PicoBlog

• Spanish football is a dumpster fire of racism; whether the football association, agents, referees, club presidents, players, or fans. No club is immune. Latest exhibit: fans of Atletico Madrid, Cadiz, Real Valladolid, Real Mallorca, and FC Barcelona have been fingered for racially abusing opponents; the offenders focus their anger on one player, Real Madrid forward, Vinicius Jr. He’s been targeted at least ten times since the beginning of the current season. But, black players have long complained about racial abuse, and clubs, coaches, the media, and the FA have either failed to act, looked the other way, or ridiculed them; the abuse is characterized as banter, and the players blamed (Vinicius Jnr.’s supposed crime is that he brings on the racism by celebrating his goals too much. Work that out).

It would therefore be odd to suggest that Real Madrid - Spain and Europe’s most decorated club - is a black club. We know, via former Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas, that club president Florentino Perez “doesn’t like black players;” that that was one of the reasons Samuel Eto’o left the club (Perez didn’t rate Eto’o as a galactico; was he wrong); it was also behind how Claude Makélélé was treated by the club during that same era and left for Chelsea, after which that version of the team declined and Chelsea thrived. Add to that that at one point Real Madrid had to ban some of its own fans for being racist and offensive to opposing players. Then in May 2014, UEFA fined Madrid for racist behavior by its fans during a Champions League game. More recently the club has been accused of not taking the racism against Vinicius Jnr seriously. And not too long ago, before a match, David Alaba, who is of part-Nigerian descent, was the only Madrid player to kneel (as a gesture against racism in football and society). And so so and so on.

But the same Real Madrid has a history of signing black talent: The first black player to play for Real Madrid was Waldir Pereira (known asDidi), a brilliant midfielder from Brazil, who signed in 1958 following a great World Cup. Then Laurie Cunningham, an English international, signed in 1979. He played 66 matches and became a club legend. This was during a time when clubs could sign only two non-Spanish players. Cunningham was so good, he was “… only one of the few Madrid players to receive an ovation at Camp Nou.” This happened on the 10th of February 1980 when Real Madrid beat Barcelona 0-2. Cunningham’s performance “had the crowd on their feet as he took on and beat every Barça player who tried to tackle him.” Only Maradona, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo the Brazilian, and Andries Iniesta, have been given this honor by rival fans in the Clasico. Since Didi and Cunningham, several black players have turned out for Madrid including from the continent: Mutiu Adepoju from Nigeria, Geremi, the Cape Verdeans Javier Balboa and Valdo Lopes, Emmanuel Adebayor from Togo, Mahamadou Diarra from Mali, Michael Essien from Ghana, and Eto’o. And from the diaspora: the Brazilians Roberto Carlos, Fabinho, and Marcelo, Dutchman Royston Royston Drenthe, Frenchman Makélélé (born in the then-Zaire), and many others.

This brings me to the present and my point. Anyone who watches Madrid these days can’t help but notice a trend among the squad, including starters: A significant number of players in key positions are black and have roots in Africa as well as its diaspora, especially from France and South America’s largest African country, Brazil. Alaba, Antonio Rüdiger (German of Sierra Leonean descent), Ferland Mendy (French of Senegalese descent), Camavinga (French of Angolan descent), Tchouameni (French of Cameroonian descent), along with the Brazilians Eder Militao, Vinicius Jnr. and Rodrygo.

In June 2022, Marca, the house organ of Real Madrid, couldn’t help but — clumsily — notice this trend. But social media provides more consistent evidence. On any given day, memes, dressing room clips, or footage from games confirm this. In the latest viral video clip doing the rounds, this same group of black players can be seen dancing together in the dressing as their white teammates look on. The bulk of the social media commentary on this video has focused on Luka Modric’s clumsy attempts to join the celebrations (the old “white men can’t dance” joke), but there is something else going on here. Not to read too much into it, but one couldn’t help but notice that it was the black and African players who were in the center of the room: that this was their club; like Vinicius Jnr., they were dancing and claiming space. There has been social science research about how exposure to public figures from stigmatized groups reduces prejudice among football fans (this research by a group of political scientists was about how exposure to Mohamed Salah had an effect on Islamophobia among local fans of Liverpool FC) and how with football becoming more personality-driven (fans following players and not clubs) player brands have become quite powerful. All this to say, whatever identity owners, local media, or fans want to project onto their football club in Europe — and that preferred identity is often very exclusive or parochial — it is the club’s players — mostly from elsewhere and increasingly black — who will more and more come to decide how that club is perceived by outsiders. And Real Madrid is no different. In fact, a new book about left-wing politics and football, “The Defiants: A History of Football against Fascism” by Chris Lee, rejects the characterization of the club and its Spanish fan as mostly fascists, as caricatures. Instead, Real Madrid is “a club which adapts to the political climate” (via When Saturday Comes). This is all to justify rooting for Madrid in its two-legged UEFA Champions League semifinal against Manchester City of England (coached by Pep Guardiola, who according to Yaya Toure, does not favor African players) on May 9th and 17th.

