How nationalist fervour made 5 million Argentines to receive Messi at home

An estimated 5 million people turned up to greet the victorious football World Cup winning Argentinian team in the victory parade in Buenos Aires on December 20. Reports said, it was the first such gathering for Argentina in its 500-years-old history. Visuals of the stunning show of celebration have captivated the world. Where else can you see such a wildly-celebrating crowd, that too in a country with a fractured history? Is nationhood such an enduring concept and belief that would make 5 million people to gather along a capital’s boulevard, just to see a bunch of 20 people, who won a trophy for the country, atop a bus?

Sports’ deep connect with nationalism

Nation and sports have been entwined with each other for long. The very idea of winning a gold medal in the glory of your country is an enduring belief and that is why Olympics and the football World Cup are the most watched and anticipated sporting events. Very rarely have sportsmen declined to go to the Olympics or world cup, thinking it is a waste of time and there is not much money. NBA stars like Stephen Curry have scoffed at the Olympics, but such examples are rare. Otherwise, sportsmen, rich and not-so-rich, live for the day when they will get a call to represent their country and hold aloft the flag and sing their gloriously-stirring national anthems.

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Just like the World cup which was used to showcase Qatar and the Islamic world’s huge achievements to the world, such events have been used by western powers to showcase their ideas of modernity and religion as well. It is only the Islamic or Christian worlds that have the capacity or the money to host such events. For sports lovers, it is the actual sport and the players and the ferocity with which matches are fought. But for the rulers, it is their political and religious philosophy that matters. Note that when the westerners with their notions of how life should be lived landed up in Qatar with their own set of beliefs and social manners, there were friction points.  Sport helped glaze over these differences, but such humongous events (approximately $300 billion dollars spent by Qatar) are used to reshape and reposition the future of such countries. In some cases, it helps as it will in the case of Qatar but in other cases like Greece after the 2000 Olympics, it may end in economic disaster.

Inherent machismo in sports

In fact Asian countries have been derided over the last century by various writers for their non-athletic nature and inability to take after the western notions of masculinity. All sports by the way evolved from notions of masculinity and till date most games are just a display of toxic masculinity. This in turn is a connection to the western notion of nation states. India has been long taunted by its lack of such an approach. Ronojoy Sen in his book on sport and nationalism Nation at Play says that this link in India between sport and nationalism can be seen in Bengal. The notion that Bengalis were an effete, non-martial race was propagated by British journalists and Lord Macaulay himself who derided the Bengali physique. So to be an accepted nation you need to be a physical nation.

So when a nation wins a world cup, enduring notions of masculinity surface and the success is celebrated like in Buenos Aires. In such moments, the actual economic stature of the country is forgotten and everyone including the rulers are forgiven for after all a global victory has come their way. The same thing happened after the 1936 Olympics was hosted by Nazi Germany. Hitler was opposed to the idea of hosting the Olympics saying that it was an invention of “Jews and freemasons”. But Josef Goebbels convinced Hitler about the possibility of presenting Germany as a civilised and modern state through the Games. Hitler was convinced. While standing at the site of the Olympic stadium, Hitler ordered on the request of the architect, that the adjoining horse racing track should be removed for the expansion of the stadium. He also ordered a sports complex for a unified “Reichssportfield”.  “It will be the task of the nation,” he announced.

Era of the Gulf nations?

So we can easily interpret the Qatar World Cup as a “task of the Islamic world” if not Qatar alone. From here to the Olympics is but a short step. For after all there are gleaming, cavernous stadiums all ready and with sumptuous money. For the Gulf countries, it is time to assert their emerging superiority in the world of nation state. And the religion itself, Islam, to stand shoulder to shoulder with Christianity.

French President Emmanuel Macron was present in the semi-finals and the final in Doha, cheering and consoling his team. For a French President, who is the very epitome of modernity and power and all things western and Christian, to be there itself shows the importance that modern states attach to such sporting victories.

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Such victories are also attributed to divine help and most players praise their respective gods, looking heavenward after a goal is scored or sink their heads to the ground in penance and prayer. The sign of the cross is made many times during a tournament as in this world cup. So there are many philosophies waiting to appropriate a sporting victory.

In Buenos Aires, the numbers were really stunning. Was the nation looking for a victory to enhance its self-confidence, like it happened for India after 1983? Five million people from in a city square with a Cenotaph, standing out in the middle reminding it of its past. In the musical Evita when Evita Peron sang “Don’t Cry for me, Argentina,” she was asking the country to look ahead.  Through all its struggles and wars and many close defeats the victory and the cup has finally come home to Buenos Aires.

Also read: Messi ‘suffered’ for many years, says wife Antonela after World Cup win

(Binoo K John is the author of recently-released Top Game: Winning, Losing and a New Understanding of Sport)

(The Federal seeks to present views and opinions from all sides of the spectrum. The information, ideas or opinions in the articles are of the author and do not reflect the views of The Federal.)