digitized sources is opening up new possibilities for researchers. The trend for Latin American researchers to publish in English, for example in this book, raises the long overdue possibility that historians of other regions will read them and take them seriously. This book has also made clear some of the new directions that the field can take. First, researchers can continue to be more critical of the press as a source, most clearly identifying the politics and financial interests of press owners, editors and journalists and critiquing their sports writing from this perspective. Costa’s work on the way that Mario Filho did challenge master narratives of the purposes of sport is an excellent example of this. Second, starting from the premise that Latin American sports were globally pioneering in many ways in the twentieth century, from state support to international promotion, from popularization to inclusivity, we might explore the extent of the global influence of Latin American sports

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media.13 To what extent can we suggest that the model of media coverage of the men’s World Cup established in Uruguay in 1930 was subsequently adopted in France, Italy and subsequent hosts? How can we assess, beyond the many anecdotes attesting to it, the pioneering influence of the Mexican TV model seen around the world in 1970? Indeed, whilst the television commentators’ shouting gooooooool became a commonplace in the 1970s, can we investigate what other means of expression pioneered in Latin America were adopted elsewhere—and think about why we haven’t studied them yet. The links between sports, politics, and music, clearly present throughout the twentieth century in Latin America, would be a good place to start. Los Ramblers’ song in 1962 (p.  67), and the Mexican national team’s effort in 1968 (p. 135), are important counterpoints to cliches of samba football and racist and homophobic chanting. Third, now that the ways in which sports were used to promote nation-­ building and regime-legitimizing efforts are increasingly clear, we realise that we still know relatively little about the ways that sports were used to resist. Yes, we have increasingly sophisticated understanding of some of the key episodes, from the resistance to the military junta in Argentina around the 1978 World Cup (captured by the Papelitos memory project), Socrates and the Corinthians Democracy of the 1980s, and the ways in which women’s football has sometimes been a channel for feminist activism. But these projects have often had to rely on other methods, from oral histories to institutional archives, because of the lacuna in the sports media around them. We need more analysis of the way various forms of media coverage covered (or chose not to cover) crowds booing politicians (p. 140), sports fans using their networks for political ends and the use of banners and flags for political ends. How did television coverage editors choose to include/ignore these creative interventions, for example? Remaining Questions The ascent of capitalist, corporate, monetized, 24-hour sports media coverage around professional sports, and particularly men’s football, was not inevitable and was the product of the coalescence of factors around urbanization, incomplete democratization, globalization and powerful elites with fingers in politics and the media. Today’s sports media landscape was not a natural conclusion. Belisario Betancur’s refusal to host the 1986  Dietschy, ‘Making’; Brown, Sports.

13

 CONCLUSION 

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World Cup and FIFA’s ‘useless luxuries’ in Colombia is the perfect example of the path less-travelled. That this moment has barely been studied by historians, Varela’s comments here being a useful corollary, is an important corrective (p131, p136). In many ways it seems that sports followed the technological change that created new media forms, from newspapers to colour magazines, from radio to television. But perhaps also we have enough evidence now to suggest that technological change followed sports—that colour printing processes were adapted and cheapened in order to facilitate mass production of sports magazines, that radio transmissions were improved in order to hold on to listeners (p. 127). How different were Latin American sports media from their counterparts in Europe, North America, Africa, Australia and Asia? So what are the best methods for thinking about Latin American sports history today? Certainly a focus only on football, or only on the written press, would be rather perverse, given the multiplicity of sources that are now available. Perhaps more controversially, perhaps it is time to lay to one side the nation-centric lens that continues to shape our analyses except when thinking about international tournaments. In 2022, sports are omnipresent across the media landscape. The alignment of interests between media, political elites and corporate sponsors was observed by Janet Lever in the 1960s and 1970s research which led to her Soccer Madness. Campaigning politicians from all sides wrap themselves in football shirts to claim affinity with voters. Those shirts are covered with the logos of corporate interests. What Vilches calls the ‘furious militancy’ of many contemporary fans was in part created by the traditional media (p. 74) and is now amplified and entrenched by social media. Barras bravas continue to be studied through the prism of violence which is the only way mainstream media can contemplate them. Yet this is not the only story worth telling. The América de Cali football fans I met with in May 2022, who were dedicating themselves to distributing food and political agitation in marginalized communities, like many other football fans groups and barras across the continent, are seldom discussed in mainstream media. The participation of Luis Diaz, a Colombian footballer from the Guajira region, in the English FA Cup final while I was in Cali, was a fine example of how sports media can create unexpected alliances and links, and provide an affirmatory connection between what used to be called the people’s game and actual real human lives. Liverpool’s victory was reported in the Colombian online media as a

