Produção Nacional
Revisado por pares
Football, Control and Resistance in the Brazilian Military Dictatorship in the 1970s
2014; Routledge; Volume: 31; Issue: 10 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/09523367.2014.922069
ISSN1743-9035
Autores Tópico(s)Youth, Politics, and Society
ResumoAbstractThis study analyses forms of political manifestations related to football (soccer), observed in Brazil in the course of the 1970s. The article observes, in the context of football, the outbreak of a dispute between conservative powers and left wing forces in the Brazilian political scene. In this period, different subjects, linked to opposition groups, also used the communicative space created around the sport in order to externalise their political ideals. Thus, the sport served the interests of both the state and the Brazilian leftists. These actions generated the involvement of football players, artists and the media in general. In this context, the sports press figured as the main mediator of the symbolic battles engaged amidst football players, coaches, managers and fans, and the official acts and actions of the state.Keywords:: footballpoliticsdictatorship Notes 1. Góis Júnior highlights that, within this context, the academic scenery of Physical Education was marked by the transition from empiric to scientific knowledge. According to Góis Júnior, after the publication of a collection of articles entitled Introdução à moderna ciência do treinamento desportivo [Introduction to the modern science of sports training], edited by professor Lamartine Pereira da Costa in 1968, there was a revolution in the systems of sports training in the country. Those changes were quickly absorbed by the Brazilian professional football. CitationGóis Júnior, “Conhecimento positivista,” 123. 2. Personal interview, Afonsinho to Euclides Couto, September 13, 2007. Notes in possession of author. 3.Artistic football is an ideal form of football style, which is connected with an alleged Brazilian ‘National Style’. It is based on the player's skill and individuality, with a loose sense of formation and tactical organization. 4. “Admildo Chirol: venceu a nova mentalidade” [Admildo Chirol: the new mentality won], Jornal dos Sports, June 25, 1970, 8. 5. “O caminho do Tetra III: Parreira pede revolução nos clubes” [The path for the fourth championship III: Parreira asks for a revolution in the clubs], Jornal dos Sports, July 9, 1970, 12 (my italics). 6. The Brazilian football Pass Law was the popular name of Law n. 6354 from 1976, which kept professional footballers connected to a club without a definite period. If a player's ‘pass’ belonged to a club, he could not be transferred to any other team without his own club approval. 7. In Brazil, the sports justice is related to legal actions in the sports field. It is not connected with the Brazilian judiciary system and works within each sport governing body. Each sport confederation organises and manages their sports justice courts. There is a Supreme Sport Court for each sport, which oversees national competitions, and sports justice courts that rule over regional competitions. 8. Personal interview, Afonsinho to Euclides Couto, September 13, 2007. Notes in possession of author. 9.O Estado de São Paulo, February 16, 1972. Cited in CitationFlorenzano, Edmundo & Afonsinho, 105.10. Gilberto Gil, “Meio de campo,” Cidade do Salvador, Universal Records, 1973.11. Original lyrics are as follows: ‘Prezado amigo Afonsinho/Eu continuo aqui mesmo/Aperfeiçoando o imperfeito/Dando um tempo, dando um jeito/Desprezando a perfeição/Que a perfeição é uma meta/Defendida pelo goleiro/Que joga na seleção/E eu não sou Pelé nem nada/Se muito for, eu sou um Tostão/Fazer um gol nessa partida não é fácil, meu irmão’.12. Protest songs, pamphleteer songs and revolutionary songs were typical of the political involvement of the Brazilian cultural production since the late 1950s. Protest songs incorporated in their lyrics many different themes and contents, which brought up number of conflicts and tensions that existed in the Brazilian political and social sphere. About the production and reception of politically involved songs in the period analysed here, see CitationCaldas, A Cultura Político-Musical Brasileira; and CitationFurtado, “A música popular brasileira.”13. About the political trajectory of Tostão, see CitationCouto, “Jogo de extremos,” especially chapter 3, entitled Jogadores: rebeldia intra e extra-campo [Footballers: rebellious inside and outside the pitch].14. I do not consider in this analysis the concept originally elaborated by Karl Marx, but one of its culturalist derivatives, termed by sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. In this sense, the struggle of different social groups is also exteriorised by consumption, language, appearance and forms of body usage. Therefore, in contemporary society, class struggle finds the most suitable terrain for its diffusion in the symbolic space. CitationBourdieu, A Distinção.15. Reinaldo confirmed the inspiration of his gesture in the North American athletes. Personal interview, Reinaldo to Euclides Couto, September 29, 2007. Notes in possession of author.16.CitationDamo, “O ethos capitalista,” 40.17.CitationBourdieu, “A Economia,” 150.18.El Gráfico, June 23, 1978, cited in CitationAlabarces, Fútbol yPátria, 118.19. “Esporte: a exploração da política,” Movimento, May 29, 1978, 13.20. “Reinaldo: bom de bola e bom de cuca,” Movimento, March 6, 1978, 8.21. Ibid., 9.22. Personal interview, Reinaldo to Euclides Couto, September 29, 2007. Notes in possession of author.23.Estado de Minas, April 7, 1978, 6.24. Personal interview, Reinaldo to Euclides Couto, September 29, 2007. Notes in possession of author.25. About the freedom of the press in the years of political opening, see CitationVentura, “Nostalgia do não vivido.”26. “Se jogador é para jogar futebol, então o que os cartolas estão fazendo na política?” Movimento, April 10, 1978, 20a.27. Ibid.28. Personal interview, Reinaldo to Euclides Couto, September 29, 2007. Notes in possession of author.29.Movimento, April 10, 1978, 20b.30. “Digo,” Estado de Minas, April 1, 1978, 11.31. I refer especially to the analyses created by Elio Gaspari and Paulo Sérgio Carmo. CitationGaspari, “Alice e o Cameleão”; and CitationCarmo, Culturas da rebeldia, particularly the chapter entitled “Os anos 70: da ressaca ao inconformismo” [The 1970s: from the hangover to nonconformity].Additional informationNotes on contributorsEuclides de Freitas CoutoEuclides de Freitas Couto is a Doctor in History (UFMG) and Master of Social Science (PUC Minas). He graduated in History (PUC-Minas) and Physical Education (CEUCLAR/SP). He is currently a professor in the Masters Program in History, Department of Social Sciences, Federal University of São João del-Rei (UFSJ), where he develops research in the areas of history and sociology of sport.
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