Futebol and Myths Linkages and Even Evocative Ruminations on the Hope”’
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With the exception of the classic texts by C.L.R. lower classes into the circle of what each nation state. The state’s retreat from its commit- James and Ashis Nandy, both on cricket, sport defined as its own version of civilised human ment to seeing poverty as a socio-ethical has not captured the critical imagination of post- society’. (15) Prior to this, the working classes problem goes hand in hand with its in- colonial theorists. While the rhetorical flourish were considered to be on the same level as creasing criminalisation of poverty and and in-depth analysis of sports journalists have ‘primitive peoples’, but afterwards ‘skin color, deployment of penal sanctions. (20) produced fascinating portraits of the moti- in the form of European Whiteness, was em- NIKOS PAPASTERGIADIS vational forces, rich sketches of the historical phasised, more than ever before as the most The reason for compassion fatigue becomes background, astute speculations on political important basis for one’s access to “dignity and clear. Australians who used to experience the futebol and myths linkages and even evocative ruminations on the hope”’. (15) hope offered by society are feeling increasingly mythic and moral dimensions of sport, these In the early twenty-first century, Hage insecure but are living in a state of denial— of the brazilian way of life writings have barely entered the arena of ‘cul- argues, capitalism itself has increasingly taken ‘hoping that their national identity will be a ALEX BELLOS tural’ debates. This omission is startling because a multinational form, and its investment in passport to hope for them’. (21) When these Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life not only is sport a huge player in global media national societies is much more circumspect. Australians see others also trying to access the Bloomsbury, London, 2002 industries and a significant sector in national With the growth of the financial and services hope of a better life, they become paranoid and ISBN 0-74755-403 economies, but it is also one of the most signi- sectors in particular, ‘capitalism goes tran- vindictive, wanting to deprive asylum seekers RRP $29.95 (pb) ficant features of everyday life. Individual par- scendental … [I]t simply hovers over the Earth and Indigenous Australians of the hope to ticipation and team performances have become looking for a suitable place to land and invest which they are clinging only too tenuously. one of the most compelling ways for articulat- … until it is time to fly again’. (19) To attract In Chapter 2, ‘On Worrying: The Lost Art of ing personal and national identity. Events such this global capital, governments focus on mak- the Well-Administered National Cuddle’, Hage as Cathy Freeman’s run in the 400-metres final ing the nation attractive, promoting aesthe- draws on Spinoza and Kleinian psychoanalysis of the Sydney Olympics were more significant ticised global cities, which have: to illuminate the different conditions that pro- than individual success in the race. In Tim duce ‘worried’ and ‘hopeful’ subjects. Spinoza’s Lane’s ecstatic words, ‘Gold for Freeman. Aus- no room for marginals … As the state theory of the conatus as ‘appetite for life’ is con- tralia the winner.’ In what sense did Australia retreats from its commitment to the gen- nected to Kleinian theory, in which hope is win gold in a race event? The social and sym- eral welfare of the marginal and the poor, ‘linked to the internalisation of the good breast’. bolic significance of events such as this are still these people are increasingly—at best— (24) The absence or unpredictable presence of begging for critical attention. left to their own devices. At worst, they are the breast causes the infant to worry. In the case Alex Bellos’s Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life actively portrayed as outside society. The of the national subject, this worry is articulated explores possibly the richest example of how criminalisation and labeling of ethnic cul- through the question: ‘Will my society care for sport can serve as a metaphor to not only reflect tures, where politicians and sections of the me?’ Hage goes on to examine the role of the social conditions but also influence the way a media encourage the general public to ‘cuddle’ in the parent–child relationship. As society dreams about itself. Soccer in Brazil and make a causal link between criminality, opposed to the absence of physical affection or the Brazilian national soccer team have a poverty and racial or ethnic identity, is one the suffocating bear hug, he argues that the unique and mesmerising history. The passion of of the more unethical forms of such pro- ‘well-administered cuddle’: the fans in local games and the success of cesses of exclusion. This is partly why the national team at the World Cup are globalisation has worked so well alongside manages to simultaneously embrace and the neo-liberal dismantling of the welfare protect and allow the child to contemplate 220 VOLUME9 NUMBER2 NOV2003 FIONA NICOLL—SAVING HOPE 205 have observed, we are currently experiencing name of the ‘ordinary people’ by those that unparalleled. The legend of Pelé and the dia- the myth of soccer in Brazil and the myth of an uncanny return of this racialised order, with Hage describes as ‘neo-tough conservatives’. spora of thousands of other Brazilian stars also Brazilian soccer for the rest of the world. the incarceration of asylum seekers and attacks While he finds it puzzling that the neo-toughs offer seemingly inexhaustible material for cri- In myths, facts do not always win the argu- on Indigenous-rights agendas, the latter having condemn the small ‘l’ liberals on this basis, con- tique. No other country has elevated the game ment. Bellos is therefore at his best in capturing previously appeared to have been boosted with sidering that they also share the comforts of so much in pursuit of elegance and flair, and it the memories and voices of fans. He realises the High Court’s overturning of terra nullius in middle-class privilege, Hage does agree with is doubtful that even the Italians are as capable that the game is not just about statistics on 1992. Hage observes that a decade of discourse them in one respect—many ordinary Aus- of sinking the game into such Machiavellian scoreboards, but more about the emotive drive against political correctness has shifted the defi- tralians have lost a sense of generosity: depths. Bellos shows us that Brazilians have within the sighs and screams of fans in the nition of what constitutes a ‘racist’, so that improvised the game to such an extent that stands. After the game, these bodily gestures ‘hatred of the coloniser [is] the only real racism Compassion, hospitality and the recog- they have introduced variations ranging from become stories, and the power of soccer lives there is’. (x) To understand this development, nition of oppression are all about giving autoball, where players drive cars and whack a on in the rumours that flow into and follow the he invokes Marx’s camera-obscura theory of hope to marginalised people. But to be able giant ball, to footbull, where the bull becomes endless debates on the quality of certain actions. ideology to figure an upside-down picture of to give hope one has to have it … why is it the ball and chases the players. They also in- For some fans, the discursive effects of sport are reality. I think many Keating-era academics, like that the great majority of the population of vented the professional versions of button foot- distilled in the pursuit of icons, the most pre- myself, will relate to this when confronted, in the Western world are left with so little ball, futsal (five-a-side indoor), society football cious icon being the shirts worn by the players. classrooms, with white Australian (and Ameri- hope for themselves today, let alone for (seven-a-side on exclusive playing fields), beach Bellos recounts a game of ‘spot the club’ with can) students accusing Aboriginal activists and sharing with others? (9) football, footvolley and ball-juggling competi- Fabio Menezes, a collector of over 420 shirts. intellectuals of ‘reverse racism’ for staking their tions (in which Ronaldo’s wife became known ‘Now this one’, said Menezes, ‘is really difficult claims to Indigenous rights. Drawing on Bourdieu, he explains that as the Keepie-Uppie Queen). In Brazilian slang —South Melbourne Hellas’. Menezes proudly In Chapter 1, ‘Transcendental Capital and societies are mechanisms for the distribution of there are no fewer than thirty-seven synonyms recalled the shirt’s exchange after a World Club the Roots of Paranoid Nationalism’, Hage exam- hope. He distinguishes between hope against for the word ‘ball’. competition in Rio, and Bellos, perhaps stunned ines the phenomenon of ‘compassion fatigue’, life, which takes the form of escapist fantasy, With considerable charm, sensitivity and that fetish value is extended to even an Aus- whereby Australians who were once happy to and hope for life, which enables us to ‘invest cool irony, Bellos has reported on the rituals, tralian soccer shirt, offers polite congratulations. extend ‘the Good Life’ to those coming from ourselves in social reality’. To the extent we can charted the successes and portrayed the eccen- Bellos’s account of the historical develop- war-torn or poverty-stricken countries are now invest ourselves in the fantasy of a national ‘we’, tric characters such as Garrincha, ‘the angel ment of Brazilian soccer focuses on the vexed supporting the government’s tough stance on Hage argues that we are able to hope for ‘the with bent legs’. Armed with an enviable travel democratisation of race relations.