• The Brazilian newspaper Folha has published its global rankings of the best football clubs of all time. Real Madrid is first, AC Milan is second, Boca Juniors is third, followed by Bayern Munchen, Barcelona, Liverpool, and the rest. As for African teams, Al Ahly is 28th, TP Mazembe at 32nd, Raja Casablanca 42nd, and Zamalek 44th. Orlando Pirates, the South African club I support, is in 142nd position, Mamelodi Sundowns 158th, and Kaizer Chiefs 196th.

• George Weah was very good at football and was the first African player to win the Ballon d’Or, in 1995, with AC Milan, but isn’t very good as a leader. Weah became Liberia’s president in 2018. He is seeking re-election in October, but as Bloomberg’s Next Africa newsletter (subscribe) reported recently, “ … In Liberia, food shortages and surging prices have seen protesters throng the streets of the capital, Monrovia, and support for President George Weah, a one-time world footballer of the year, is ebbing.” According to Bloomberg, Liberians have reason to be angry: they Trank among the most food-insecure countries in Concern Worldwide’s latest Global Hunger Index — 113th of 121.

(Technically Eusebio was the first African to win the Ballon d’Or 1965, but he did so represented Portugal and at a time when only players from Europe could compete for the prize. By the time Weah played, the rules had been changed and Africans and South Americans could compete for the Ballon d’Or),

• The strange way this all comes together: Tunisia’s president makes inflammatory speeches, citing the rightwing “great replacement” conspiracy theory, where black African immigrants will change the “racial balance” there, while 32 players from a fourth division Tunisian football club, spooked by the economic and social crises at home, immigrate to Europe leading the club to shut down operations. Meanwhile, Tunisia is inaugurated into Europe’s immigration strategy to keep Africans from entering the EU. That’s all.

• What I am watching: The documentary film, “Neymar: The Perfect Chaos,” is a three-part biographical documentary about the Brazilian international and PSG player. The film is part of the documentary genre, made by sports stars to control and influence how they are perceived. Lebron James is an executive producer of “Neymar: The Perfect Chaos.” His production company was also behind another 3-part Netflix series, “Naomi Osaka,” about the tennis champion’s struggles with mental health. The Osaka documentary was minimalist in its approach (long meandering shots, little dialogue, lots of footage of Osaka practicing, getting a massage, filming the umpteenth commercial or going to dinner with her boyfriend Cordae, and some forays into debates about Japanese identity — Osaka’s mother is Japanese, her father Haitian. By contrast, “Neymar: The Perfect Chaos,” is one long advert for Neymar’s businesses (his father runs these) and his partying in various places around the globe or frequent trips back home to spend time with his son. For all the promise Neymar showed as a young star at Santos, he has only one Olympic title, one Champions League (with FC Barcelona), and a Copa Libertadores (with Santos). Filmed in the run-up to the 2014 World Cup, he agrees with popular dissatisfaction over government spending, but then we know (not from the film) that he is a sympathizer of Jair Bolsonaro, the rightwing blowhard who became Brazil’s president in 2018 and that those protests were hijacked by the mostly middle class, rightwing protesters and movements resulting in the parliamentary coup against Dilma Rousseff. (Last October, Neymar made a social media post imploring his fans to vote for Bolsonaro again. When Bolsonaro lost, Neymar was deservedly pilloried.) Tellingly, there is also a brief scene, where working Brazilians, some black, appear fleetingly on-screen and lament Neymar’s lack of political engagement. On the latter, it is worth rereading Achal Prabhala’s long read on Neymar’s racial politics.

ncG1vNJzZmidnJrDprrNmqSenKCavLG4xGeqrpqjqa6kt42cpqZnoGS%2Fpq3LZqSanKKesW610maYZpqclrCsecKlrJs%3D