sports clubs with football in argentina: conflicts, debates and continuities
TRANSCRIPT
This article was downloaded by: [Moskow State Univ Bibliote]On: 11 February 2014, At: 04:09Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
The International Journal of theHistory of SportPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fhsp20
Sports Clubs with Football in Argentina:Conflicts, Debates and ContinuitiesJulio Frydenberga, Rodrigo Daskala & Cesar R. Torresb
a Universidad Nacional de General San Martín, San Martín,Argentinab The College at Brockport, State University of New York,Brockport, NY, USAPublished online: 06 Nov 2013.
To cite this article: Julio Frydenberg, Rodrigo Daskal & Cesar R. Torres (2013) Sports Clubs withFootball in Argentina: Conflicts, Debates and Continuities, The International Journal of the Historyof Sport, 30:14, 1670-1686, DOI: 10.1080/09523367.2013.831840
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2013.831840
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE
Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand 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 Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to orarising out of the use of the Content.
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
The International Journal of the History of Sport, 2013 Vol. 30, No. 14, 1670–1686, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2013.831840
Sports Clubs with Football in Argentina: Conflicts, Debates and Continuities
Julio Frydenberga, Rodrigo Daskala and Cesar R. Torresb*
aUniversidad Nacional de General San Martın, San Martın, Argentina; bThe College at Brockport, State University of New York, Brockport, NY, USA
Football in Argentina was first built as a social practice and then as a spectacle, but it was always institutionally based on clubs. The predominant organisational model of clubs emphasised horizontality and equality as well as democracy and pluralism. Regardless of the changes throughout the last one hundred years, this model of clubs largely remains in place. This essay explores the development of clubs in Argentina throughout the twentieth century. Such development involves three interrelated dimensions: temporal, social and spatial. We explore these dimensions by considering the adoption of football as a social practice, by looking at the impact of football as spectacle and its consequences on urban development, and by exploring the significance of clubs in the past and in the present as institutions that were home to, and enabled the development of, the spectacle of football. For this purpose, the essay focuses on the nature of the debates and paradigms concerning the clubs institutional status, the political behaviour and practices as well as the identifiable disputes and conflicts.
Keywords: Argentina; clubs; football; sports; development
Introduction
At present, Buenos Aires has 17 football stadiums.1 This extraordinary circumstance calls for a study of the strength with which football from the early twentieth century was built as a social practice and then as a spectacle, but was always institutionally based on clubs. Buenos Aires and its surroundings have always been at the core of football development in Argentina, although it may be inferred that the same happened in other urban areas in the country.2 This model of football as spectacle disseminated in time, both geographically and socially, from the capital city to the rest of the country. The development of clubs involves three interrelated dimensions: temporal, social and spatial.
In this study, we locate these temporal, social and spatial relations along several axes. First, we consider the adoption of football as a social practice by most of the people. Second, we look at the impact of football as spectacle and its consequences on urban development. Third, we explore the significance of clubs in the past and in the present as institutions that, inspired by the strong associationist ideas of the first decades of the twentieth century, were home to and enabled the development of the spectacle of football with all their distinctive characteristics and features taking account of how these have evolved through the rest of the century. This process of club development derived from a special series of links and
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
q 2013 Taylor & Francis
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Mos
kow
Sta
te U
niv
Bib
liote
] at
04:
09 1
1 Fe
brua
ry 2
014
The International Journal of the History of Sport 1671
relations between the city and football itself, influenced by the ideas prevailing at different junctures of the twentieth century, the institutions and the possibilities and the behaviour of different actors. We also analyse the possible continuities and ruptures that clubs as a model of sporting organisation have had through the years. For this purpose, we focus on the nature of the debates and paradigms concerning their own institutional status, the political behaviour and practices as well as the identifiable disputes and conflicts.
We believe it is necessary to explicitly state that certain characteristics of the process of club development, clearly visible until the 1940s, have not been yet systematically studied. The lack of a more systematic approach to clubs’ activities, membership and finances, to name a few of such characteristics, in the historiography of Argentine sport, makes it difficult to analyse the process of club development. It is for this reason that we consider appropriate to suggest that this study also proposes a research agenda on the historical development of clubs, their complex internal dynamics and their unfolding in relation to the urban setting in which they originated, spread and morphed.
The Foundation
Buenos Aires was not a stranger to the processes experienced in the rest of the world: ‘English’ sports (football, in this case) were practised, at the very beginning, by the city’s British community and by a smaller number of the local elite. During the early part of the twentieth century, Buenos Aires witnessed a process by which football became a sport of the people and the emergence of football as a popular spectacle. Both phenomena accompanied the emergence of a modern Buenos Aires; the strong economic ties between Great Britain and Argentina had promoted the arrival of a significant number of Britons to the city. From the last decades of the nineteenth century on, Buenos Aires turned into a cosmopolitan metropolis: it represented the entrance to Argentina and the contact point between the country and the global market which, at that time, was dominated by Great Britain. At the same time, Buenos Aires had become a city where millions of people migrated looking for all kinds of new opportunities. In 1887, the city finally established its current boundaries and emerged as the political, economic and cultural centre of the country. British families settled in the Pampa and Patagonia regions, and the families of British railway officers arrived in the city and set up schools and clubs. Footballs clubs from the 1880s soon vanished, but the game remained in schools, from which the most important teams emerged, particularly in the Buenos Aires English High School, founded in 1880 by the teacher Alejandro Watson Hutton. In line with his initiative, the first local league was created between 1891 and 1893.3
The inception of the first social and political clubs organised by members of the criollo (creole) political, social and economic elites by mid-nineteenth century was accompanied by a simultaneous development of sports, social and cultural clubs founded by the British community and also by criollo elites.4 In such clubs, the ‘fair play’ idea and the image of the ‘gentleman’ strongly prevailed, together with the belief that the importance of physical activities and sports as well as of the tertulias (social gatherings) enhanced both people’s moral values and the race, in addition to its benefits in terms of health. Many of these clubs took part in the early official league, such as the Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima de Buenos Aires, founded in 1880. But almost from the beginning of the century, the club model would be fostered by other social actors with specific interests. For instance, in 1895, young criollos, who in many cases were sons of immigrants, set up Club Capital, which on October of that year changed its name to Club Porteno. The main reason inspiring the
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Mos
kow
Sta
te U
niv
Bib
liote
] at
04:
09 1
1 Fe
brua
ry 2
014
1672 J. Frydenberg et al.
foundation of such club was to play football. In 1900, the Municipality of Buenos Aires accepted its request and granted it a lot in the Tres de Febrero Park to build its stadium.5
At the turn of the twentieth century, football was adopted by society’s ‘popular sectors’.6 There was, at this time, a coexistence of several social processes: the building of the modern city, the emergence of popular sectors from the weaving together of local groups and immigrants and the generation of an extensive network of associations that linked them to their new country. A huge number of institutions were founded during the first decade of the century in Buenos Aires including football and other sports clubs. By 1907, Buenos Aires and the surrounding areas had, in addition to the official league, around a dozen ‘independent leagues’, which organised championships involving more than 300 teams-clubs founded by young people from the popular sectors, made up of groups ranging from workers of different companies to students. In all cases, a name, distinctive colours, logos and symbols were chosen, which represented an identity battlefield within a real and, at the same time, symbolic arena.7 Those founders believed that creating a club was a must for playing football, and this explains to a large extent their wish to take part in this competitive world by playing in independent leagues until they had the chance to join the Argentine Association Football League. In doing so, they built their own new, young and masculine space. Most of them were immigrants’ sons who put aside their ancestors’ cultural traditions and identified themselves with national and civil traditions as well as and with the practice of football.
