May 5, 2008--A League of His Own

As a part-time resident of Mallorca, even as an inveterate baseball fan, it is impossible not to become interested in soccer. Or as they prefer to call it—fútbol.

They, with me trailing in the wake of their enthusiasm, are especially fervent every four years during World Cup. At those times passions truly flow. Players who have left their native countries to play in the Latin American, European, and Asian football leagues return home to join their national teams, and the competition between countries then takes on added political and cultural dimensions. Those who really know these things, me not included, not only root for their countries’ teams but also propound the superiority of their history, way of life, and national systems.

Metaphor takes over and asserts itself on the pitch as well as in the swirl of stories and rumors that surround each of the star players. It is an anthropologist’s and political scientist’s dream. If you want to understand postwar Germany, for example, all one needed to do was look carefully between the cultural lines during the 2006 World Cup which was hosted by the Germans. Not since Nazi days, it was observed, did Germans at home and abroad display so many flags. Though this nationalistic fervor alarmed some with long historical memories, to others this represented the new Germany which felt fully comfortable for the first times in decades overtly and unashamedly expressing national pride. No matter that they didn’t win the Cup. They were proud once again to be Germans.

Then there are the Brazilians. Win or lose, there are always the Brazilians. At first, totally uninitiated, I did not understand why knowledgeable fans said that because of the way the Brazilians play football is the beautiful game. To me all the teams’ styles looked alike. But then during one game in the 2006 Knockout Round, I understood as Ronaldo sambaed his way across the pitch to score Brazil’s first goal against the team from Ghana.

This aging star, who during earlier games was jeered for being overweight and out of shape, not only demonstrated that he still had it but also turned me into a believer and new-born enthusiast for the Brazilian way. That goal, his 15th in World Cup play, also broke the Cup’s all time record and etched his name indelibly in football history.

But now Ronaldo may be making another kind of history. Until recently, like all other world-class players, he had a healthy reputation as a ladies man. This is expected, even required of soccer stars. Almost as much as their World Cup records. In some cases more so. Ronaldo had both—equal success on the pitch and apparently in the bedroom. His girlfriends are legend and included two Playboy centerfolds who the press labeled “Ronaldinhas.”

Recently, front pages all over Brazil are ablaze with reports that Ronaldo, say it isn’t so, was recently questioned by police after he invited three cross-dressing male prostitutes to a hot-sheet, pay-by-the-hour motel.

He does not deny the essence of the story but claims that he tried to pay them and send them away after he learned that they were guys.

But things may be more complicated than that because if true, though nothing Ronaldo did is illegal in Brazil, his image will be forever tarnished in the macho world of fútbol. More so than Barry Bonds’ or Roger Clemens’ is in baseball lore.

According to the first prostitute, “Andreia Albertini,” who is actually a transvestite named André Albertino, once in the motel he suggested inviting two of his cross-dressing “colleagues” to the party. They arrived and some hours after that, according to Señior Albertino, Ronaldo paid them the equivalent of $600 for whatever it is that happened—for their services or, as has been suggested, to hush them up. Albertino, police say, may have asked for $30,000 for himself to keep him quiet. Whatever the details, it doesn’t look good for Ronaldo.

This is far from the first time a Brazilian fútbol star has found himself in sexual-identity trouble. According to the New York Times (article linked below), in São Paulo last year, the head of a well-known soccer team accused another team’s player of being gay. The player sued for slander but the judge who heard the case threw it out, saying that since fútbol is a “virile game,” and not for homosexuals, if he wanted to continue to be gay and play soccer, he should leave his team, which the judge assumed must be entirely straight, and start either a gay team or homosexual league of his own!

Footnote: A few years earlier a group of transvestites who lived in Ronaldo’s hometown, without any judge’s urging, did in fact establish a team of their own.