This article was downloaded by: [Alonso Pahuacho Portella] On: 12 March 2015, At: 11:08 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Soccer & Society Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fsas20 Pibes, Cracks and Caudillos: , the World Cup and identity politics Rwany Sibajaaa & Charles Parrishaa aa School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA Published online: 30 Apr 2014.

Click for updates

To cite this article: Rwany Sibaja & Charles Parrish (2014) Pibes, Cracks and Caudillos: Argentina, the World Cup and identity politics, Soccer & Society, 15:5, 655-670, DOI: 10.1080/14660970.2014.912017

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2014.912017

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

TTaylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. Howeverr, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms- and-conditions

5 1 0 2 h r c a M 2 1 8 0 : 1 1 t a ] a l e t r o P o h c a u h a P s o n l o [ A y b d e d a l o n w o D Soccer & Society, 2014 Vol. 15, No. 5, 655 – 670, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2014.912017

Pibes, Cracks and Caudillos: Argentina, the World Cup and identity politics Rwany Sibaja and Charles Parrish*

School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

Scholars of Argentine fútbol have explored the construction of fútbol criollo and 5 how this style of play has factored into the broader debate over national identity 1 0 in Argentina. Focusing on the performance of the key Argentine personalities at 2 h the FIFA World Cup from 1958 to 1990, this essay explores how fútbol repre- r c sented a contested vision of the nation across �ve decades. After a 24-year a M absence at the FIFA World Cup, and in the wake of the overthrow of President 2 Juan Perón, Argentina underachieved at the 1958 tournament. The country 1 would later experience a number of disappointments en route to eventually win- 8 0 : ning the 1978 and 1986 World Cups. However, across this time span (and 1 1 beyond) the team’s style of play and identity became the subject of intense t a debate. Popular discourse revealed a preference between two approaches seem- ] a ingly in juxtaposition to each other. On the one hand, traditionalists favoured the l e criollo style, which celebrated the pibe (the young kid from the streets) and the t r � o potrero (the dusty elds where fútbol is practised) as emblematic of the nation. P These symbols represented the working class and elevated the life of the barrio o h as an anchor to the nation’s humble beginnings. On the other hand, reformers c a preferred approaches that proved successful in Europe. Sometimes described by u h critics as anti- fútbol , the emphasis was on physicality, strict adherence to tactics a P and data-driven training. Proponents in Argentina equated this European s o approach to progress and modernity. Between 1958 and 1990, notable Argentine n personalities at the FIFA World Cup embodied both of these philosophies. l o [ A y b d Introduction e d a For many, sports can serve as a lens with which to gain useful insight into issues l o 1 n related to identity. From an analytical and practical standpoint, they ‘ provide people w o with a sense of difference and a way of classifying themselves and others, whether D latitudinally or hierarchically.’2 This is particularly true with respect to Argentina as soccer, or fútbol , has consistently been a focus of popular public discourse with respect to national identity since the �rst quarter of the twentieth century.3 Perhaps the prevailing dominant work on fútbol and identity politics in Argentina is the schol- arship of the late anthropologist Eduardo Archetti, which emphasizes how the sport emerged as a cultural representation and an embodied expression of a hybrid national identity.4 His work, along with that of historian Julio Frydenberg, emphasizes foot- ball’s role in the construction of national and local identities during the �rst three decades of the twentieth century.5 Others have noted the emergence of competing

*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] Rwany Sibaja is currently at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA 656 R. Sibaja and C. Parrish