The survival of these new clubs, and their teams, might be explained by a variety of reasons, namely sporting triumphs, whether they could obtain sufficient resources to join the official league and their links with the local community. These aspects would help them find a place for playing. The first decade of the century was characterised by a great proliferation and disappearance of football teams and clubs. A key challenge was where those teams-
clubs were to be located and which urban area could satisfy such strong demand for playing space. A remarkable phenomenon occurred: a city with one of the greatest number of football stadiums in the world did not pave the way for its inhabitants to play the game, at least not as it might be expected. Urban demands meant that people had to travel to less-populated areas in order to find a space to play. As new neighbourhoods developed, the young people moving there founded clubs and teams, so they were able to practice football in the same place where they lived. For these 12- to 18-year-old boys, playing football meant searching for fields and, despite all the difficulties, they were determined to find suitable places for doing so. In this scenario, playing football in a distant field was seen as an adventure, a group endeavour and a great challenge with a significant emotional component. A great effort was put on visiting distant, unknown and difficult-to-access neighbourhoods.8
It also became important that the wish to compete be accompanied by a solid institutional reference, as the search for fields required a supporting institution to give players-members and executives a sense of respectability and credibility.
Clubs and the Predominant Sporting Organisational Model
Many of the characteristics developed by clubs as regards their relation with public authorities and their function in the community, as citizenship building institutions were already present at this early stage.9 Their relations with public authorities were marked by the presence of a series of features, many of which have prevailed notwithstanding historical ups and downs. For instance, executives’ formal speeches, particularly when submitting petitions to public authorities, often presented the idea that clubs were institutions intended to perform functions and duties that were supposedly poorly executed or not executed at all
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Mos
kow
Sta
te U
niv
Bib
liote
] at
04:
09 1
1 Fe
brua
ry 2
014
The International Journal of the History of Sport 1673
by the State. This can be illustrated by different examples, such as when clubs ‘loaned’ their facilities to public schools with an apparent lack of adequate infrastructure, or when they granted a ‘charitable consideration’ to the State in exchange for benefits, such as tax exemptions, land awards or subsidies. Such ‘public’ consideration could involve lending their facilities or the development of infrastructure ‘open’ to the community at large. Other dimensions carrying weight on this relation were the ‘hygienic’ significance of sports, the cultural and social activities developed by clubs and their conception as ‘patriotic’ or moral institutions.10 The latter presented them as spaces for building sensible and decent citizens, providing a sort of ideological ‘support’ for this two-way relation between clubs and public authorities. Another aspect of this relation is urbanistic as clubs assumed the obligation to keep public places granted to them in good condition.11 In this sense, clubs functioned as citizenship building as much as city building.
As already indicated, many of these features have remained in place for 100 years, and can be seen in contemporary debates over clubs and their links to public authorities and the political class. These early twentieth century debates and values are supported by the ideological beliefs of the time, although they are not necessarily coherent when the different actors’ daily practice is taken into consideration. The understanding of clubs from a ‘social’ perspective, and therefore as recipients of public benefits, was in line both with their place in the promotion of football as spectacle and with their institutional growth. Football executives asserted the public role of clubs as an opportunity to take responsibility for the existence of real or apparent deficiencies in public policies, which would be ‘sorted out’ by clubs’ activities. This study therefore analyses these claims and actions at key stages in the twentieth century, highlighting that they grew and developed from the needs and wishes of clubs and their strategies to meet them. Furthermore, this social role is placed within the ‘context of the times’ to which clubs attempted to successfully adjust despite contradictions and conflicts. The clubs’ permanence as an organisational model is essential to this case.
The Buenos Aries football clubs are characterised by freedom of association and low membership fees along with, in organisational terms, democratic and plural executive bodies, auditing bodies, a mass membership who granted or denied legal and political concessions and by laws ruling the life of the institution. However, this model was not exempt of conflicts and contradictions. The logic of football, built upon the idea of winning at all cost, opened the door to a world of disputes between clubs and within them. There were multiple occasions on which the social world was confronted with football itself: players against executives, executives from one club against executives from another, executives from one club against each other and likewise between groups of members of the same club. This can be seen in the clubs’ political life and their institutional problems, many times aired in the media but scarcely reflected in clubs’ internal documents, such as the minutes of the executive board or business meetings, which make only minimal reference to this controversial world.
The prerequisite for and rationale behind this process, driven by young people’s desire to play football competitively, was the creation of clubs under a participatory model. This model emphasised horizontality and equality, which increasingly characterised Argentine social life in the first decades of the twentieth century, as well as democracy and pluralism. Regardless of the changes throughout the century, this model of clubs still remains in place. Founding a club required the appointment of authorities (who initially served as players, members and executives all at the same time) to run the clubs’ daily operations and setting up facilities to play. Since those early years, Argentine football has structured its clubs as non-profit civil institutions the ‘owners’
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Mos
kow
Sta
te U
niv
Bib
liote
] at
04:
09 1
1 Fe
brua
ry 2
014
1674 J. Frydenberg et al.
(i.e. their members) of which have an active participation in the clubs’ sporting, social, cultural and political life.
The potentiality of football as spectacle cannot be analysed without understanding the fundamental role that clubs play as a component of a community’s social capital. Clubs are community institutions rooted in neighbourhoods and connected to the local and national political spheres; they are spaces with multiple internal forms of sociability. Different points converge in relation to this topic, such as the growth of members, in both quantitative and qualitative terms, coupled with the existence of diverse conflicts involving different ideals and interests. These conflicts are not surprising as there are indications that there were heterogeneous groups within each club. Some of these conflicts were observed when members and executives requested contributions from wealthy or popular neighbours, to whom they resorted merely for personal or political need or interest. On many occasions, these wealthy or popular neighbours gained power in the clubs mainly due to their economic or social standing and not to their voluntary work in them.
