The offensive celebratory chant of the Argentine national team broadcast live by Enzo Fernández led to a deep political conflict. The anger of English and French players and sports institutions led to the dismissal of the Undersecretary of Sports for requesting that the team apologize and for the statements of Vice President Victoria Villarruel, who warned that “no colonialist country is going to intimidate us with a song from the stadium or for telling truths that they do not want to admit. Enough of pretending indignation, hypocrites.”
The ‘truths’ that the song recites have sparked a deep debate.Listen, spread the word/ they play in France but they’re all from Angola/ how nice it is, they’re going to run/ they’re like block eaters (vulgar way of referring to transgender people) like that fucking Mbappé/his old lady is Nigerian, his old man is Cameroonian/ but on the document, French nationality“, goes the chant invented by the fans during the 2022 World Cup.
The hurtful musical tradition of football has led to more than one sanction for South American federations, whose supporters have been fined for their racist and homophobic chants frequently in the present century. But, in this particular case, the world champion team and two-time winner of the Copa America could not resist the temptation to sing it, despite the fact that all of its members share black teammates on their teams.
And, above all, they forget that the only player of African descent to have worn the Albiceleste shirt in its century-long history, Alejandro de los Santos, won the 1925 South American tournament and his parents were… Angolan. Born in Paraná on May 19, 1902, De los Santos was a goal-scoring forward, the son of a couple of slaves from Portuguese West Africa, later known as Angola, a nation mentioned in the song in dispute. They swam away to escape to South America, settling in Argentina.
Shortly after gaining independence, Chile and Argentina had a percentage of African-Americans of nearly ten percent, a product of slavery, which was abolished early in both nations. Unlike in most nations on the continent, the percentage decreased during the 20th century, which resulted in an obvious scarce presence in the national team. In 2000, the then president Ricardo Lagos (2000-2006) explained the situation by stating that “in Chile there are no blacks because they died of cold,” which gave way to a debate that, nine years later, meant the promulgation of Law 21,151 that granted legal recognition to the Afro-descendant tribal people.
In football, the presence of Jean André Beausejour Coliqueo in the double crown of America and in two World Cups where he scored goals, and of Antenor Junior Fernández da Silva in the golden generation, allowed the presence of that people to be present in the Chilean national team.
The heated controversy over the cries of the most successful generation of Argentine football against the African descendants of France has given rise to a review of history, which is already changing with the evident presence of African descendants in the Olympic teams of both countries as a result of immigration from other nations on the continent. But Messi, Di María and their teammates cannot forget that a century ago, a forward with Angolan blood gave them a continental title.
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