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by Brenda Elsey
Dr. Elsey is Professor of History at Hofstra University and co-author, most recently, of “Futbolera: A History of Women and Sport in Latin America. “
Update: Argentina beat France in a penalty shootout in the World Cup final on Sunday, handing the first World Cup trophy to its star, Lionel Messi.
Argentine football fans create the players they need to see. They love, they scold, they analyze. And few have been under Argentina’s guidance like Lionel Messi, the incredibly smooth striker who ruled the game for 15 years.
Despite his international success, Argentines doubted his patriotism and said he cared more about Spain, where he played for FC Barcelona until 2021, as his home country. Journalists insulted him, in explicit gender language, describing him as “cold-chested. “After leading a technically inferior team to the 2014 World Cup final, his own grandfather criticized him on television as “a bit lazy. “
This year’s World Cup will likely be the last for Messi, who is 35. He has played admirably, with 3 goals so far, helping Argentina secure their place in the quarter-finals, where they will face the Netherlands on Friday. But Argentine enthusiasts seem as concerned about their captain’s adventure as they do about winning football’s ultimate prize.
That’s a big difference from when he announced his (short-lived) retirement in 2016 due to his inability to win a foreign trophy. to ease tensions, but the pendulum has swung beyond that. Messi, at least publicly, remains the same. Argentina, however, is a different country than the one he left in 2001 at age 13. The feminist movement and its challenge to the patriarchs of football triggered much of this transformation.
Messi never had compatibility with the archetype of the “kid”, an affectionate term for an Argentine soccer hero. The “kid” was born in the poor neighborhoods of Buenos Aires in the early twentieth century. He outsmarted the elite with his foxy and courted women with his charm. No one has brought the figure to life more than Diego Maradona, who led Argentina to victory at the 1986 World Cup. Uncontrollable, Maradona symbolized the uprising against a militarized society. The Argentine public forgave and celebrated his sexism, drug addiction and temperament, which many considered part of his “genius. “
In contrast, Messi, nicknamed “the flea,” is a low-key superstar. In the field, he pouts, frowns and even vomits out. He was born in the provincial city of Rosario, where his father worked in a metallurgy and his mother as a servant. After being diagnosed with expansion hormone deficiency at age 11, Messi’s circle of relatives feared his football dreams would come to an end. When F. C. Barcelona showed up to pay for expensive medical treatments, he signed a towel contract and moved with his father to Spain. In the sporadic events in which Messi talks about his childhood, he mentions the pain of the separation of his mother and brothers.
The players and their feminist allies have harshly criticized the “kid” style and “win at all costs” mentality perpetuated through Array. In the process, they — in the years that coincided with the height of Messi’s career — replaced the country’s culture.
Women started gambling in Argentina more than a hundred years ago, but soccer goalkeepers brutally excluded them. In the few events where the national federation organized matches, it did not pay women. The disparity in the two national groups was one of the largest in world sport
In 2017, the women’s team said it would go on strike. The corruption of the federation has enabled sexual harassment and misappropriation of women’s development budget. It hurt the players who spoke out and many, including former captain Estefania Banini, suffered reprisals. .
The players’ motions coincided with the flowering of the feminist motion known as #NiUnaMenos, or “Ni Una Menos. “Founded as a collective in Argentina that spanned Latin America, #NiUnaMenos organized general mobilizations and demonstrations to protest gender-based violence. #NiUnaMenos explained gender equality in general terms, calling for reproductive rights, transgender rights, and racial and elegant justice. The legalization of abortion in 2021: nothing short of miraculous in a Catholic country formed by a military regime that has promoted a conservative gender ideology. — It was largely the result of this activism.
Fans have also begun to respond more temporarily and forcefully to incidents of gender discrimination. In the late 2010s, Argentine feminists formed gender equality commissions within football clubs, rewrote club statutes, questioned discriminatory chants, and created safer spaces in stands and pavilions. for women and enthusiasts who know with L. G. B. T. Q.
While waves of purple scarves, the emblem of #NiUnaMenos, flooded the streets of Argentine cities, Lionel Messi continued to thrive at F. C. Barcelone. He married a friend from years of training and became the father of three children. and indomitable “kid”, Messi is satisfied to take care of his children. And it continued to surprise defenders and electrify the public. He won the Ballon d’Or, the award for the world’s most productive player, a record seven times; played for a team that won the Champions League; He has become the most sensible goalscorer of all time in Argentine history; and finally, he led Argentina to victory over Brazil in the 2021 Copa America.
Through it all, Lionel Messi has challenged the machismo of Argentine football in his own way. Football stadiums are part of a sexist ecosystem where manifestations of misogyny and homophobia are common; Organized enthusiasts called “barras bravas” created terrifying situations at matches. Messi rejected violence and joined his hometown of Rosario in his crusade against stadium violence. Public video of the crusade features brutal footage of enthusiasts attacking each other as Messi cries.
The Argentine national team and its coach, Lionel Scaloni, are like Messi in redefining masculinity in football. Although most of the team members play in European clubs, they were raised in Argentine youth academies, which export many players a year to practice their industry in leagues from Indonesia to the United States. In 2018, boys from those academies came forward to denounce the sexual abuse they had suffered there. Their reporting has helped counter stigma related to sexual violence.
It would be hyperbolic to claim a symbiotic courtship between Messi and the feminists of his native country. And, of course, discriminatory attitudes continue to plague Argentine football. During the qualifiers of this World Cup, Argentina was fined and sanctioned for racist and homophobic gestures. Chants between fans. But it is undeniable that grassroots activists have pushed for a rethinking of the values that matter in Argentina’s national pastime. They have stung clear models of heroism, laying the foundations of an iconography that is much more typical of Messi.
A jingle titled “You Deserve This Cup” features enthusiasts shouting, “I don’t need anything if it’s not with Leo. “Whether or not Messi is able to lead his team to victory over the Netherlands and in the semifinals. And beyond that, he can nevertheless enjoy the affection he has sought in his homeland.
Brenda Elsey (@politicultura) is Professor of History at Hofstra University and author, with Joshua Nadel, most recently, of “Futbolera: A History of Women’s Sport in Latin America. “
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