These formal and social-contextual factors mean that clubs are both part of and give rise to multiple forms of ‘sociability’, characterised by formal and informal sociability, the dynamics of day-to-day life of institutions and of those who bring them to life and the social and cultural relations emerging in and from this context.12 In academic analyses in Argentina, works on sociability are scarce and almost non-existent when considering sporting, social and cultural clubs.13 An analysis of Club Atletico River Plate during its first years shows that at the very beginning of its existence, there were three interrelated logics at the core of the institution: first, practicing football as an initial and fundamental desire of the first registered members, second, the need for financial security and balance, which would also indicate the club’s increasing prosperity and third, the existence of a meeting place to forge bonds among members, between members and the community and with members of other similar institutions.14 From 1909 up to 1923, the activities of River Plate members grew in both quantity and variety. There were charitable actions for the benefit of other sporting and non-sporting institutions: for instance, the field was lent to schools from La Boca neighbourhood; different sporting, social and cultural activities apart from football were developed, and good will relations were forged with other clubs and social institutions of the neighbourhood, without forgetting diverse political contacts. With regard to this question of politics, it is worth mentioning, for example, that in 1913 Antonio Zolezzi, then president of River Plate, was also the president of the Concejo Deliberante (City Council) of Buenos Aires, and was committed to obtain subsidies for clubs, including River Plate and Club Atletico Boca Juniors.15
This initial model, successful in terms of its clear persistence and continuity, has advanced in the midst of disputes and conflicts. Some of those disputes and conflicts had a long history of ebb and flow, whereas others emerged as a result of the changing social and cultural dynamics. In general, there were several issues at stake: links with different political levels, clubs’ direction and management styles, members’ participation, debates between civil associations and businesses and the peculiarities of clubs as multi-sport, social and cultural institutions. Throughout the twentieth century, despite business, commercial, social and political change, clubs have remained in legal terms non-profit civil associations as well as spaces gathering several sporting, cultural and social activities. They therefore encapsulate many cultures and subcultures including different sets of values and identities, a common history and customs and an institutional practice based on sociability, all of which have their respective ‘advantages’ and ‘disadvantages’.16 It is this model of clubs that frames the relations between members, executives and employees; their formal and informal
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Mos
kow
Sta
te U
niv
Bib
liote
] at
04:
09 1
1 Fe
brua
ry 2
014
The International Journal of the History of Sport 1675
functions and rules; the clubs’ links with the social and political world and the clubs’ capacity to ‘adapt’ to this world in order to obtain benefits or to avoid uncomfortable situations.17
In turn, within clubs, there were continuities and ruptures related to the different disputes and political alliances around executives, the clubs’ myths of origin and the paradigm that governs or might govern a club. It is within clubs where different issues such as their defining values, the accepted social behaviours and the construction of the clubs’ memory and meaning were contested.18 This is quite visible in Argentina due to the importance and the role that football exerts both within clubs and in the national culture. As we shall see, the conflicts within clubs brought about changes in terms of their priorities: clubs that favoured professional football changed this line of action and started to put a great deal of effort in other activities. Alternatively, some clubs that were characterised by a multi-sports approach changed across time, keeping the same level of interest in both professional football and other sports.19 These changes, or amendments, to the clubs’ prevailing organisational paradigm were the result of the political rise of a particular faction within the clubs, which through their new power were able to impose its vision to the clubs’ structure.
Football, the Neighbourhood and the Consolidation of a Model in the 1920s and 1930s
City development in the early twentieth century saw the transformation of established neighbourhoods and less-developed spaces into urbanised areas with many new neighbourhoods established by the 1920s. These new urban spaces were distant from the centre of the city and widened urban space. The emergence of new neighbourhoods brought about the creation and consolidation of new local public spaces which helped to bring about the growth of new associations (social promotion institutions, public libraries and clubs), new social actors (socially homogeneous neighbourhoods), new scenarios (the street, the corner and the bar) and new forms of socialisation.
The neighbourhoods arising out of the occupation of fallow lands were accompanied by a new symbolic construction and embodied a new identity. During those years, football took a new social role: it went from being a fashionable activity for young people to become a completely institutionalised practice. During the 1910s, football’s institutional and organisational forms changed remarkably. To begin with, in 1912 the official league split in two groups, and both of them departed from British domination. Moreover, many popular clubs were accepted by these leagues.20 At the same time, and from then on, football reached almost all social institutions and corporations, from the military to the Church, private companies, trade unions and political parties, which organised internal competitions. Clubs started to have more members, and more people attended football matches.
The phenomenon of football was crucial in the creation of local identities. It is important to keep in mind that neighbourhoods in Buenos Aires are basically symbolic constructions, with almost nothing to differentiate them in geographical terms. Conceiving football as a ritual paved the way for the consolidation of local identities. In this sense, the spectacle of football would be regarded as a ritualised event, one that was strange, modern and profane.21
A joint analysis of football, the city of Buenos Aires and its neighbourhoods has to be carried out to fully understand how and why specific local identities came into being. The emergence of new public spaces, the development of the football ritual and the creation of local identities leading to more general neighbourhood awareness were part of a unique process, the main features of which took shape in 10 years from the mid-1920s to the
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Mos
kow
Sta
te U
niv
Bib
liote
] at
04:
09 1
1 Fe
brua
ry 2
014
1676 J. Frydenberg et al.
mid-1930s. If the focus is on the material conditions which structured football as spectacle, the first factor is the large stadiums where games were hosted and where a wide network of links between clubs and the State was established. Many stadiums were built as the city grew, namely Club Sportivo Barracas in 1920, Club Atletico Atlanta in 1922, Club Atletico San Lorenzo de Almagro in 1929, River Plate, first in 1923 and then in 1938, and Asociacion Atletica Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors and Club Atletico Nueva Chicago during the 1940s, when the search for city places to build stadiums came to an end. At the same time, although for different reasons, another phenomenon occurred: the widespread creation of clubs which, by the 1920s, was linked not only to the limits imposed by urbanisation but also to the commercial limits imposed by the emergence of professionalism. Many clubs completely disappeared while some others were ‘ejected’ from the city and ended up building their stadiums outside its borders, such as Club Almagro, Club Atletico San Telmo, Club Atletico Colegiales and Club Atletico Chacarita Juniors.
The local identities born out of football, which supported the genesis of neighbourhoods, were based on imagined differences with the ‘other’, in particular neighbours. Football and clubs became part of a process of identity formation, in which other social practices, such as theatre,22 music and journalism, also participated. However, in the case of football, rivalries played a substantial part and clubs performed a decisive role as civil and community associations, which not only channelled football passion and the formal organisation of spectacle but also became part of the community social network. Essentially democratic, egalitarian, independent of third parties and supported by the volunteering work of their members and executives, clubs started to develop a ‘club culture’ with its own general and specific features, evenwith ‘subcultures’within each of them, andwith a socialising influence that could be seen in the number and quality of sporting, social and cultural activities developed beyond football. Clubs became nodes for the crystallisation of symbolic identities, and football played a central position in this regard. The clubs’ rivalrywithin neighbourhoods to become their sole representative and also the clubs’ rivalry between neighbourhoods centred all football disputes on a symbolic construction of urban space that had at the same time an institutional connotation. Clubs became the formal and institutional spaces where those rivalry-based claims manifested themselves, which was most visible in stadiums.
