the stories of blacks and brunettes dressed in light blue and white

If you only take into account the historical and current squads of the teams that once became world soccer champions, Brazil has them. France too, as well as Germany, England, Uruguay, Italy and Spain. Argentina, three-time champion, today has no Afro-descendants on its team. But he had them.

Not in quantity, of course, although there are explanations to be given in this regard. What has been adding massively is the Morochos, who could well be defined as Afro-Argentines. That is, citing the Royal Spanish Academy, those who have black hair or brown skin. In that case, there were (and there are) many players who probably did not know (and do not know) about their Afro past, but who with their curls shined (and shine) on the playing fields.

There is a premise that cannot be ignored: a national team is a selection of the best players, not a representation of the ethnic composition of the country.

In our country, the current situation is not exclusive to the national team, but to national football. Argentine Afro-descendants kicking a ball are an absolute minority, as are, for example, Asians or descendants of indigenous peoples. In fact, it is common for black footballers who play in the domestic league to be mostly foreigners.

Alejandro Nicolás De los Santos, the pioneer of the path

On December 10, 1922, Alejandro Nicolás De los Santos, the son of slaves who came to Argentina fleeing Angola, became the first Afro-descendant, and for many years the only one, to play for the National Team. He did it against Uruguay, in Montevideo (1-0 national defeat).

He played five games between 1922 and 1925 and did not score goals, despite his reputation as a striker. He was a man from Entre Rios from Paraná who became an idol of El Porvenir and holds the club’s historical record of achievements, with 148 goals. In his honor, the institution’s microstadium is named after him. He also excelled in San Lorenzo and in Huracán.

The controversy that invaded the Argentine team in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar

“Argentina is much more diverse than many people believe, but the myth that it is a white nation has persisted.” This is the beginning of an article that the Washington Post published in the middle of the World Cup in Qatar and in the midst of the effervescence over what they were doing Lionel Messi and his teammates in the tournament. The title was “Why doesn’t Argentina have more black players in the World Cup?” Logically, it opened a flood of debates, answers and questions, as well as controversies and racist comments, especially on social networks.

One of the weak points in that publication is the following: “in stark contrast to other South American countries like Brazil, Argentina’s soccer team pales in comparison to its black representation.” And it is logical that this should be the case, with Brazil being the country outside of Africa with the largest black population (more than 50%) in the entire world (and the third in terms of mulattoes).

In Latin America they are followed by the Dominican Republic, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba and Ecuador. As for Argentina, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses, from the National Census of Population, Households and Housing 2022, the population that recognizes itself as being of African descent or has black or African ancestors totals 302,936 people (0.7 of the total). Read this percentage carefully, because it explains a good part of the lack of black players in national soccer.

The story of José Manuel Ramos Delgado, an emblematic case of Argentine football

What of José Manuel Ramos Delgadoborn in Quilmes (Buenos Aires), son of a native of Cape Verde, is undoubtedly a paradigmatic case about the value of Afro-descendants when playing soccer.

He did it in Lanús, River, Banfield and Santos in Brazil (he shared a team with Pelé). With the Argentine National Team he played in the World Cups in Sweden 1958 and Chile 1962, and was its captain in the 1964 Nations Cup. He was a central defender with great technique who, when he stopped playing, became a coach.

And what about the brunettes?

The fact that the Argentine soccer team does not currently have Afro-descendants or people that the majority would consider black does not expose it to say that it is a “white” team.

Returning to what was published by the Post in 2022, the text falls into a racial assumption typical of the northern country by maintaining: “Argentina’s soccer team may not include people of African descent, or perhaps people that the majority would see as black.” . It happens that in the US the term black is usually reduced only to people of African descent and dark-skinned Africans. At that point, it does not take into account the chromatic diversity of the Afro-Argentine population.

This opens another question, that of the morochos (according to the RAE, a term commonly used in Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay). They are, using synonyms, swarthy, tanned, toasted, sallow, coppery, dark, olive, olive. Taking these considerations, the panorama opens up exponentially.

There are countless famous Argentine morochos, such as cArlos Gardel, nicknamed the “Zorzal criollo”, but also the “Morocho del Abasto”. And as far as football is concerned, the most famous, celebrated and successful to have ever worn the light blue and white shirt is Diego Armando Maradona. “Diez” himself used to identify himself that way, and he even endorsed a poem he wrote to him. Pablo Rozadilla in 2000, referring to his goal with his hand against the English in Mexico, and in which the author gives him that description. In the first stanza he says: “I already know that he went with his hand, that goal against the English… It has been seen a lot of times; the image in close-up, showing that countryman, genius, left-handed and dark-haired, making his way in the air, to beat the archer, and thus land the first of a mischievous punch…”

It is a fact that several present players of the national team (and also those of recent decades) can be described as dark-haired. Understanding this reveals a country much more diverse than many usually associate with it. Because just as the Argentine eye is accustomed to constructing the condition of white in a broad way, it has the limitation that, to be black, a person must have dark skin and mottled hair. But being of African descent goes beyond color: it means that you descend from a black person.

