ARGENTINA: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - Latin American women prepare for temporary World Cup widowhood

Record ID: 447820

  • Title: ARGENTINA: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - Latin American women prepare for temporary World Cup widowhood
  • Date: 3rd May 2006
  • Summary: CLOSE UP: OF THE ARGENTINE NEWSPAPERS SHOWING THEIR SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS FOR THE WORLD CUP. (2 SHOOTS)
  • Embargoed: 18th May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA3QPPSMXWZO6AT4RDPAW7PFVHT
  • Story Text: When legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly deftly declared that, "Football, it's not a matter of life or death, it's much more important than that", he was obviously talking about the male fan. And not just those in his own club. The utter distraction from normal life, the tears and back-slapping comradeship are characteristics of the male football fan the world over.
    Which all make the World Cup's arrival in June a quiet month for women. It will be a time to enjoy each others' company, engage in the delights of female conversation and pastimes knowing your position has been usurped by a football shirt and a TV.
    In Latin America, footballing passion comes by the bucketload and with seven countries represented in Germany, all eyes will be on Europe. So Latin women are preparing for when life off the pitch comes to a grinding halt. But that doesn't mean they like it, says Estela Osorio.
    "They (men) become easily angered, all day they are waiting for the World Cup, there isn't any other thing, nothing else exists," she complained.
    For many of the female species, men's desire to eat and sleep football is a difficult concept to understand says Susana Viera.
    "They do nothing more than listen to the football game, to comment on it, to get together and eat something and to listen and watch the match. And the women? Nothing," she argued.
    But Argentine men are happy to defend their right to a month of unadulterated and undisturbed footballing obsession. How does football fan Jorge believe men behave during the World Cup? "Normally. We try to watch the match and hope that they (women) don't disturb us," he said.
    Others, like Matias, recognize the quick demise of normal life. "That month, it is like we live alone, without paying any attention, whether it's to women, dog or object. I think that that month we are with our team, with our friends and with our fathers, our grandfathers and behind the team and nothing else matters to us," he said.
    In the run-up to June, businesses have been quick to take advantage of women's temporary widowhood. Take Switzerland, where the tourism board has launched an international campaign enticing women to visit the country during June. Its humorous advert features a series of handsome, off-pitch Swiss hunks and tells women: "Dear girls. Why not escape this summer's World Cup to a country where men spend less time on football, and more time on you".
    In Argentina national newspapers have already published their World Cup supplement guides with one, Clarin, humorously showing men reverting to stereotype. The TV advert for the supplement shows women going about their daily lives, half- dressed, disorganized and totally ignored by men engrossed in the newspaper's football supplement. Damian Kepel of Kepel and Mata, the creative agency behind the advert says it may be exaggerated, but the concept is not so far from the truth.
    "It seems to me that the advert is very Argentine. Definitely somewhere else they could understand it but it seems to me that somewhere else, it (the advert) will seem very exaggerated. In reality it isn't exaggerated. This is what happens in Argentina when the World Cup starts. It's good, the advert is having a little joke but it seems to me that it is close enough to the reality," he said.
    Argentina isn't the only Latin American country where women are poised to lose their loved ones to the Golden Game. Apparently, the men in Brazil don't fare much better - but then they have all the pressure of being the current holders of the World Cup title. The local football quip that "The English invented it, the Brazilians perfected it", gives some idea of their passion for the game. Patricia Figario, a Brazilian woman living in Buenos Aires, knows exactly what to expect.
    "Men go crazy for football, particularly during the World Cup," she declared. In Chile, apparently women can expect little better, says Elízabeth Sánchez.
    "It is one month where we are ignored, one month where you can't walk in front of the television, one month where they (men) aren't hungry, a month where they're not bothered about anything because they spend all day with the TV control. That's how they are," she said resignedly.
    Of course, the danger of stereotypes is that they often ignore shifts in culture. There are actually some women who like football or who have come to embrace the expression, 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em'. Come June they will be donning the shirts, painting their faces and crying into their beer like a true football fan.
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