philosophies of the creative and spontaneous fútbol criollo and the physical, methodical and defensive-minded anti- fútbol during the 1960s and into the 1980s.6 The former embodied a traditional and authentic version of national identity while the latter represented a more liberal and progressive notion of nationalism modelled after European styles associated with modernity.7 The manner in which the national team, players and coaches have been the focus of intense politicized debates reveals how the discourse over Argentine identity remains unsettled in the twenty- �rst century. Similar in approach to Andrews and Jackson’s edited collection Sport Stars, this essay will diverge from the works previously mentioned by making the individual, rather than football in the abstract, the unit of analysis.8 Speci�cally, legendary per- sonalities such as Antonio Ubaldo Rattín, César Luis Menotti, and will be analysed and placed into context to emphasize their cultural 5 and historical relevance within the larger debate over national identity in Argentina. 1 0 These individuals represent one of two culturally relevant �gures in Argentine soci- 2 h ety, the pibe and caudillo. They also embody the two competing philosophies that r c a lie in juxtaposition to each other, fútbol criollo and anti-fútbol. At the conclusion of M the article, a third category, the crack forward, will be introduced to suggest that not 2 1 all Argentine soccer icons �t neatly into this binary taxonomy. In fact, one could 8 0 : argue that two of Argentina’s greatest players of all time, Alfredo Di Stéfano and 1 1 Lionel Messi, are examples of this conundrum. While both are celebrated as football t a ] legends and icons, they exist in the margins in terms of relevance with respect to a l national identity politics. However, before attempting such an analysis, it is neces- e t r sary to provide some context with respect to Argentina’s national identity debate. o P o h c a National identity in Argentina u h a The construction of modern Argentina began in earnest during the la st half of the P nineteenth century after the defeat of caudillo Juan Manuel de Rosas.9 During this s o n period, the country’s liberal-minded leaders and intellectuals aggressively sought to l o ‘ ’ [ A civilize the nation by facilitating massive European immigration. Theoretically, this y � ‘ ’ b strategy would ef ciently transform society from cultural and political barbarism d e into a modern nation governed by a strong central government and informed by d a rationalized and objective scienti�c thinking. Intellectuals such as Domingo Sarmi- l o n ento and Juan Bautista Alberdi espoused Europe as a model of civility in opposition w ‘ ’ � o to the barbarie typi ed by strongmen such as Rosas. The opposition to this D Unitarian agenda was the prevailing Federalist post-colonial system of rule in which caudillos, or authoritarian rural strong men in Argentina’s interior, and their gaucho militias sought to conserve and maintain regional control. 10 By the turn of the century, the civilizing efforts of the ‘Generation of 1880’ had successfully supplanted the ‘ backwards’ indigenous ways of the past. Even more, by the First World War locals and foreign observers identi �ed Argentina among the most developed and prosperous countries in the world. This process was, however, not a seamless and uncontested transition. Social ‘maladies’ and political unrest, among other challenges, worked to under mine the utopian and overtly racist vision of the late nineteenth-century reformers. 11 Further, the massive in�ux of Italian, Spanish, Jewish and eastern European migrants yielded a national identity crisis. 12 The 1910s and 1920s were decades in which intense public debate ensued over what and who was considered to be Argentine.13 Soccer & Society 657

The nation’s �edging love affair with British football was not immune from this political debate. However, as historian Matthew Karush points out, the sport became a particular target of public debate during this period. 14 Journalists and literary critics from traditional publications in , as well as popular print sources, sought to construct and de�ne a distinguishable style of play. Their writings portrayed a par- ticular emerging national identity embedded within the increasingly popular practice of fútbol. In the end, the ethnically based criollo (creole) style championed by the popular press outlets El Grá �co and Crítica emerged as the dominant discourse that de�ned and represented a national style of play symbolic of a distinctive Argentine race. As Archetti outlines, fút bol criollo emerged as a product of both cultural hybrid- ity and environmental factors.15 Sports writers associated a national style of play with the imagery of the pibe (young kid) who developed a knack for viveza (trickery or � 5 cunning) on the potreros (abandoned dusty elds and vacant urban lots) in and 1 0 around the city of Buenos Aires. This undisciplined and playful approach to the game 2 h stands in contrast to the methodical British style taught in private schools and athletic r c a clubs. Therefore, the pibe and the newly de�ned fútbol criollo constituted a distinct M cultural product that helped construct an emerging Argentinidad (Argentineaness) in 2 16 1 the 1920s and 1930s – a process that also occurred in Argentine art and cinema . 8 0 : The popular press, for example, lauded the success of Racing Club’s seven consecu- 1 1 tive league titles as evidence of the positive virtues associated with fútbol criollo t 17 a ] alongside an emerging national race responsible for its production. Likewise, a l Argentines could point to the championship matches of the 1928 Olympics and the e t r inaugural World Cup in 1930 – both played by Argentina and Uruguay – as evidence o P of the superiority of fútbol played in the Rio de La Plata region. Even when Argen- o h tina underperformed at the 1934 World Cup, when it sent an improvised squad, the c a u popular press focused on the presence of three Argentines on the Italian national team h a as the reason for why won the tournament. P In the midst of a national identity crisis brought on by massive immigration and s o n migration, Archetti shows how football provided a context in which the creativity of l o ‘ [ A immigrants and their children allowed a national style to appear, strengthen and y reproduce over time. National identity in football … is a cultural form created on the b 18 d ’ criollismo ’ e margins of the nationalist s . This national identity was not immune from d a challenges and threats over time. In the aftermath of the �rst Perón era (1946 – 1955), l o n Argentine society entered into a turbulent period characterized by social and political w o unrest. Fútbol, like other forms of mass culture, such as art and cinema, became sites D where national identity could be contested along class lines. Much like the debates over national identity at the turn of the century, fútbol and identity politics once again became the focus of heated public discourse over the nation’s past and future.

