/\ Juan Delgado
This week’s reading is all about Uruguay’s victory in the 1916 South American Championship. It was also the first tournament of this type. This reading covered a few interesting points and controversies. A big theme highlighted is racial tentions. Uruguay has been a very racially tense nation. In 1916, most South American countries experienced some sort of racial turbulence. As we will find out, Chile would gon out of their way to blame their loss on racial differences.
Isabelino Gradin was the top scorer of the tournament; he almost quit over racial discrimination. Officials of the tournament had made some racially derogatory remarks to him. This was in the midst of the Afro-Uruguayans’ struggle for equality, something that is still present today.
This continued with the Uruguay and Chile game. Uruguay defeated Chile 4-0, and the Chilean team then said they only won because they had “African Professionals”. They chalked their entire win up to nothing more than racial differences. By downplaying the Uruguayan players’ skills to their skin colors, they created the narrative of racial differences.
Uruguayan player Juan Delgado was a star player in Uruguay. Before the tournament, when Uruguay was selecting its players. They intentionally left him out, favoring Alfredo Zibechi. An important note is that Delgado, much like Gradin, was a darker-skinned Uruguayan. Their decision stood until Zibechi stepped down to allow Delgado to play.
These events show the uncomfortable history of soccer in South America. While this was a single example, times were rough for racial minorities during this period. It wasn’t until major political shifts during the late 80s and 90s that they became visible. Mundo Afro, founded in 1988, was able to petition the government to collect racial data in 1996. These surveys revealed the true ethnic composition of the nation and challenged the notion that Uruguay was a “white nation”. Overall, this reading did show me the racial struggles that existed in Uruguay. I never thought of racial tentions in South American countries.
Porter Cockrum
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