During the 1920s, some of these institutions already had thousands of members and offered multiple activities. Most clubs would increase their scope of sport activities inspired by a multi-sport paradigm, despite the fact that, as already mentioned, some of them abandoned football competitions but were still active on several other activities and initiatives.23 Although the development of football as spectacle turned into an industry in which some clubs became more powerful and larger than others, in particular those referred to as the ‘the big five’,24 most clubs were able to increase the number of members through ‘member registration’ campaigns. In addition to income derived from football events, clubs were able to raise their capital through their members’ monthly fees and the donations received. This gave shape to a specific form of socialisation, which was congruent with and consolidated the symbols and the stories clubs told about themselves as well as the myths and celebrations concerning their history. During the 1920s and 1930s, many clubs continued adding new sport and social activities. Different sports were gradually incorporated, which eventually became affiliated with their national governing bodies,25 allowing the clubs to generate larger federative connections, along with hobbies, training on manual jobs, the organisation of cultural events, such as conferences and lectures, the creation of libraries and headquarters and other social, cultural and economic activities. This process was not free of conflicts within clubs. The predominant rationale was still football, but there were specific cases in which an institutional split occurred, as
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Mos
kow
Sta
te U
niv
Bib
liote
] at
04:
09 1
1 Fe
brua
ry 2
014
The International Journal of the History of Sport 1677
each club’s model of itself as an institution as well as the use of its funds was at stake. For example, a major dispute occurred in Club Atletico Velez Sarsfield26 in the early 1930s with regard to the building of its headquarters, which turned into an intense debate about the nature of the club. At issue was whether Velez Sarsfield would be a ‘social club’ or a ‘football club’. Tipping the balance in either direction would affect decisions on topics such as creating a new category of members, building sport facilities, modifying the payment of members’ fees in accordance to their use of such facilities or financially supporting the football team and the stadium. All these situations led to formal and informal discussions and confrontations when debating the model applicable to the club. Many other clubs were founded and continued to work beyond the practice of football. While ‘football clubs’ could be characterised in accordance to their strength in terms of their history, their sporting triumphs and the relative importance of football, other clubs started to be known as ‘neighbourhood clubs’.
Irrespective of whether their foundation had been inspired by playing football, these clubs adopted the voluntary association model to develop sporting, social and cultural activities, therefore stressing their ‘citizenship building’ function under specific values deemed as positive, to which sports and clubs undoubtedly contributed. Many clubs were founded during this period, such as the Club Social y Deportivo Juventus (1932), which promoted sports, friendship and social activities,27 and Club Social y Deportivo Nobel (1931), which offered different activities to the Caballito and Flores neighbourhoods.28
These clubs fostered physical culture and also organised dances and carnival celebrations. Simultaneously, they defined themselves, and the majority of the sports media agreed, as the ‘true’ custodians of the amateur spirit, of the game for the game itself, of the defenders of ‘small’ institutions’ humility and of the common good as an untouchable principle.29
The issue of clubs taking care of functions supposedly neglected by public policies was specifically highlighted in this context, as neighbourhood clubs, through their executives and other local associations, assumed the responsibility of working for the society, in particular for children and young people who found in clubs and in their activities a way to move away from street dangers and bad life habits. Most of these clubs diversified their activities, such as the Club Saavedra, which had 200 members, a public library, a bocce court and a small theatre and organised family trips, but which asked permission to the Concejo Deliberante of Buenos Aires for using basketball courts in Saavedra Park, committing itself to installing electricity in it in order to play games at night.30
The 1940s and 1950s: The ‘Happy’ Years
The identity making and sociability aspects of the relation between football and the city started to take form during the 1920s and the 1930s, but the building of football as a ritualistic spectacle was completed by the 1940s together with the development of a new public space in another urban development stage. This emerging matrix was linked to the new political role that the working class had in the country and with the diverse aspects of its culture as well as to the development of an urban culture in new public spaces, to the influence of print media and the radio and to the role of young people in the male street socialisation. The ‘natural’ principle which linked the club with a local identity and the location of a stadium in the neighbourhood should also be included in this matrix. In this scenario, from the mid-1930s on, the country experienced significant changes which were clearly emphasised during the years in which peronismo was in power (1946–1955).31
Those years were characterised by a greater and more active presence of the State, internal migration towards large cities and the emergence of villas miserias (shanty towns) in
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Mos
kow
Sta
te U
niv
Bib
liote
] at
04:
09 1
1 Fe
brua
ry 2
014
1678 J. Frydenberg et al.
Buenos Aires. All these changes were accompanied by a rise in the standard of living of the working class and great material and cultural changes related to the inclusion of new groups in the consumption of mass-produced cultural goods.32
Football during the Peronist years was structured on its already existing status as spectacle. Some stadiums had already been built and some others were built with government support, although this was not limited to the Peronist decade. However, football had an uneasy and contradictory relationship with the State, as Peronism could not completely exert power on it. The clearest example was the players’ strike in 1948, a conflict which the government was unable to settle as it would have wished to. This dispute placed club executives and football players in a bitter confrontation and the State could do very little to solve it. Furthermore, football spectators remained as politically diverse and changing as always. In any case, public policies were aimed at calming down the fragmentation typical of football (neighbourhood rivalry, violence, etc.). During the so-called ‘happy years’, the number of tickets sold broke records, reaching an average of 12,000 tickets per match. This increasing interest in football was also supported by the media: by 1947, 82% of Argentine households had a radio. The Peronist decade also led to the incorporation of cultural goods into mass consumption: electric appliances, self-owned houses, paid vacations, non-working Saturdays and leisure activities such as attendance at the cinema and football matches.
