“Indeed, so common did the surreptitious payment of players become during the 1920s and early 1930s
that the period was known as the era of ‘masked professionalism’ and ‘ false amateurism’.” (289)
This quote encapsulates one of the aspects of the reading “Italian Immigrants, Brazilian Football, and
the Dilemma of National Identity.” The reading discusses why players of both Italian and Brazilian descent were faced with the issue of choosing to play in Brazil and represent the country they were from without being paid or going to Italy and become professionals. In the quote it talks about masked professionalism and that is the main part I want to focus on because the players are having to choose between backing their national identity and being paid and having the chance to be a professional player. The players were met with anger and disgust from the media who did not fully understand why a player would leave their home and go and play somewhere else. This would heat up even more when some of the players would get the chance to play for the Italian national team and be considered Italians which would just spark more controversy within São Paulo and its players going to Italy. Players like Filó would go on to Italy and face some issues when playing with Italian players and being seen as Brazilian but would also be a part of Italy’s World Cup winning team. He would be described in the press as Brazilian, which gets back to that idea of national identity and the struggle of trying to find the line between amateurism and professionalism.
Overall, this reading provided great insight into Italian and Brazilian national identity and how the ideas of professionalism and amateurism affect the decisions of players where they decide to play, and who they play for. I felt like the quote at the beginning encapsulated the article the best because it touched on most of the issues facing the two identities and how they would eventually play out and make a great step forward but it would eventually be far from perfect.
