Uruguayan Football History
Uruguayans always looked to the British. Since those early days in the open spaces of Punta Carretas, the Uruguayan’s relationship with the game of the ‘crazy English’ evolved from curiosity, to admiration, to imitation. Given the opportunity, the Uruguayan took the game and made it their own. They say from there developed that famous, home-grown Creole style, Continue reading “The 1909 Tottenham-Everton tour of the River Plate”
I trusted everything Eduardo Galeano wrote about football. I still do. His writing was as authoritative as it was beautiful. He told us about those crazy English, who brought their exclusive game to Buenos Aires and Montevideo, and those lowly Creoles, who seized the pastime of the elite and made it their own. Continue reading “John Harley: the Scot who transformed Uruguayan football”
Héctor Scarone, José Nasazzi, Obdulio Varela. Such names are synonymous with Uruguay’s achievements from another time. Whether it were the skill and opportunism of Scarone, the brute force of Nasazzi, or the pure inspiration of Varela, each left an imprint in the collective memory of Uruguayan football lovers. Continue reading “Forlán”
The first welfare state in the Americas. The first to field black players in international tournaments. The first South American champions, and the first world champions. They hosted the first World Cup. They invented the vuelta olimpica (the victory lap). Continue reading “Gardel”
“Those at FIFA are a bunch of old sons of bitches”
To those familiar with contemporary debates surrounding the governance of world football, the statement above is not shocking. When muttered by a current head of state however… Continue reading “‘Pepe’ and ‘La Celeste’: another re-think of the ‘garra Charrua’”
