Soccer, Culture and Society in Spain
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Soccer, Culture and Society in Spain Spanish soccer is on top of the world, at both international and club levels, with the best teams and a seemingly endless supply of exciting and stylish players. While the Spanish economy struggles, its soccer flourishes, deeply embedded throughout Spanish social and cultural life. But the relationship between soccer, culture and society in Spain is complex. This fascinating, in-depth study shines new light on Spanish soccer by examining the role this sport plays in Basque identity, consol- idated in Athletic Club of Bilbao, the century-old soccer club located in the birthplace of Basque nationalism. Athletic Bilbao has a unique player-recruitment policy, allowing only Basque- born players or those developed at the youth academies of Basque clubs to play for the team, a policy that rejects the internationalism of contemporary globalized soccer. Despite this, the club has never been relegated from the top division of Spanish soccer. A particularly tight bond exists between the fans, their club and the players, with Athletic representing a beacon of Basque national identity. This book is an ethnography of a soccer culture where origins, ethnicity, nationalism, gender relations, power and passion, life-cycle events and death rituals gain new meanings as they become, below and beyond the playing field, a matter of creative contention and communal affirmation. Based on unique, in-depth ethnographic research, Soccer, Culture and Society in Spain investigates how a soccer club and soccer fandom affect the life of a community, interweaving empirical research material with key contemporary themes in the social sciences, and placing the study in the wider context of Spanish political and sporting cultures. Filling a key gap in the literature on contemporary Spain, and on wider soccer cultures, this book is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in sport, anthropology, sociology, political science, or cultural and gender studies. Mariann Vaczi is Research Associate at the Center for Basque Studies, University of Nevada, USA. She is a cultural anthropologist focusing on the social, cultural and political dimensions of sports, especially soccer. Routledge Critical Studies in Sport Series editors: Jennifer Hargreaves and Ian McDonald University of Brighton, UK The Routledge Critical Studies in Sport series aims to lead the way in developing the multi-disciplinary field of sport studies by producing books that are interro- gative, interventionist and innovative. By providing theoretically sophisticated and empirically grounded texts, the series will make sense of the changes and challenges facing sport globally. The series aspires to maintain the commitment and promise of the critical paradigm by contributing to a more inclusive and less exploitative culture of sport. Understanding Lifestyle Sports Consumption, identity and difference Edited by Belinda Wheaton Why Sports Morally Matter William J. Morgan Fastest, Highest, Strongest A critique of high-performance sport Rob Beamish and Ian Ritchie Sport, Sexualities and Queer/Theory Edited by Jayne Caudwell Physical Culture, Power and the Body Edited by Jennifer Hargreaves and Patricia Vertinsky British Asians and Football Culture, identity, exclusion Daniel Burdsey Culture, Politics and Sport Blowing the whistle revisited Garry Whannel Olympic Media Inside the biggest show on television Andrew C. Billings Marxism, Cultural Studies and Sport Edited by Ben Carrington and Ian McDonald The Gay Games A history Caroline Symons The Cultural Politics of Lifestyle Sports Belinda Wheaton Celebration Capitalism and the Olympic Games Jules Boykoff Soccer, Culture and Society in Spain An ethnography of Basque fandom Mariann Vaczi 7KLVSDJHLQWHQWLRQDOO\OHIWEODQN Soccer, Culture and Society in Spain An ethnography of Basque fandom Mariann Vaczi First published 2015 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2015 Mariann Vaczi The right of Mariann Vaczi to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book has been requested. ISBN: 978-1-138-77830-6 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-77207-3 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Fish Books For the Váczis 7KLVSDJHLQWHQWLRQDOO\OHIWEODQN Contents Acknowledgements xi ‘But why? We lost!’ An introduction 1 PART I Passion, community and double binds 13 1 ‘An Englishman came to Bilbao’: a social history of Athletic Club 15 2 ‘A unique case in the world’: Basque exceptionalism and identity through soccer 37 3 Bilbao catch-22: passions and double binds in soccer madness 55 PART II A matter of balls 75 4 Melodramas of masculinity and morality 77 5 Fans, writers, leaders and players: women’s breakthroughs in soccer’s gender regime 93 6 Dangerous liaisons, fatal women: the fear and fantasy of soccer wives and girlfriends in Spain 114 x Contents PART III Political geographies 131 7 Together and apart at the Basque derby: a prisoner’s dilemma 133 8 ‘The Spanish Fury’: the Basques, the Catalans and the national team 149 PART IV Life, death and continuity 167 9 Death in the Cathedral: life-cycle rituals and mortuary practices in sport stadiums 169 Epilogue: ‘Now is the time to rise!’ 187 Illustrations 193 Bibliography 204 Index 219 Acknowledgements I would like to express my special appreciation to the friends and colleagues at the Center for Basque Studies and the Department of Anthropology at the University of Nevada, Reno, for the personal and institutional support over the years of writing this book, most especially that of Joseba Zulaika, Sandra Ott, Robert Winzeler, Xabier Irujo and Kate Camino. I think of my friend Ádám Takács fondly, who planted the idea of researching Basque soccer in my head. Many thanks to the Reed Foundation in New York, whose Ruth Landes research grant enabled me to conduct extended anthropological fieldwork in the Basque Country and Spain. I am especially grateful for the encouragement and inspiring support of Routledge Critical Studies in Sport series editor Jennifer Hargreaves, without whom this publication would not have materialized. Many thanks for the work of co-editor Ian McDonald, all Routledge editors who worked on the manuscript, and the anonymous reviewers who offered their comments. I would like to thank the Athletic Club Museum, the Kutxateka and El Correo for giving me permission for the reproduction of images in this book. From the field, I wish to express my special gratitude to Athletic Club and its former president Fernando García Macua, who assisted my research by facilitating access to games in San Mamés. Besides the special recognition of Asier Arrate, Iñaki Azkarraga, Edu Docampo, Sara Estevez, José Ángel Iribar, Iñigo Juaristi, Pello Salaburu, Edurne Salsamendi, Javier Ucha, Ana Urquijo and Andoni Zubizarreta, I wish to extend my acknowledgement to the many current and former Athletic Club managers, presidents, board members, coaches and players whom I interviewed; they would be too numerous to mention here, but have made major contributions to this book. I am very grateful for the professional openness Athletic Club displayed toward my work. I wish to acknowledge the many peñas (fan clubs) I visited in Bilbao, Madrid, Barcelona and even in Budapest, and especially the assistance of Jabi Olabarri. Many thanks to the journalists and show hosts of the local media, who featured and gave my work invaluable publicity, especially José Basurto, Peru S. Gamarra, José Iragorri, Xabier Lapitz, Jon Rivas, Eduardo Rodrigálvarez, Oscar Terol and Txetxu Ugalde. My fieldwork would have been less productive, and certainly less enjoyable, without my closest cuadrilla friends in Bilbao’s old part of town – Ainhoa, Igor, Itzi, Jandri, Mari and Monica, among others – who made my stay an adventure xii Acknowledgements right from the beginning. And finally, but most importantly, I am grateful to the many, many Basques with whom I engaged in person, in writing or through cheering soccer. They let me in their world of passion with great respect and affection; they were truly an anthropologist’s pleasure and inspiration. ‘But why? We lost!’ An introduction ‘Bilbainos are born wherever they like’, they insisted and I, born in Hungary, would be soon one of them. As my plane was taxiing to its parking position in the drizzling early evening rain, the ubiquitous xirimiri of the Bay of Biscay in the north of Spain, what first greeted the visitor was a giant red and white flag covering the façade of the arrivals building. I entered it in search of a cash machine, and I saw a big mascot lion in front of a gift shop dressed in rojiblanco, red and white. Two toddlers were hugging the lion as their mother took pictures, both were wearing red and white jerseys, matching black soccer shorts and Athletic Club logo socks. By the time I arrived in downtown, it was all too obvious where the city’s desires lay. Thousands of soccer flags and ikurrinas (Basque national flags) were flying from windows of homes and businesses, fancy boutiques dressed their mannequins in red and white (un color siempre de moda, ‘a colour always in fashion’), car salons covered their luxury vehicles with Athletic flags and scarves.