The existence of strong links between many football clubs and the State became obvious, as a result of the increasing participation of the State in sports and the ability of club executives to adjust and adapt to different political times and governments in office, which allowed them to claim and on many occasions enjoy different kinds of benefits for their institutions. Even more, some clubs changed their name or chose the denomination of Juan D. Peron or Eva Peron. In some other cases, and as had already happened in the past with other governments, the Perons played an active role in different events and football matches organised in clubs.33 These shifting political, social and economic aspects of clubs can be illustrated by the celebration of the Physical Education Day, where clubs presented themselves as linked to the State and sports in the task of developing ‘healthier’ and more patriotic citizens. In 1944, before Peron took office, the then Argentine de facto president, General Edelmiro Farrell, attended the celebration of such day in the River Plate stadium to award prizes.34
The relationship between club executives and the political realm existed as the earliest club formation manifested itself through different links and moved in diverse directions. On the one hand, clubs ‘made use’ of political relations to obtain benefits but, on the other hand, the complex neighbourhood framework of the first decades of the century showed that neighbourhood and political party leaders, most of whom belonged to the Union Cıvica Radical (Radical Party) and its neighbourhood headquarters, became involved in clubs, commingling local and national politics.35 No matter if it were for gaining personal recognition ‘outside’ of the neighbourhood and political circles or for fostering bonds with the clubs’ community in order to benefit in elections, the political realm ‘worked’ on the neighbourhoods where clubs were located. These linkages between institutions and the broader political activities were not restricted to neighbourhoods, parishes or municipalities. In institutional terms, the Asociacion del Futbol Argentino (Argentine Football Association) also had deep and unstable relations with the different political authorities giving rise to institutional fluctuations, including government interventions in the association, the joint organisation of sports events such as the 1978 World Cup and so on.36
The case of Velez Sarsfield shows how the Peronist decade was a time during which it could continue with its territorial and institutional expansion. This was a clear sign of its
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Mos
kow
Sta
te U
niv
Bib
liote
] at
04:
09 1
1 Fe
brua
ry 2
014
The International Journal of the History of Sport 1679
executives’ ability to adapt to different political times and spaces. In 1947, due to governmental support, Ramon A. Cereijo, then minister of finance, laid the new stadium’s ceremonial first brick. It should be highlighted that in 1945, through personal relations with certain managers of Ferrocarril Oeste (Western Railway) and the monetary donations received from its members, the club acquired an 11,000 square metre plot, and was also granted another one.37 The same year, Club Ferro Carril Oeste, a smaller club than Velez Sarsfield, was already affiliated to 12 sport federations, had 18 subcommittees to organise the activities for its 5398 members, had a library with 1903 books, was expanding its infrastructure and celebrated its 41st anniversary with a big lunch show during which medals were awarded to the club’s oldest members.38 Also in 1945, Boca Juniors acquired two new buildings.39 In 1952, San Lorenzo, after the death of Eva Peron, called for an extraordinary executive committee session and decided to pay tribute to her in different ways, including formal notes, the mounting of two altars, the arrangement of a civic funeral and the distribution of her book La razon de mi vida (The Reason for my Life) among the club’s personnel.40 The club was affiliated to 21 sport federations, had 38,053 members, had a cultural department to organise diverse activities, for example aeromodelling, philately and theatre courses, and reached out to the neighbourhood. It also developed a great number of sport activities, an extension of previous tendencies. For instance, in 1952 San Lorenzo won the male and female Argentine athletics championships, and the team coach was later appointed to coach the national athletics delegation to the Helsinki Olympics that same year. Three of the clubs’ athletes, among them the marathoner Delfo Cabrera, travelled to Helsinki.41
In 1956, River Plate and Boca Juniors had 66,973 and 44,097 members, respectively. That year, River Plate won the professional football tournament and Boca Juniors finished in the third position. At the same time, they developed a great number of sporting, social and cultural activities. River Plate offered piano, drawing, stenography, decorative art, handicrafts, music, drama and dancing courses, among others. It also held dancing parties, incorporated books to its library and was in contact with the National Committee for the Protection of Popular Libraries, a public institution.42 Boca Juniors walked in the same path. It was able to pay off its headquarters in La Boca neighbourhood, where a public library and a music conservatory were set up, and courses on dressmaking, drama, speech therapy, applied psychology and artistic gymnastics were offered. It also organised musical concerts in its headquarters and dances in the stadium. Also in 1956, the club promoted acts of charity, such as the donation of an iron lung to the Hospital Cosme Argerich, located in La Boca neighbourhood, loaned its stadium to public welfare institutions, and club executives and players were invited by the San Juan Evangelista Church to the Hospital de Ninos, where they visited patients and gave them toys.43
At this point, it is necessary to highlight an issue intimately related to the modus operandi of the clubs’ executives. The 1950s and 1960s constituted a period characterised by the clear emergence of a kind of actor with a specific style of political action. Although due to the clubs’ genesis, their growth and destiny were deeply linked to the will, energy, vulnerability and strength of volunteers and members (in this sense, given their leadership abilities, the emergence of ‘notable’ members could be seen as predictable), a new type of leadership emerged during this period. Essentially charismatic and self-centred, the new executives were considered leaders and ‘men of action’ when it came to obtain benefits for their clubs, either at the institutional or at the sporting level. Alberto J.Armando inBoca Juniors, Antonio Liberti in River Plate, Jose Amalfitani in Velez Sarsfield, Leon Kolbowsky44 in Atlanta and many others can be considered within this new category of leaders, who possesses controversial connotations. In spite of their institutional achievements and political triumphs,
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Mos
kow
Sta
te U
niv
Bib
liote
] at
04:
09 1
1 Fe
brua
ry 2
014
1680 J. Frydenberg et al.
the legacy of these executives also includes incomplete projects, economic crises provoked by their own actions and accusations of corruption. Although it is known that these issues were commonly denounced within the framework of club politics – the existence of bribes or personal favours, the lack of compliance with institutional rules or the political deals developed beyond formal structures – this charismatic and self-centred kind of executive arrived during a vital period in which the clubs expanded and achieved sporting success, which might have legitimised their actions.
Crisis and Recovery: From the 1970s to the End of the Dictatorship
Between 1955 and 1965, as a result of changes in the country and the clubs themselves, such as the exodus of many football stars, the number of tickets sold decreased by 25%. Just before the fall of Peronism, Argentine football started experiencing difficulties, the symptoms of which were clear enough. In addition to the decrease in tickets sold, organised forms of violence and an identity crisis in the football playing style also arose, but these aspects could be played down when it is considered that, as noted elsewhere,45
and as far as clubs are concerned, the number of their members continued increasing. The world of football started to split: new small clubs emerged out of immigrant communities (i.e. Armenian, Paraguayan, Italian and Spanish), a phenomenon which was in many cases linked to wealthy businessmen and smaller groups of fans. A future research agenda on the clubs should include qualitative and quantitative data at least on the clubs’ members; sporting, cultural and social activities; financial arrangements; infrastructural development and spatial moves in their cities over time. These data should provide the ground for a better understanding of how the social, temporal and spatial dimensions unfolded in the process of club development.
After the mid-1960s, the spectacle of football started to recover through the restructuring of competition in two tournaments: The Metropolitan Tournament (with traditional teams from Buenos Aires, La Plata, Rosario and Santa Fe) and the National Tournament (which, for the first time, included provincial teams away from the large cities). By excessively multiplying the number of matches, the new structure boosted ticket sales. Indeed, between 1965 and 1975, there was a 70% increase in comparison with the previous decade but the percentage of tickets sold per match was still low. Whether as a consequence of its presence in the media or because of its popularity among men, football maintained its significance and continued to be present in most people’s day-to-day life. It is likely that this residual link enabled football to recover its previous strength.46
Moreover, the relation between the clubs and the State, in particular with regard to football stadiums, evolved in accordance to the general political trends. Between the 1930s and 1950s, in many cases building stadiums had been possible only because of government credits and loans; not surprisingly, the ‘big five’ built their stadiums during that time. However, this trend was reversed during the 1970s, when national and municipal authorities became reluctant to help clubs undergoing economic crises. For example, Club Atletico Platense lost its stadium due to the lack of governmental flexibility to condone club debts. The same happened to San Lorenzo, which lost its stadium due to a municipal planning decision that appeared to allow a street to be built across the area where the stadium was located. However, since 1960, San Lorenzo was attempting to build a new stadium, as the former stadium was very old. In this regard, the Concejo Deliberante had issued a decree granting the club 32 hectares in the southwest of the city to build an ‘Olympic Village’. San Lorenzo executives expected to finance the purchase of the land through the sale of other club properties (including the old stadium), and through other
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Mos
kow
Sta
te U
niv
Bib
liote
] at
04:
09 1
1 Fe
brua
ry 2
014
The International Journal of the History of Sport 1681
mechanisms, such as the sale of both preferential season tickets and ‘for life’ preferential seats.47 In 1960, the club had 39,540 members and its balance sheet recorded a moderate surplus. It should be noted that in 1951 San Lorenzo had 39,697 members, which means that between that year and 1960, the number of members remained stable.