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Colombian victory. Diaz’s indigenous heritage, like that of the country he is coming to represent, has been brought to the attention of people around the world through sports media while his career is on the up and he is scoring goals. He already has over 3  million followers on Instagram. History suggests that we should expect to see plenty of images of him in the national colours, in a red shirt with the name of a financial services giant across his chest, and relaxing comfortably at home with a smile on his face.

References Alabarces, Pablo. Historia mínima del fútbol en América Latina. El Colegio de Mexico AC, 2018. Brown, Mathew. ‘Translating the Rules of Football in South America, 1863–1914’, Estudos Históricos, 32:68 (2019), 569–88. Brown, Mathew. Sports in South America: A History. Yale University Press, 2023 Campomar, Andreas. ¡ Golazo!: A History of Latin American Football. Hachette UK, 2014. de Melo, Victor Andrade, and Matthew Brown. “Cricket in the Country of Football: Sport and Social and Cultural Exclusion in Nineteenth-Century Brazil.” The International Journal of the History of Sport 37.11 (2020): 1025–1045. Dietschy, Paul. “Making football global? FIFA, Europe, and the non-European football world, 1912–74.” Journal of Global History 8.2 (2013): 279–298. Goldblatt, David. The ball is round: a global history of football. Penguin UK, 2007. Lessa, Priscila Requião. ‘A paulicéia em duas rodas: dos primeiros passeios de bicicleta à criação da corrida ciclítica nove de julho (1895–1933)’, PhD thesis, Universidade Federal do Paraná, 2021. Soutar, Jethro, and Tim Girven, eds. The football crónicas. Ragpicker Press, 2014. Roundtable: A tribute to David Wood (2002), available at: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=jx0OkgjXfZ0&t=5s.

Index1

A Adefútbol, 98, 103, 104 Adidas, 156 African descent, 167, 168 Afro-Ecuadorian, 119, 121–125, 127, 128, 131, 133, 135, 136, 138–141 Alamos, Luis (Chilean coach), 87 Albion FC, 46 Alessandri, Arturo, 81 Allende, Salvador, 86 Alumni, 30, 34 Amateurism, 78, 82 América (Football Club, Rio de Janeiro), 69 Arellano, David (football player), 82, 83 Argentine Association Football League, 29 Argentine Olympic Committee, 38 Armenia, 44

Atlántida, 31, 33 Australia, 85, 86, 88 Azcarraga Jean, Emillio, 161 Azcarraga Vidaurereta, Emilio, 145, 146 Azteca Stadium, 151, 151n2, 153, 155 B Banda Roja (1943), 37 Barcelona S.C., 124 Barranquilla, 98, 103, 104 Batlle y Ordóñez, Jose, 44, 52, 53 Batllismo, 44, 54 Beckenbauer, 158 Berlin, 86 Bhabha, Homi, 120 Billiken, 31 Blatter, Joseph, 158 Bogotá, 14, 98, 104, 104n5, 188 Bolívar, Simón, 134, 135, 141

 Note: Page numbers followed by ‘n’ refer to notes.

1

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 B. Buarque de Hollanda, L. G. Burlamaqui (eds.), Latin American Sport Media, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15594-9

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198 

INDEX

Brasileiro, S. C, 69–71, 71n17 Brazilian football, 57, 60, 65, 66, 66n11, 69, 73, 74 Brazilian Sports Confederation (CBD), 64 Buenos Aires, 46, 50n3 Buenos Aires Cricket Club, 27 The Buenos Aires Herald, 27 Buenos Aires High School, 29, 34 Buero, Enrique, 50–52, 50n4 C Cali, 102, 104 Camarena, Guillermo González, 144, 145 Cañedo, Guillermo, 151–153, 151n1, 157–159 Caras y Caretas, 33 Cárdenas, Lázaro, 144 Caribbean, 165–180 Centenário Stadium, 53 Central Europe, 44 Central Uruguay Cricket Club, 46 Chilean sports, 77–84, 88, 92 Cigarette, 123, 124 Ciudad Universitária Stadium, 148 Club Gimnasia y Esgrima, 28 Colo-Colo, 79–84, 83n21, 86n35 Colombia Alberto Lleras Caamrgo, 98 Colonialism, 166 Costa, Leda, 60, 62, 65 Costa Rica, 172, 174, 175, 178 Coup d’état, 86, 166 Criollo, 92 Critica (newspaper), 33, 35, 61n4 Croatia, 44 D Da Guia, Domingos, 65 Da Silva, Leonidas, 65, 68