1958 and the turn to the caudillo The national team’s arrival in Sweden in 1958 generated excitement and optimism for a whole generation of fans. After hearing legendary stories about the 1928 Olympics and 1930 World Cup, and recently witnessing an impressive performance at the 1957 South American Championship, this was Argentina’s chance to �nally breakthrough and win at a global tournament. But the young ‘cracks’ of 1957 who mesmerized observers – Enrique Omar Sívori, , and Antonio Angelillo all left to play in Italy. The Argentine Football Association (AFA), 658 R. Sibaja and C. Parrish

Ángel Labruna, who were well past their prime. But after losing 3 – 1 to West Germany in the opening match of the World Cup, sports magazines such as Mundo Deportivo drew on stereotypes to question the ef �cacy of the supposedly beautiful rioplatense game against the methodical, and ef �cient, German approach.19 Veteran journalist Borocotó even argued that Argentine players possessed too much ‘ potrero’ in their style of play, although he cautioned that it would also be unwise for Argen- tine players to try to match their European rivals ’ physicality.20 An unconvincing victory over Northern Ireland meant that Argentina needed to defeat Czechoslovakia in order to advance to the second round of the tournament. Instead, few people expected the �nal score line: Czechoslovakia 6, Argentina 1. Sports writers grasped for ways to explain this lopsided result to readers back home. Some attributed this ‘disaster ’ to the decaying morals of Argentine players who 5 lived off fútbol, but did not live for fútbol. Unlike the Germans, who trained inces- 1 21 0 santly, one journalist argued that the Argentine player was lazy. Fans in Buenos 2 h Aires waited many hours for the arrival of the national team at Ezeiza airport. As r c a players descended f rom the aircraft, fans threw coins and called them ‘drunkards’, M among other names.22 2 1 Two of the players who received abuse from fans at Ezeiza airport were Pedro 8 0 : Dellacha and Néstor Rossi. Both men were unquestioned leaders on the national 1 1 team and earned a reputation as ‘caudillos’ on their club teams (Racing and River t a ] Plate, respectively). These were tough players, who like the caudillo leaders of a l nineteenth-century Argentina, controlled their teams in the middle of the �eld by the e t r sheer force of their personality and their toughness. However, it was not their o P toughness that was under question; rather, critics of the national team questioned the o h commitment of Argentine players. Were they willing to change? Was fútbol criollo c a u out of date? This debate over whether to import European approaches and modern- h a ize, or remain �rm to the artistry of the ‘crack’ player, consumed fútbol discourse in P Argentina in the wake of the ‘disaster ’ in Sweden.23 More problematically for s o n Argentine fans, one of their �ercest rivals in South America, Brazil, won the World l o [ A Cup in 1958 and joined Uruguay as the only American nations to lift the trophy. El y Grá �co b noted with admiration how the Brazilians moulded the latest training d � e methods and tactical approaches from Europe with their own uid style of play, d 24 a whereas AFA seemed clueless on how to improve the national team. l o n In search for new types of players who could embody the discipline and tough- w o ness needed to match European teams, various coaches of the national team of the D 1960s appropriated modern tactics and training. They also leaned on a ‘number 5’ mid�eld player from : Antonio Ubaldo Rattín. 25 Already tabbed by Rossi as the next leader of the national team, Rattín stood at an imposing 6 feet 5 inches and earned a reputation as a hard-nosed ‘caudillo’ leader – a true guapo.26 More importantly, he was a disciplined athlete unconcerned with Argentina main- taining a certain style of play. Like many of the players who came of age in the 1960s, Rattín sensed the impatience of fans who wanted to win at all costs. He was the type of player head coach – hired by AFA for his coaching experience in Europe – counted on as Argentina prepared for the 1962 World Cup in neighbouring . Critics of lo moderno warned that this trend towards modern tactics was a dis- placed sense of ‘ patriotic garra (or grit)’, and the wrong course for Argentine fútbol. AFA, they argued, was favouring a culture where the ultra-defensive cerrojo tactical Soccer & Society 669