In contrast, by 1960, Boca Juniors had 43,513 members, that is, fewer than in previous years.48 This club also had a balance sheet surplus, albeit more robust than that of San Lorenzo. Club authorities claimed that they were able to overcome the previous year’s deficit49 through the success of two series of raffles. Its executives were also attempting to build a larger new stadium and to enlarge the space where different sports were practised so as to create an infrastructure that would be more appropriate for its members. Here, there are again hints of the relation between club executives and national political authorities, as the club’s annual report provides exhaustive details on the initiative of a group of national deputies who, taking into consideration the stadium building plans, submitted a bill to renew the public property known as Casa Amarilla, adjacent to the club. The bill provided for the construction of houses, a hospital and a cultural centre, and also provided for the transfer of part of the property to Boca Juniors in order to build the new stadium with a minimum capacity of 120,000 spectators as well as new headquarters and sporting and cultural facilities, a portion of which should be available for public use.50
At this time, an old issue reappeared in the history of Boca Juniors. In 1937, the club, as President Camilo Cichero stated, thought that it was ‘less developed’ in comparison with other clubs. This problem was partially eased through the building of the stadium and other sports facilities as well as a playground for children, all of which would ‘allow many children to escape the dangers of the streets and would enable a great number of members to stop being mere spectators and start practising sports actively’.51 However, in the 1960s, Boca Juniors was once again incapable of building a projected large sports centre to be located by the Rıo de la Plata.
The last military dictatorship, the self-proclaimed National Reorganization Process, lasted from 1976 to 1983, and was characterised by a lack of basic individual freedoms, repression, State terrorism and the elimination of all kinds of citizens’ participation and democracy. However, during this time, there were few changes to the institutional life of clubs, where authorities continued being appointed democratically, in contrast to all other spheres of social and political organisation. Simultaneously, in line with the historical relation of clubs with political authorities already described, many of the club executives were linked to the different levels of the military power structure, either due to the clubs’ needs or as a result of conditions imposed by the country’s de facto government.52 For instance, the hosting of the 1978 World Cup allowed the military to meddle in some clubs such as River Plate, Velez Sarsfield and Club Atletico Rosario Central. These clubs’ stadiums as well as other facilities were upgraded for the tournament. In the case of River Plate, military men, such as General Omar Actis who was a member of the club and served as the first president of the 1978 World Cup Organizing Committee, actively participated in the process by which the club’s facilities were renovated.
Conclusions
We would like to briefly point out that during the 1990s, the clubs’ legal status as non-profit civil associations and their management style was questioned. This was, to a great extent, a consequence of the emergence of new political actors and networks as well as the preeminence of neoliberal ideas.However, over the past years, this questioning slowed down and at the same time the clubs witnessed a greater political participation by their members, which
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Mos
kow
Sta
te U
niv
Bib
liote
] at
04:
09 1
1 Fe
brua
ry 2
014
1682 J. Frydenberg et al.
might be due to changes in society, to changes in the political realm or to the convergence of both factors. The truth is that, as time went by and despite strong social and cultural changes, football and its institutions proved to be amazingly flexible and able to adjust to different circumstances in order to overcome its own difficulties or to survive the country’s general crises. Whether it is a residual phenomenon or not, it cannot be denied that football is still a key factor in identity formation. Football, which in the first decades of the twentieth century had become a special kind of spectacle based on the model of non-profit civil associations and the support of spectators, was also part and parcel of new forms of socialisation. The urban space offered new landscapes; the city grew and its streets became part of the public space, where the youth socialised in coffee shops and bars talking about football matches. This was amale universe structured around the life of the neighbourhood in which football was a recurring theme and victories were seen as equivalent to defending the honour of a specific space: the block, the street corner or the neighbourhood. To be the most representative club of the neighbourhood or to represent the neighbourhood against other neighbourhoods became a pillar of sporting rivalries. At the core of these rivalries were clubs, which produced and reproduced the sporting, social and communal life of the neighbourhoods.
As we have said, there is a need for a research agenda to study more systematically the process of club development. This research agenda should also implement comparative methodologies to illuminate similarities and differenceswith the process of club development in other SouthAmerican countries.53 In this regard,we argued as a hypothesis to be confirmed that in Argentina clubs have remained being institutions of great sporting, social and communal potentiality and that, in this regard, the model of non-profit civil associations managed in accordance with the interests and welfare of their members who are regarded as the clubs’ ‘owners’ with rights and duties is still in force. This, we maintain, happened in the midst of conflicts and crises involving multiple debates, sometimes related to ideology, some others to power struggles and yet others to the characteristics that clubs should have. On occasion, these debates involved all these variables. The clubs’ self-definition as democratic institutions involves contradiction and ambivalence, due to the existence of self-centred and autocratic management models and due to the limited generational turnover of executives.54 Power disputes and conflicts within the clubs are many times related not only to power itself but also to the executives’ lack of managerial capacity when in office. More broadly, we can find links of mutual convenience and necessity between clubs, the State and the political class in which considerable tension is not uncommon.
On the other hand, it cannot be denied that despite discussions and debates on their legal and ideological model, evidenced in the clubs’ status of non-profit civil associations and the conflicts existing within them, this model has enabled, with all its twists and turns, the development of a strong sociability within clubs, based on a twofold dimension: the emotional identification with football and the social, cultural and sporting profile of their activities. The logic inspiring the clubs’ structure is somewhat contrary to a capitalist rationale, as it enables and at the same time ‘forces’ the clubs to reinvest their income in whatever manner they consider appropriate. As clubs are frequently influenced by multiple interests, including those of football as a professional and commercial activity, these decisions illuminate the strengths and weaknesses of their volunteers and executives.
Notes on Contributors Julio Frydenberg has a PhD in history from the Universidad de Buenos Aires. He founded and directs the Centro de Estudios del Deporte (Universidad Nacional de General San Martın). He teaches at the
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Mos
kow
Sta
te U
niv
Bib
liote
] at
04:
09 1
1 Fe
brua
ry 2
014
The International Journal of the History of Sport 1683
Universidad Nacional de General San Martın and Universidad Nacional de La Plata. He has published numerous works and his research explores the social history of Argentine football.
Rodrigo Daskal has a degree in sociology from the Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires. He is a researcher at the Centro de Estudios del Deporte (Universidad Nacional de General San Martın) and teaches at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata and at the Universidad Nacional de Avellaneda. His research interests involve the development of clubs as well as football fans and their political practices.
