Antípoda. Revista de Antropología y Arqueología

Antipod. Rev. Antropol. Arqueol | eISSN 2011-4273 | ISSN 1900-5407

Humble, Hard-Working and Self-Sacrificing. Thirty Years of the Shifting Image of Professional Soccer Players in Argentina

No. 30 (2018-01-01)
  • Federico Czesli
  • Diego Murzi
https://doi.org/10.7440/antipoda30.2018.04

Abstract

Based on an ethnographic study of professional soccer teams between 2015 and 2016, this article discusses the changes which have occurred, during the past three decades, in the way Argentinian soccer players thinks of themselves as athletes and of the sport they play. It aims to explain how the two central images in the narrative of soccer in Argentina which Eduardo Archetti proposed in 1998 are no longer so important in the minds of the young players of study. On the one hand, the “potrero”, the grassy lot of land where young players were traditionally trained, has been replaced by more formal and structured venues like “barrio clubs” or “little schools”. And, on the other hand, the prototype or model of the Argentinian soccer star –the “pibe” or rough-hewn kid personified by the iconic Maradona and known for his irreverence, creativity and madness– has given way to the “self-sacrificing” and “hard-working” player who see himself as a disciplined professional. Among our findings, we would highlight: a) the centrality of the two new venues for training young players (neighborhood clubs and schools for apprentices); b) the new norms for professionals, which include being humble, working hard and sacrificing themselves in the name of professionalism; and c) The transformation of the above into new forms of power and agency.

Keywords: soccer, professionalization, social representations, pibe, potrero, Archetti

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