A substitute world champion

Hector Baley He became world champion with Argentina (in 1978) being of African roots. “Chocolate”, a native of Ingeniero White (Buenos Aires) was the son of a Senegalese man. He was a goalkeeper of great conditions who took care of the clubs, among others, of Huracán, Talleres and Independiente (he was champion of the 1978 Nacional with “Diablo”). Baley was the first to save a penalty against Diego Armando Maradona in 1977, and he was an eternal substitute for Ubaldo Matildo Fillolwhom he also supported in the 1982 World Cup in Spain.

Theories and more theories

Theories about the small black population in Argentina compared to other South American countries, being that in 1810 it represented 30%, have a bit of everything: elimination of the black population using it as a “cannonball” in the wars of the 19th century , especially that of the Triple Alliance (1864-1870); annihilation by yellow fever (the largest outbreak occurred in 1871); or miscegenation (which deepened since 1853).

This last point is supported by the most recent historiography. That is, faced with the massive death of black men due to wars, their wives were forced to establish relationships with Europeans or Creoles for protection and to achieve a better quality of life.

However, there is also a current of opinion that suggests that the decline in the black population is due to the political and cultural decision made by the elites to turn Argentina into a “white country.” There are cases, such as that of Domingo Faustino Sarmientowhich considered indigenous settlers and black slaves as “incapable of progress and of reaching the high regions of civilization.”

One who couldn’t play

You can enter the list of black Argentine national team players Carlos Rufino Fariñaa midfielder who played for Huracán, Ferro and All Boys, who was called up by Guillermo Stábile to the National Team and was part of the squad that was runner-up in the 1942 South American Championship (current Copa América), although he did not play.

Explanations

A work was shared on the Salvemosalfutbol.org website, called “Black thing: brief history of Afro culture in Argentine soccer.” In one of his paragraphs, it was written: “in Argentina, football occupied a place for the construction of collective identities in the first decades of the 20th century. The young people who popularized football and its practice mostly had Italian and Spanish surnames and belonged to the middle classes. Here nationalism was based on the mixture of European immigration with the spirit of the “gaucho” of the pampas. “African American and indigenous identity are not mentioned in the history of the founding of Argentine football.”

Later, the publication states: “the style of the game in Argentina was built as a mechanism of inclusion (of the children of legitimate immigrants: Italians and Spaniards) and exclusion (of British immigrants, who “took refuge” in other sports. like rugby and hockey), to build a new hybrid, Creole soccer, “ours.”

Question of nicknames

It is common that the nickname “Negro” is what many footballers are known by. And there is no racist tone to it. Hugo Ibarra; Cristian Chavez; Fernando Caceres, they carry it. In Tucumán, who doesn’t remember players like Francisco Ruiz, Warrior Angel, Raul Aguero carrying this alias attached to their names?

There is a story that involves a famous “Negro”, Hector Enrique, another world champion. He was the one who gave Maradona the “pass” in the second goal against England in Mexico 1986, considered the best goal in history. The man born in Burzaco into a very poor family has a great sense of humor, and among the thousands of anecdotes about him there is one that describes him by the color of his skin. “In the neighborhood they told me PeleYes, but black! When I grew up I went to my ‘old people’ house and my mother kept calling me Pelé. I think Diego didn’t even know they called me that, otherwise he would have killed me, for sure!”

The fate of the Galician “Tolo”

As a corollary to this story about the presence of black and brunette footballers in the National Team, it is valuable to cite the case of Americo Ruben Gallego, another world champion in Argentina 1978 who has Afro features, although he never spoke about it. Owner of excellent conditions for the game, he also stood out for his strong personality and for the controversies in which he participated. The one born in Morteros (Córdoba) does not bear the last name of his father (Pascual Tagliotti), but that of his mother. From the father of “Tolo”, Rafael Bielsa He described him as “a thick guy, with a boxer’s nose, matted hair and cheeks that seemed to have just been waxed.”

It is Gallego, that multiple champion as a player and as a coach, who once defined himself as “a lucky black man.” But I don’t have God’s cell phone. “My thing is working every day to be the best.”