There is a lot to say about Argentina and football that we are not saying today. There is a lot about Argentina and football that we are saying today. We’re even saying things about saying things about football in Argentina: Christopher Hylland joins me, an English author and educator with a Latin American past and a Norwegian present. His football-centric travel report Tears at La Bombonera is out since 2021, and he has just published a second one, a unique journey to the land where linguistics and football meet. The book is called Dame Bola: A Journey Through the Language of Argentinian Football. First, however, we discuss what is going on in Argentinian politics and football today, under the presidency of Javier Milei who is fulfilling his campaign promises to put a libertarian chainsaw to the Argentinian state and economy. Part of the flurry of reforms was a presidential decree to allow privatization in Argentinian football and turn clubs into limited liability companies, open to investors. This could be a historic change to what a sports, or soccer, club IS in Argentina. (There are some parallels to when Raphael Molter was here and we talked about 50+1 in Germany, and you know from other episodes as well that I really care about the role clubs can play in the community. Clubs, not companies.)
HELPFUL LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
Christopher Hylland on Milei's push to privatize (Substack, Free)
Christopher Hylland on Instagram and Bluesky
Dame Bola website
Dame Bola reviewed on Cultured Football
Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.
If you enjoy this podcast and think that what I do fills a gap in soccer coverage that others would be interested in as well, please
- Recommend The Assistant Professor of Football. Spreading the word, through word of mouth, truly does help.
- Leave some rating stars at the podcast platform of your choice. There are so many sports podcasts out there, and only ratings make this project visible; only then can people who look for a different kind of take on European soccer actually find me.
Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind
Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.