Del Castillo, Rafael, 157 Delta Park, 145 Deportivo Andes, 124 Deportivo Cali, 107 Deutscher Fussball Club, 46 Development, 125, 127 Díaz Ordaz, Gustavo, 150, 152, 153 Dimayor, 98, 104, 105, 115 E Ecuador, 125, 127–129, 135, 138–140 El Ciclón, 37 El Comércio, 120 El Deporte (Uruguay), 47, 48 El Día, 52 El Dorado, 97–115 Electronic media, 166 El Gráfico, 23–25, 31–37, 32n3, 39 El Heraldo del Sur, 83 El Hogar, 33 Elites, 79, 80, 83 El Mercurio, 85, 87, 88, 90, 91n59 El Plata and El Imparcial, 47 El Sur, 86n35, 91 El Sur de Concepcion, 86 El Telegrafo, 120 El Tiempo, 102 Emelec, 124 Emilio Azcarraga Milmo “El Tigre,” 146, 151, 160 England, 58 English, 124, 128 Estádio (Chilean magazine), 78, 84–89 Estadio (Colombia), 97–115 Estádio (sport magazine, Ecuador), 119–141 Eugenic, 59 European, 43, 46–50, 49n2, 52, 54

 INDEX 

199

F Faro de Vigo, 49 FIFA, 72, 165, 168, 169, 179 Filho, Mario, 57, 59–68, 60n1, 61n3, 72–74, 72n19, 74n22 Fortin Mapocho (newspaper), 90, 92n65 Fray Mocho, 33 Freyre, Gilberto, 66–68, 66n11, 67n12, 67n14

José de San Martin, 134 José Lins, 66 Journalists, 120, 121, 125, 128, 133, 135, 136, 138, 139, 141 Justicia (newspaper), 80, 83

G A Gazeta (newspaper), 62 Germany, 44, 85–88, 86n34 Globalization, 43, 48–51 Gonzalez, Florencia Faccio, 8, 11 Grito de Córdoba, 81 Guatemala, 172, 174–176 Guayaquil, 120, 124, 125, 140

L La Cancha, 25, 33 La Época and La Prensa, 33 La Fuerza, 28 La Nación (newspaper), 30, 33, 35, 77n2 La Prensa (Argentinian newspaper), 30, 33 La Razón, 30, 33 La Tercera, 87, 91n59 Latin America, 122, 123, 133 Lima, Jorge de, 67–68, 67n13 Los Ramblers, 85 Los Sports, 77–93

H Haiti, 168, 172, 178 Havelange, João, 156, 157, 159 Haynes publishing house, 31, 37 Hegemonic, 59 Hernando Ferro Gómez, 99 Hinchas (English, fans, supporters), 34 Hogg, Thomas, 27 Hutton, Alejandro Watson, 29 I Identity, 119–141 IMF, 168 Imperialism, 79 Indian descent, 168 Italy, 90, 91 J Jamaican, 171 Jornal dos Sports, 57–74

K Kissinger, Henry, 158

M Magallanes, 82 Major League (LM), 148 A Manhã (newspaper), 61, 61n3 Manizales, 104 Marinho, Roberto, 62, 62n7, 63 Medellín, 100, 104, 113 Mestizo, 119–128, 131, 136, 138–141 Mexican Federation of Associated Football (FMFA), 148 Mexican TV, 145 Mexico, 168 Miguel Ramirez Vazquez, 152 Millonarios, 101, 110 Miscegenation, 58, 66

