Football clubs in Argentina commemorate the 50th anniversary of the military coup
On March 24, the Day of Memory, Truth, and Justice commemorates the 50 years since the coup that led to Videla’s bloody dictatorship. Faced with historical reinterpretations by President Milei, Argentine clubs unite to denounce state terrorism and honor the disappeared.
“In this painful present, where cruelty advances and where attempts are made to empty collectives of their meaning, we cling to what sustains us: memory.” These words come from the feminist football collective “La Nuestra”, based in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Villa 31. They are taken from a text posted on their Instagram account.
The 1976 coup opened a phase of fierce repression of political opponents. Years of counter-subversive war supported by the transnational alliance of Operation Condor, marked by systematic torture, political assassinations, and forced disappearances. The number of “desaparecidos” is estimated to be around 30,000, the majority of whom have never been found.
The Federation against State Terrorism
As is their tradition for several years, Argentine football mobilizes to commemorate March 24. The clubs displayed a banner produced by the Federation (AFA) and the League (LPF) reading: “50 years after the military coup, Argentine football remembers.”
This 50th anniversary comes amid tensions between Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia – current president of the AFA and the League – and libertarian fanatic Javier Milei. A strong advocate of club privatization, Milei fails to sway Argentine football. Tapia, often depicted as a pro-government sympathizer, has been targeted in investigations for tax fraud and money laundering.
On this day dedicated to memory, truth, and justice, resistance is also against the far-right government’s attempt to challenge the historical consensus recognizing state terrorism under Videla and the necessary legal pursuit of torturers. Milei’s approach, described as denialist, worries the victims’ families.
Argentine football is not a model of socialism, and many criticisms can be directed at it. But on the issue of remembering the disappeared, it has taken a clear stance for several years. This is evident in the actions and communications for this grim 50th anniversary. The AFA highlights the importance of this day for all Argentine society:
“The Argentine Football Association supports the country’s historical memory by remembering those who suffered the consequences of state terrorism established after the 1976 coup in Argentina. The passage of time does not diminish the importance of memory but reinforces the need to transmit these values to new generations.”
The AFA leaders are aware of the mobilizing power of football in a country where clubs retain an associative format allowing fans to be members. Although not overstating the democratic potential, the sense of belonging and the social anchoring of Argentine clubs are unparalleled. This reflects in the fight for the memory of the disappeared.
Clubs honor their disappeared members
Clubs typically wore patches with the slogan “Nunca Más” or the white scarf logo distinguishing the Mothers and Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, in support of vanished children and grandchildren during the dictatorship. Players from Banfield, Tigre, Independiente, Almagro, Newell’s Old Boys, and Lanús wore these jerseys during the championship preceding the commemorations.
This initiative complements a series of actions by Argentine clubs leading up to March 24, in memory of the National Day for Memory, Truth, and Justice. Racing, highly involved in this field through its “Gender and Human Rights” department, organized a “Memory Week” with various events and meetings. Others, like CA Atlanta, released special jerseys.
Some clubs paid tribute directly to their members among the 30,000 disappeared during the dictatorship. Lanús, for instance, inscribed the names of the vanished club members on the seats of the official La Fortaleza stadium stand. San Lorenzo also held a ceremony honoring its vanished members in the presence of relatives, unveiling a plaque in their memory.
Boca Juniors paid tribute to José Luis Hazan, a club supporter abducted by the military in 1979 along with his wife and 3-year-old daughter and still missing today. The club presented José Luis Hazan’s membership card to his daughter and brothers, along with a jersey bearing the number 12 in his name. The club reaffirmed its commitment to “keeping alive the memory of the 30,000 disappeared left by the last military dictatorship in Argentina.”
Before the match between Newell’s and Gimnasia de Mendoza, local fans displayed a banner “Newells tiene memoria” (“Newell’s remembers”), and members of the “Ronda de Madres” of Rosario paraded on the field behind a banner bearing the faces of their disappeared relatives who passed through the hands of military torturers.
“Memory sown and blooming in the community”
On social media, in the list of players called up to face Platense, Argentinos Juniors mentioned the names of their disappeared members: “Néstor Sammartino, Ernesto Szerszewiz, Guillermo Moralli, Gregorio Nachman, Raymundo Gleyzer, Horacio Moreira, Américo Marchetti, and Tucho Feldman, present today and always.” Major clubs in the country overall disseminated commemorative messages on their official social media. “Independiente does not forget and does not forgive. Memory. Truth. Justice,” posted the Avellaneda club on its social networks.
La Nuestra reminds of the current political stakes in defending memory: “At 50 years since the coup, we call terror by its name: it was not an excess, it was not a mistake, it was a plan. A plan to make bodies, ideas disappear, discipline lives, and silence peoples. Faced with terror: living memory. Memory in motion. Memory sown and blooming in the community. We do not remember alone. We remember in a circle, in a team, in a community.”
