This book examines how since its arrival in 1867 with British immigrants, football has become the key cultural signifier of national identity in Argentina over the long twentieth century. With the international exploits of players such as Luis Monti, Alfredo Di Stéfano and Diego Maradona, the sport has projected Argentina onto the global consciousness not seen in any other way.
In this book, Mark Orton challenges existing myths surrounding the nativisation of football in Argentina away from British influence, as he shows how the game provided a conduit for the assimilation of millions of European immigrants in the early decades of the century into a new Argentine ‘race’. The book also examines how football gave some of the ‘voiceless others’ such as women, Afro-Argentines, indigenous people and those in the interior an arena to project themselves in an Argentine society that was masculine, white and Buenos Aires-dominated.
Author(s): Mark Orton
Series: Palgrave Studies in Sport and Politics
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 309
City: Cham
Acknowledgements
Contents
Abbreviations
List of Figures
List of Tables
1 Introduction
Structure
Methodology and Sources
References
2 ‘The Virile English Game’: The Origins of Argentine Football 1867–1912
The Third British ‘Invasion’ of Argentina
Football’s Arrival and Early Diffusion in Argentina
Mens sana in corpore sano
Loco for Football
Crisol de Razas: Football, Immigration and National Identity Construction
References
3 Creating Argentinidad Through Football 1913–1930
Conceptualising National Identity: La Nuestra and the Myth of the Criollo Rebirth
La Italianización Del Fútbol Argentino
‘The Gallery of Beautiful Faces’
Negros Y Pardos: Afro-Argentines in Argentine Football
Chacareros Y Peloduros: Challenging the Outsider Status of the Interior
References
4 Flying the Flag: Football and the International Projection of Argentinidad 1913–1930
International Projection and Transnational Exchanges in Argentine Football
Brothers in Arms: Argentine Football and the Uruguayan ‘Other’
Rimpatriati: Italo-Argentines in Italian Football
References
5 Political Football: The Age of Decline? 1931–1958
The Introduction of Professionalism and la década infame
Argentine Football’s ‘Golden Age’?
A ‘New Argentina’: Peronism and Football
‘Sundays Without Football’: The Players’ Strike of 1948–1949
The Third Way
The ‘Disaster of Sweden’
References
6 The Age of Social and Footballing Revolution 1959–1976
Revolutions: The Battle for Argentina’s Footballing Identity
‘Animals’
The Renaissance of La Nuestra
Vendepatrias: Migration and National Identity in Argentina
Estudiantes the Iconoclasts
Pioneras
‘Fomenting National Integration’: Football and the Incorporation of the Interior into the Argentine Mainstream
References
7 In the Shadow of the Proceso 1976–1983
‘25 Million Argentines Will Play for the World Cup’: Mundial’78 and Argentine Identity
Pibe De Oro: The Emergence of Diego Maradona as National Icon
Malvinas Y Mundial
References
8 False Dawn: From Democratic Restoration to Economic Armageddon 1983–2002
Azteca Gold
National Team for All?
The Argentine Football Factory: Menem, Macri and Neo-Liberalism
¡Violencia!
El Crisis
References
9 Conclusion
References
Index