200 

INDEX

Modernising, 59 Montevideo, 43–46, 49n2, 51, 53, 125, 131 Montevideo Cricket Club, 45, 46 Montevideo Rowing Club, 45, 46 Mundo Argentino, 31 Mundo Boquense (1947), 37 Mundo Deportivo (Argentinian magazine), 25, 37, 38 Mundo Peronista, 37 Mundo Sportivo (Uruguay), 46, 47 N Nation, 119, 120, 128, 131, 139, 140 National identity, 165, 166, 169, 173, 178–180 Nationalism, 165–180 National Revolutionary Party (Mexico), 144 National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR), 167, 176 Nation-building, 121 Necaxa, 152 Neuberger, Hermann, 156, 158 North and Central American and Caribbean Football Confederation (CONCACAF), 151, 158 Novedades News, 146 Novo, Salvador, 145 O O Globo (newspaper), 59, 62, 62n7, 63 Olímpia, 38 Olympic Games, 36 Olympic movement, 38 1 de Mayo (Football Club), 80 O negro no futebol brasileiro, The black man in Brazilian soccer (book), 60 Opposição, 71

P Pacaembu, 69–71, 74 Pan-American Games, 37 Para Ti, 31 Parque Cousiño, 80 Patria: Revista de ideas, 102 Pedagogical, 59 Pedernera, Adolfo, 98, 99, 104, 105, 107, 110 Pedro Ramirez Vazquez, 152 Pelé, 158 Peñarol, 124, 125, 129, 130, 133, 135, 136, 139 People’s National Movement (PNM), 167 Pereira (city), 104, 104n5 Pereira de Queiroz, Maria Isaura, 67, 67n13, 68 Pernambuco, 60, 66 Perón, Juan D., 37, 38 Peronist, Péronism, 37–39 Pinochet, Augusto, 89, 90 Plus Ultra, 33 Poland, 44, 50 Popular classes, 82 Popular culture, 24, 25, 39 Press, 58, 59, 65n10, 66, 69, 72 PRI–Institutional Revolutionary Party (Mexico), 144, 146, 147, 154 Primavera AC, 71 Print media, 165–180 Professionalism, 78, 82, 82n15 Professionalization, 81, 82 Professional league, 148, 160 Q Quito, 120, 121 R Racing, 34 Radical Party, 81n13, 83, 84

 INDEX 

Realengo, Casino, 69–71, 71n17 Real Madrid, 101 Rimet, Jules, 52 Río de la Plata, 27 Rioplatense, 28 River Plate, 37 River Plate (Uruguay), 104 Roca, Julio Argentino, 30 Rodrigues, Nelson, 62 Romania, 44, 52 Rueda Caro, Gonzalo, 105, 105n6, 106 S San Lorenzo, 37 Santa Fé, 99, 105n6, 107 Santiago, 80, 83, 86n34, 89n44, 91, 92n65 Santiago National (Football Club), 80, 82 Santiago Pardo Uribe, 99 Secondary Students’ Union (UES), 38 Semana (Colombia), 97–115 Serbia, 44 Social media, 166, 180 South America, 43, 47, 48, 54 Southampton, 30 Soviet Union, USSR, 86, 86n34 Spanish, 121, 122 Spencer, Alberto, 119, 123–125, 127–141 Sport magazine, 119, 120, 123, 127, 140 Sports federation, 64 Sportsman (magazine), 46 Sportsmen, 82, 83, 89 The Standard, 27 Syria, 44

201

T Telesistema Mexicano SA. TSM, 143, 146, 150–155 Televisa, 143–144 Television Asociada, 144 Temuco, 83 Tobacco, 123, 124 Trinidad and Tobago, 165–180 Trinidad Express, 168, 171, 172, 174, 175, 177 Triunfo (newspaper), 77–93 U Última Hora (Argentinian newspaper), 33 Una Auténtica Voz Racinguista (1946), 37 United Labour Front (ULF), 167 United National Congress (UNC), 168 Uruguay, 43–54, 124, 125, 127, 131, 135, 139 Uruguay Athletic, 46 Uruguayan Football League, 46 USA, 172, 173, 177–179 V Varela, Sérgio, 18–20, 192, 195 Vargas, Getúlio, 61n5, 64, 70, 71 Vélez Sarsfield, 104 Victoria Cricket Club, 45 Vilches Parra, Diego Antonio, 78n4, 79n7, 81n14, 82n15, 89n44 W Women’s football, 57, 60, 69–72, 71n17, 72n18, 74 World Cup, 64–66, 69 World War I, 124