References Ablard, Jonathan. Madness in Buenos Aires: Patients, Psychiatrists and the Argentine State, 1880 – 1983. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2008. Alabarces, Pablo. Fútbol y patria: El fútbol y las narrativas de la nación en la Argentina [Football and the Homeland: Football and Narratives of the Nation in Argentina]. Buenos Aires: Prometeo, Libros de Cnfrontación, 2002. Alabarces, Pablo. ‘Football Fans and the Argentine Crisis of 2001 – 2002: The Crisis, the World Cup, and the Destiny of the Patria’. In Fútbol , ed. Ilan Stavans, 57 – 70. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2011. Alabarces, Pablo, and María Rodríguez. ‘Football and Fatherland: The Crisis of National Representation in Argentinian Soccer ’. In Football Culture: Local Contests, Global Visions, ed. G.P.T. Finn and R. Guilianotti, 118 – 33. London: Frank Cass, 2000. Alabarces, Pablo, Ramiro Coehlo, and Juan Sanguinetti. ‘Treacheries and Traditions in Argentinian Football Styles: The Story of ’. In Fear and Loathing – 5 in World Football , ed. G. Armstrong and R. Guilianotti, 237 49. Oxford: Berg, 2001. 1 0 Andrews, David L., and Steven J. Jackson, eds. Sports Stars: The Cultural Politics of 2 Sporting Celebrity. London: Routledge, 2001. h Archetti, Eduardo P. Masculinities: Football, Polo, and the Tango in Argentina. New York: r c a Berg, 1999. M Archetti, Eduardo P. ‘Playing Football and Dancing Tango: Embodying Argentina in Move- 2 1 ment, Style, and Identity’. In Sport, Dance, and Embodied Identities, ed. N. Dyke and 8 E.P. Archetti, 217 – 30. Oxford: Berg, 2003. 0 : 1 Armus, Diego. The Ailing City: Health, Tuberculosis, and Culture in Buenos Aires, 1870 – 1 t 1950. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2011. a ] Baily, Samuel. Immigrants in the Lands of Promise: Italians in Buenos Aires and New York a – l City, 1870 1914. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999. e t r Caimari, Lila, ed. La ley de los prófanos: Delito, justicia y cultura en Buenos Aires o – P (1870 1940) [The Law of the Profane: Crime, Justice and Culture in Buenos Aires o (1870 – 1940)]. Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2007. h c a Canclini, Néstor García. Hybrid Cultures: Strategies for Entering and Leaving Modernity. u h Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1989. a P Deutsch, Sandra McGee. Crossing Borders, Claiming a Nation: A History of Argentine Jewish Women, 1880 – 1955. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2010. s o n Downing, David. England v Argentina: World Cups and Other Small Wars. London: Portrait, l o 2003. A [ Frydenberg, Julio. Historia social del fútbol: Del amateurismo a la profesionalización [Social y b History of Football: From Amateurism to Professionalization]. Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI, d e 2011. d a de la Fuente, Ariel. Children of Facundo: Caudillo and Gaucho Insurgency during the l o Argentine State-formation Process, La Rioja, 1853 – 1870. Durham, NC: Duke University n w Press, 2000. o Giunta, Andrea. Avant-garde, Internationalism, and Politics: Argentine Art in the Sixties. D Durham: Duke University Press, 2007. Goldblatt, David. The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer . New York: Riverhead Books, 2006. Guy, Donna. Sex and Danger in Buenos Aires: Prostitution, Family, and Nation in Argentina. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1991. Harris, John, and Andrew Parker, eds. Sport and Social Identities. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Hedges, Jill. Argentina: A Modern History. New York: I.B. Taurus, 2011. Karush, Matthew B. ‘ National Identity in the Sports Pages: Football and the Mass Media in 1920s Buenos Aires’. The Americas 60, no. 1 (2003): 11 – 32. Karush, Matthew B. Culture of Class: Radio and Cinema in the Making of a Divided Argen- tina. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2012. Kuper, Simon. Football Against the Enemy. London: Orion, 1994. MacClancy, Jeremy, ed. Sport, Identity, and Ethnicity. Oxford: Berg, 1996. Maguire, Joseph. Global Sport: Identities, Societies, Civilizations. Malden, MA: Polity Press, 670 R. Sibaja and C. Parrish

Marshall, P. David. Celebrity and Power: Fame in Contemporary Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997. Mason, Tony. Passion of the People? Football in South America. London: Verso, 1995. Menotti, César Luis. Como ganamos la Copa del Mundo [How We Won the World Cup]. Buenos Aires: El Grá�co-Editorial Atlántida, 1978. Moya, José. Cousins and Strangers: Spanish Immigrants in Buenos Aires, 1850 – 1930. Berkley: University of California Press, 1998. Rodríguez, Julia. Civilizing Argentina: Science, Medicine, and the Modern State. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2006. Ruggiero, Kristin. Modernity in the Flesh: Medicine, Law, and Society in Turn-of-the-century Argentina. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004. Scobie, James R. Argentina: A City and a Nation. New York: Oxford University Press, 1964. Smith, Adrian, and Dilwyn Porter, eds. Sport and National Identity in the Post-War World . London: Routledge, 2004. Tobin, Jeffery. ‘Soccer Conspiracies: Maradona, the CIA, and Popular Critique’. In Sport in 5 1 Latin America and the Caribbean, ed. Joseph L. Arbena and David G. LaFrance, 51 – 73. 0 2 Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resource, 2002. h r c a M 2 1 8 0 : 1 1 t a ] a l e t r o P o h c a u h a P s o n l o [ A y b d e d a l o n w o D