Of Brazil, Football and Discrimination
Have
you ever wondered why the Brazilian football players are not known by their
original names but rather by their sobriquets? Pelé, may be the one name most recognised in this world
but not even half of those who can relate with the name Pele can say that he
was born with the name Edson Arantes do Nascimento. Similarly, Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima is famous as Ronaldo, Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite is
known as Kaká, Ronaldo
de Assis Moreira is known as Ronaldinho
and Rivaldo Vítor Borba Ferreira, is known as Rivaldo. There are too
many with such pseudo names, these are just a few famous people. How many of
you know the name of Garrincha? His name is Manual Francisco dos Santos and
belonged to one of the many tribes of Brazil, importantly in an international
career spanning a decade Brazil lost only once when he played for the national
team.
Such a
practice of using sobriquets is not just a happening but it is a result of a
historical social process. Brazil abolished slavery in 1888 and was the last
country in America to do so (Bellos 2014). This was the time when the country
was undergoing tremendous social change. Football was introduced in the country
by Charles Miller in 1894, who while returning from Southampton, had brought
two footballs. Football arrived or was brought into the country when there was
chaos and confusion after it had gained independence in 1889. It was period
when the nation was struggling to establish its identity and social symbols.
Football acted as a catalyst to form this identity albeit the racial
discrimination and prejudice that existed. The whites played the game and excluded the natives from participating. When
mixed race players started to play for clubs, 'they were made to feel ashamed
of their colours' (Bellos 2014;32). Authur Friedenreich, a son of a Brazilian
German father and an Afro-Brazilian mother, 'was without question the highest
scoring striker of his days and the darling of the press, who nicknamed him El
Tigre ('The Tiger') in Uruguay and 'Golden Foot' in Brazil' (Goldblatt 2014;29).
He had to flatten his hair, which resembled more of the native, with a turban
(Bellos 2014) to look completely white. Another player, Carlos Alberto, is
known to have used rice powder to colour his face white. Another important
thing that is of interest, is the Brazilian footwork or in common parlance, the act of dribbling, is also a
product of discrimination. Bellos (2014) says that when the natives used to
play along with the whites they had to avoid contact with the whites, to ensure
that the whites were not hurt during such collision. In case of collision and
the whites being hurt the natives were beaten
as punishment. To avoid such contact the natives started to dribble.
The
genesis of discrimination and the sobriquets is found in the processes and
evolution of Brazilian football and its structure. As has already been mentioned,
it was not the natives who brought the beautiful game to Brazil. As football started to connect with the
people of Brazil clubs also started to be established. Initially the clubs were
formed by the elites and the whites, who considered themselves to be superior
to the natives. Because of this constructed racial supremacy the whites did not
allow the natives and blacks to participate in football matches. Far from being
allowed to play alongside, the natives had to watch the matches being played
from a distance.
'Membership rules at the big clubs were essentially rules to
keep the sport as white and upper class as possible. Football provided a
justification to reconsolidate theories of white supremacy, which had been
thrown into doubt by the abolition of slavery' (Bellos 2014;32).
Football
had however, also caught the imagination of the natives, who were also playing
the game on their own. Once the clubs
were formed competition among them started and championships also started
taking place. However, the natives were barred from taking part in such
competition. By blocking professionalism and advocating amateurism the whites
were effective in maintaining social distance from the natives. The policy of
amateurism demanded that the players needed to have an alternative sources of
income, this was instrumental in creating an obstacle for the natives to
represent any club, as they did not have any alternative sources of income.
The
natives were inducted into competitive football by another discriminated group
of people, the Portuguese. Vasco da Gama, popularly known as Vasco, was the
club of the Portuguese people. They went against the set norms of the big clubs
in Brazil by recruiting players not just from among themselves but the best from
among the natives, who were playing their own leagues. They provided employment
to these players in their shops and business to fulfil the criteria that the
players needed to be employed and have alternative sources of income. The
participation of the natives, in a short span of time altered the fortunes of
Vasco. From mediocrity they became champions. This was not tolerable to the elite
clubs who later formed a league of their own, which excluded Vasco. However,
due to the popularity of the club, Vasco was invited again to participate but
with other set of conditions. One of the conditions laid was that the players
had to be able to write and sign their names. This was the strategy for
exclusion of the native players who were generally illiterates. However, Vasco
found a way to bend this rule. They started sending their players to learn to
read and write their names and those with more complex names were given short
names which were easier to write, thus the use of sobriquets among the native
Brazilian players started.
On the
other hand, professionalism in Europe had grown, which threatened to take away
the great talents of Brazil. This necessitated professionalism in Brazilian
football. Professionalism in Brazil football started in 1933 and this
effectively led to the collapse of the class and racial prejudice and
discrimination in the sphere of football in Brazil
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