Cesar R. Torres is Professor in the Department of Kinesiology, Sport Studies, and Physical Education at The College at Brockport, State University of New York. He is a former president of the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport and a fellow in the National Academy of Kinesiology.
Notes 1. In this study, Buenos Aires refers only to the city of said name, not to its metropolitan area or
the province that bears the same name. If the stadiums located in Buenos Aires and its metropolitan area are considered, that number increases to almost 50.
2. Reyna, Cuando eramos footballers. 3. Iwanzuk, Historia del futbol amateur en la Argentina; Raffo, El origen britanico de deporte
argentino and Escobar Bavio, Historia de futbol en el Rıo de la Plata. 4. In his book Masculinities, Archetti explores the meaning of criollo and its relation to sport. 5. Daskal, “Clubes, deporte y polıtica.” 6. For a general analysis on this process, see Frydenberg, Historia social del futbol. ‘Popular
sectors’ (sectores populares) is a common term in Argentina. According to O’Donnell, it refers to ‘the ensemble formed by the working class and the unionised segments of the middle sectors’. See his book Bureaucratic Authoritarianism, 23.
7. See Frydenberg, Historia social del futbol. 8. Ibid., 91–105. 9. See note 5 above. 10. In “Ideas encontradas,” Torres discusses how these ideas were constructed in Argentina. 11. See note 5 above. 12. Agulhon, El cırculo burgues. Agulhon’s works are a vital reference to discuss this issue,
especially from the 1880s onwards. He develops an extended concept of sociability, which understands history also as the day-to-day actions, even the most insignificant and/or habitual activities, because they also contribute to the field of politics and citizenship which, in turn, depend on them. These include the bar, the club, the secret associations and their relations with politics and culture. Agulhon explains the history of associational life in France, where clubs (which, in principle, were politically Jacobin), by the 1830s, presented a continuous development, mirroring the English society, and increased in number. Prior to the existence of clubs, social life was mainly present in bars and coffee shops of different types.
13. See Gonzalez Bernardo de Quiros, Civilidad y polıtica. See also Gayol, Sociabilidad en Buenos Aires, Hombres, Honor y Cafes and Gutierrez and Romero, Sectores populares, cultura y polıtica.
14. Daskal and Gruschetsky, “Clubes de futbol.” 15. See note 5 above. 16. Heinemann, “Aspectos sociologicos de las organizaciones deportivas.” 17. For an example, see Gruschetsky, “Actores sociales en torno a la construccion.” 18. Porro, “El asociacionismo deportivo como modelo organizativo.” 19. In the early 1990s, the access of a group of members from Velez Sarsfield to its government led
to the prioritisation, proposed and achieved by the institution itself and thanks to the interests of such group, of the sports achievements of the professional football team in a club that was mainly identified by the number and quality of its social, sporting and cultural activities.
20. In 1913, Racing Club was the first creole club to win an official league. Later, the clubs with English origins withdrew from such league. See Iwanzuk, Historia del futbol amateur en la Argentina.
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Mos
kow
Sta
te U
niv
Bib
liote
] at
04:
09 1
1 Fe
brua
ry 2
014
1684 J. Frydenberg et al.
21. See Bromberger, “Las multitudes deportivas.” 22. See Gonzalez Velasco, Gente de teatro. 23. See note 7 above. 24. Boca Juniors, River Plate, San Lorenzo, Club Atletico Independiente, and Racing Club. 25. For instance, with the Federacion Argentina de Basquet (Argentine Basketball Federation),
Federacion Atletica Argentina (Argentine Athletics Federation), among others. 26. Frydenberg, Historia social del futbol, 170. In addition to the Velez Sarsfield case, where a
serious institutional and political crisis arose, there were problems in many other clubs, such as Independiente and Club Ferro Carril Oeste.
27. La Cancha (Buenos Aires), 211, June 18, 1932. 28. La Cancha (Buenos Aires), 212, August 20, 1932. 29. See Daskal, Los clubes en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (1932–1945). 30. La Cancha (Buenos Aires), 443, November 21, 1936. 31. Peronism refers to the political movement that supported the regime of Juan D. Peron.
The body of literature on Peron and his decade in power is massive. Ben Plotkin has included an introductory and useful selected bibliography at the end of his book Manana es San Peron. Descriptions of Peron’s sport policies are found in Alabarces, Futbol y patria; Senen Gonzalez, “Peron y el deporte;” Fernandez Moores, Breve historia del deporte argentino; Rein “‘El Primer Deportista’;” and Scher, Blanco, and Busico, Deporte nacional.
32. See, for example, Elena, Dignifying Argentina and Milanesio, Workers Go Shopping in Argentina.
33. Former Argentine president Agustın P. Justo (1932–1938) had strong ties with clubs. He contributed to the construction of stadiums and frequently attended matches as the president and also as a Boca Juniors fan.
34. La Cancha (Buenos Aires), 858, November 1, 1944. 35. For introductions to the history of the Radical Party, see Rock, Politics in Argentina, 1890–
1930 and Del Mazo, El radicalismo. Descriptions of sport policies under the radical governments are found in Fernandez Moores, Breve historia del deporte argentino and Scher, Blanco, and Busico, Deporte nacional.
36. See Scher and Palomino, Futbol: pasion de multitudes y de elites. 37. Gruschetsky, “Actores sociales en torno a la construccion.” 38. Memoria y Balance del Club Ferro Carril Oeste del 418 Ejercicio Administrativo. Buenos
Aires: n.p., 1945. 39. La Cancha (Buenos Aires), 902, October 5, 1945. 40. Similar decisions were taken by several institutions. 41. Club Atletico San Lorenzo de Almagro, Memoria y Balance 1952. Buenos Aires: n.p., 1952. 42. Club Atletico River Plate, Memoria y Balance 1956. Buenos Aires: n.p., 1956. 43. Club Atletico Boca Juniors, Memoria y Balance 1956, 528 Ejercicio Administrativo. Buenos
Aires: n.p., 1956. 44. Many of them, who had different political views and executive histories, ended their political
life in the clubs. For instance, Kolbowsky was identified not only as a member of the Jewish community but also as an advocate of communism. See Rein, Los Bohemios de Villa Crespo.
45. Frydenberg et al., “Evolucion de la masa societaria.” This research project is at the moment collecting data on the changes over the last 100 years in the membership of several Argentine football clubs.
46. It is worth noting that even in the worst times of this period, football was still considered a sport which provided meaning and values to many people, mainly men, in Buenos Aires.
47. Club Atletico San Lorenzo de Almagro, Memoria y Balance 1960. Buenos Aires: n.p., 1960. This ambivalence of search for and loss of a stadium refers not only to the changing relations with the State but also to the actual and symbolic importance of the ‘own stadium’ for clubs.
