Basque Soccer Madness a Dissertation Submitted in Partial
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
University of Nevada, Reno Sport, Nation, Gender: Basque Soccer Madness A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Basque Studies (Anthropology) by Mariann Vaczi Dr. Joseba Zulaika/Dissertation Advisor May, 2013 Copyright by Mariann Vaczi All Rights Reserved THE GRADUATE SCHOOL We recommend that the dissertation prepared under our supervision by Mariann Vaczi entitled Sport, Nation, Gender: Basque Soccer Madness be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Joseba Zulaika, Advisor Sandra Ott, Committee Member Pello Salaburu, Committee Member Robert Winzeler, Committee Member Eleanor Nevins, Graduate School Representative Marsha H. Read, Ph. D., Dean, Graduate School May, 2013 i Abstract A centenarian Basque soccer club, Athletic Club (Bilbao) is the ethnographic locus of this dissertation. From a center of the Industrial Revolution, a major European port of capitalism and the birthplace of Basque nationalism and political violence, Bilbao turned into a post-Fordist paradigm of globalization and gentrification. Beyond traditional axes of identification that create social divisions, what unites Basques in Bizkaia province is a soccer team with a philosophy unique in the world of professional sports: Athletic only recruits local Basque players. Playing local becomes an important source of subjectivization and collective identity in one of the best soccer leagues (Spanish) of the most globalized game of the world. This dissertation takes soccer for a cultural performance that reveals relevant anthropological and sociological information about Bilbao, the province of Bizkaia, and the Basques. Early in the twentieth century, soccer was established as the hegemonic sports culture in Spain and in the Basque Country; it has become a multi- billion business, and it serves as a powerful political apparatus and symbolic capital. This dissertation will explore the social, cultural and political dimensions of soccer in the Spanish Basque area, and explores the interfaces of soccer with globalization, identity construction, discourse, power, political ideologies and gender relations through the specific case of the Basque Athletic Club. Soccer is intimately embedded in Bilbao, and has consequences for macro and micro communities as well as individuals: it represents a people, an ethos, a morality; it structures people`s free time, daily interaction and relationships; it affects individual subjectivization. I argue that soccer culture offers fresh insight and new perspectives to the rich social scientific research on the Basques. Key words: soccer culture, ethnography, identity, Basque, Spain ii For my parents iii Acknowledgements I wish to express my gratitude to my dissertation advisor, Joseba Zulaika of the Center for Basque Studies of the University of Nevada, Reno, for his help, inspiration and enthusiasm about this project. Likewise, I am very grateful to the other members of my Advisory Committee from UNR: Sandra Ott, Robert Winzeler and Eleanor Nevins. Special thanks to my fifth Committee member, Pello Salaburu from the University of the Basque Country, whose help was instrumental to find valuable contacts in Bilbao. Many thanks to the CBS office staff, most notably Kate Camino, and the many visiting scholars with whom I engaged in academic discussions during my stay at the University of Nevada, Reno. In the Basque Country, I wish to express my gratitude to Athletic Club and its incumbent president Fernando García Macua, who greatly assisted my research by facilitating access to games. I owe special thanks to Athletic Museum director Asier Arrate and Iñaki Azkarraga, who were always most helpful in providing information and contacting informants. I also thank External Relations officer Javier Ucha for his friendly helpfulness. Without being able to mention them all, I wish to extend my greatest gratitude to all Athletic personnel, managers, former presidents and board members, coaches and players who graciously took the time to answer my questions. I especially appreciate the professionalism and seriousness with which they as representatives of Athletic Club treated me. Further thanks to the journalists of the local media who invited me on their shows or otherwise gave my work invaluable publicity. I think of my friend Ádám Takács fondly, who planted the idea of researching Athletic in my head. My fieldwork would have been less productive, and certainly iv much less enjoyable, without my cuadrilla friends in the old part of town in Bilbao: Mari, Ainhoa, Itzi, Igor and Monica, among others, who made my stay an adventure right from the beginning. And finally but most importantly, I am most grateful to the people of Bilbao and all Athleticzales who showed me to their world with great respect, passion and affection; they were truly an anthropologist`s pleasure. v Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction: Basque Soccer Madness 1 1.1 Athletic Club and Spanish Soccer 7 1.2 Global Play, Local Desire 10 1.3 ―Why Do I Go if All They Do is Lose?