Spagna ’82. Calcio, arte e cultura popolare di una comunità immaginata tra franchismo e democrazia

Abstract

Spain ’82. Football, Art and Popular Culture of an Imagined Community between Francoism and Democracy

In addition to their sporting content, the 1982 World championships had to become the litmus test of the new democratic Spain. To achieve this goal, alongside the sporting event, a series of cultural events (art exhibitions, concerts, folkloristic initiatives, etc.) were organized throughout the country aimed at presenting to the globe a model of transition to democracy perceived as exemplary and a new idea of nation. In reality, starting from the inaugural ceremony of the World championship, a certain continuity with the Francoist regime was traceable in the representation of the Spanish “imagined community”. The 1982 championship was, in fact, awarded to Spain in 1966 and, although the work on its organization had begun in 1978, Raimundo Saporta, a personality close to the previous regime, was placed at the helm of the organizing committee of the event. The present work therefore proposes to reflect on what were continuities and discontinuities with Francoism in the football presentation of the new and imagined democratic Spanish community.

Received: 15-02-2020

Admitted: 27-10-2020

The realization of this article was possible thanks to the Fundação para a Ciência and to Tecnologia of the Portuguese government and to the European Social Fund: project no. SFRH / BPD / 107789/2015