48. Club Atletico Boca Juniors, Memoria y Balance 1960, 568 Ejercicio Administrativo. Buenos Aires: n.p., 1960.
49. The common accusation to previous executives of their bad economic and financial administration was another example of the existence of rival groups within clubs, which still persists in present times.
50. Club Atletico Boca Juniors, Memoria y Balance 1960, 568 Ejercicio Administrativo. 51. La Cancha (Buenos Aires), 778, May 4, 1943.
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Mos
kow
Sta
te U
niv
Bib
liote
] at
04:
09 1
1 Fe
brua
ry 2
014
The International Journal of the History of Sport 1685
52. There are several publicly known cases such as General Guillermo Suarez Mason in Argentinos Juniors and Vice Admiral Carlos Lacoste and General Omar Actis in River Plate.
53. See, for example, Elsey, Citizens & Sportsmen. 54. The main executive of the Asociacion del Futbol Argentino, Julio Grondona, has been its
president for over 30 years. From a certain point of view, the highest sporting and institutional achievements were obtained during his administration.
References Agulhon, Maurice. El cırculo burgues. La sociabilidad en Francia, 1810–1848. Buenos Aires: Siglo
Veintiuno Editores, 2009. Alabarces, Pablo. Futbol y patria. El futbol y las narrativas de la nacion en Argentina. Buenos Aires:
Prometeo, 2002. Archetti, Eduardo. Masculinities: Football, Polo and the Tango in Argentina. London: Berg, 1999. Ben Plotkin, Mariano. Manana es San Peron. A Cultural History of Peron’s Argentina. Translated
by Keith Zahniser. Wilmington, DE: SR Books, 2003. Bromberger, Christian. “Las multitudes deportivas: analogıas entre rituales deportivos y religiosos.”
Lecturas: Educacion Fısica y Deportes. Revista Digital 6, no. 29 (2001). http://www.efdeportes. com/efd29/ritual.htm
Daskal, Rodrigo, and Mariano Gruschetsky. “Clubes de futbol: su dimension social. El caso del Club Atletico River Plate.” Unpublished, n.d.
Daskal, Rodrigo. “Clubes, deporte y polıtica en el Honorable Concejo Deliberante de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (1895–1920).” In Futbol, historia y polıtica, edited by Julio Frydenberg and Rodrigo Daskal, 203–239. Buenos Aires: Editorial Aurelia Rivera, 2010.
Daskal, Rodrigo. Los clubes en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (1932–1945). Revista La Cancha: sociabilidad, polıtica – Estado. Buenos Aires: Editorial Teseo, 2013.
Del Mazo, Gabriel. El radicalismo. Ensayo sobre su historia y doctrina. Vols. 2. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Gure, 1957.
Elena, Eduardo. Dignifying Argentina: Peronism, Citizenship, and Mass Consumption. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2011.
Elsey, Brenda. Citizens & Sportsmen. Futbol & Politics in 20th-century Chile. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2011.
Escobar Bavio, Ernesto. Historia de futbol en el Rıo de la Plata. Buenos Aires: Sports, 1923. Fernandez Moores, Ezequiel. Breve historia del deporte argentino. Buenos Aires: Editorial El
Ateneo, 2010. Frydenberg, Julio. Historia social del futbol. Del amateurismo a la profesionalizacion. Buenos
Aires: Siglo Veintiuno Editores, 2011. Frydenberg, Julio, Mariano Gruschetsky, Santiago Nogueira, and Jorge Arriagada San Martın.
“Evolucion de la masa societaria de los clubes de futbol: descripcion y analisis (1909–2012).” Unpublished, n.d.
Gayol, Sandra. Sociabilidad en Buenos Aires, Hombres, Honor y Cafes. 1862–1910. Buenos Aires: Ediciones del Signo, 2000.
Gonzalez Bernardo de Quiros, Pilar. Civilidad y polıtica en los orıgenes de la nacion argentina. Las sociabilidades en Buenos Aires, 1829–1862. Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura Economica, 2007.
Gonzalez Velasco, Carolina. Gente de teatro. Ocio y espectaculos en la Buenos Aires de los anos veinte. Buenos Aires: Siglo Veintiuno Editores, 2012.
Gruschetsky, Mariano. “Actores sociales en torno a la construccion del estadio del Club Atletico Velez Sarsfield.” In Futbol, historia y polıtica, edited by Julio Frydenberg and Rodrigo Daskal, 147–202. Buenos Aires: Editorial Aurelia Rivera, 2010.
Gutierrez, Leandro, and Luis Alberto Romero. Sectores populares, cultura y polıtica. Buenos Aires en la entreguerra. Buenos Aires: Sudamericana, 1995.
Heinemann, Klaus. “Aspectos sociologicos de las organizaciones deportivas.” Apunts. Educacio Fısica I Esports 49 (1997): 10–19.
Iwanzuk, Jorge. Historia del futbol amateur en la Argentina. Buenos Aires: n.p., 1992. Milanesio, Natalia. Workers Go Shopping in Argentina: The Rise of Popular Consumer Culture.
Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 2013. O’Donnell, Guillermo A. Bureaucratic Authoritarianism. Argentina, 1966–1973, in Comparative
Perspective. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Mos
kow
Sta
te U
niv
Bib
liote
] at
04:
09 1
1 Fe
brua
ry 2
014
1686 J. Frydenberg et al.
Porro, Nicola. “El asociacionismo deportivo como modelo organizativo. Movimientos, sistema y cambio.” Apunts. Educacio Fısica I Esports 49 (1997): 20–30.
Raffo, Victor. El origen britanico de deporte argentino. Buenos Aires: n.p., 2004. Rein, Ranaan. “‘El Primer Deportista’: The Political Use and Abuse of Sport in Peronist Argentina.”
The International Journal of the History of Sport 15, no. 2 (1998): 54–76. Rein, Ranaan. Los Bohemios de Villa Crespo. Judıos y futbol en la Argentina. Buenos Aires:
Editorial Sudamericana, 2012. Reyna, Franco D. Cuando eramos footballers. Una historia sociocultural del surgimiento y la
difusion del futbol en Cordoba (1900–1920). Cordoba: Centro de Estudios Historicos “Prof. Carlos S.A. Segreti”, 2011.
Rock, David. Politics in Argentina, 1890–1930. The Rise and Fall of Radicalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975.
Scher, Ariel, Guillermo Blanco, and Jorge Busico. Deporte nacional. Dos siglos de historia. Buenos Aires: Emece, 2010.
Scher,Ariel, andHector Palomino. Futbol: pasion demultitudes y de elites. BuenosAires:CISEA, 1988. Senen Gonzalez, Santiago. “Peron y el deporte.” Todo es Historia 345 (1996): 8–20. Torres, Cesar R. “Ideas encontradas: la educacion fısica y el deporte en el debate parlamentario sobre
la participacion argentina en los Juegos Olımpicos de 1908.” Olympika: The International Journal of Olympic Studies 11 (2002): 117–142.
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Mos
kow
Sta
te U
niv
Bib
liote
] at
04:
09 1
1 Fe
brua
ry 2
014