‖ 15 1.4 Basque Soccer Culture: A Road Map 19 1.5 Methodology and Data Analysis 24 Chapter Two: “An Englishman Came to Bilbao:” A Social History of Athletic Club 29 2.1 ―Alirón, alirón, el Athletic Campeón‖ 32 2.2 The British-Basque Encounter: Chronicles of a Seduction 38 2.3 Sports, Society and Politics 44 2.4 The Civil War: Athletic in Exile 46 2.5 The Franco Dictatorship 49 2.6 The Post-Franco Era 52 2.7 ―Athletic, a Thousand Times Champion‖ 54 Chapter Three: “A Unique Case in the World:” Basque Exceptionalism in Soccer Culture 61 3.1 ―We were different. We knew we were different. We were told we were different‖ 63 3.2 From Bilbainismo to Vasquismo: The Evolution of Identities 70 3.3 ―But Can He Play in Athletic?‖ The Contestation of Identities 76 vi 3.4 From Santimamiñe to San Mamés: The Indigeniety of Bilbao`s Soccer 79 3.5 ―To Lose in Order to Win:‖ The Negative Logic of Subjectivization 81 3.6 Confronting Soccerscape: What is the Future of the Past? 86 Chapter Four: San Mamés: In the Cathedral of Spanish Soccer 88 4.1 San Mamés, a ―Quality Space‖ 92 4.2 The Ritual Cycle of Fandom 99 4.3 Desecration in The Cathedral 112 4.4 San Mamés Barria 118 Chapter Five: Bilbao Catch-22: Passions and Double Binds in Soccer 120 5.1 Apocalyptic Times: the Salvation Game 122 5.2 Bilbao Catch-22: ―Protect Me From What I Want‖ 139 5.3 From Bond to Bind: A Player`s Impasse 135 5.4 Misfits 147 5.5 Million Euro Lesson: Learning to Lose 152 Chapter Six: Magnificent Obsessions: Masculinity, Morality and the Melodramatic Imagination 156 6.1 Cristiano`s Sadness: the Melodramatic Mode of Soccer Narrative 159 6.2 ―Es un Sentimiento:‖ Soccer as a Lover`s Discourse 162 6.3 Between Good and Evil: Bilbao`s Innocence Neurosis and Moral Occult 175 vii 6.4 The Importance of Being Melodramatic 182 Chapter Seven: Dangerous Liaisons, Fatal Attractions: Erotic Fantasy in Men`s Sports 184 7.1 The Kiss of Sara Carbonero 185 7.2 ―The Face that Launched a Thousand Ships:‖ Cultural Representations of the Femme Fatale 188 7.3 When in Doubt, Blame the Girlfriend: Sports` Inner Demons 190 7.4 Sexless in Bilbao: The Pichichi Fantasy Model 195 7.5 The Scandal of Seduction 202 7.6 From the ―Locked Room‖ to the ―Locker Room‖ Paradox 210 7.7 The Fantasy and its Disavowal 213 Chapter Eight: A Matter of Balls: Women and Soccer in the Spanish Basque Context 216 8.1 Con Dos Cojones, ―With Two Balls‖: Gendering Action and Initiative in the Spanish Basque Country 219 8.2 Edurne Salsamendi`s Letter: the ―Female Apartheid‖ of Soccer Fandom in Franco`s Spain 220 8.3 ―Running Away‖ in the Spanish Basque Country: Gendered Spaces and Cultural Models 225 8.4 From Membership to Leadership: Ana Urquijo and ―the Year of the Apocalypse‖ 229 8.5 ―Ni Fútbol, ni Femenino:‖ Hystericising and Othering Women`s Soccer 232 8.6 Privileging Male Success: The Barge Controversy 237 viii 8.7 San Mamés Barria: Kicking Off a New Era? 240 Chapter Nine: Together and Apart at the Basque Derby: A Prisoner`s Dilemma 242 9.1 Theoretical Approaches to Fan Rivalry 243 9.2 The Basque Rivalry Complex 247 9.3 Burruka, Joko, Jolas: The Performance of Cooperation and Competition 258 9.4 Together and Apart? A Prisoner`s Dilemma 268 Chapter Ten: “The Spanish Fury:” A Political Geography of Soccer in Spain 271 10.1 Theory 272 10.2 The Beginnings of the ―Spanish Fury:‖ Race, Ethnicity and National Virility in Spain 276 10.3 Basque and Catalan Nationalists Go to Soccer 279 10.4 ―The Dove of Peace is a Ball:‖ Ideology and Identity Under Franco 282 10.5 ―Athletic, Only Spanish Blood:‖ The Contention Over Purity 285 10.6 Calling Spain ―Spain:‖ When Things Dare Not Speak Their Name 287 10.7 Feeling Spanish: Purity and Danger in la Roja 290 10.8 Schism under the Skin? 292 Conclusion 295 Bibliography 303 1 Chapter One Introduction: Basque Soccer Madness The May 2009 Cup final was the most spectacular event in Bilbao for twenty- five years—since the last King‘s Cup final, when Athletic beat Barcelona, Maradona‘s Barcelona. As my plane is taxiing to its parking position, the first thing I see is a giant red-and-white flag covering the façade of Arrivals. As I enter the building in search of a cash machine, I see a big mascot lion in front of a gift shop, dressed in what is the team‘s nom de guerre: rojiblanco, red and white. Two toddlers hug the lion as their mother takes pictures—both dressed in red and white.