Who am I if I am not a Footballer? 'Doing' Identity through the Sport Experience, an Anthropological Perspective

6 1. Introduction 1.1 A bit of History At the beginning of the 80s, I was about 10 years old, Italy was 'the cream' of football on a world-wide scale; Italy had won the World Cup in Spain (1982), and, undoubtedly, the excitement and passion which football had created penetrated into those low social spheres that saw in 'becoming' a footballer an opportunity 'to be' someone in life. However when I gave it up, I was immensely happy at having put an end to what could seem an 'obligation' for a young Italian boy: to play football. I was only 22 years old and felt that I had spent too long running after a 'bag of air’. I decided to make a change in my life, my semi-professional career as a footballer was no more as fulfilling as before, I wanted to be interested in something that was not football; perhaps 'my own' 'conscious' process of self-identification was starting, and almost certainly I was not considering football as part of it. Thus came the ‘London experience’ – this is what most Europeans call it – somehow at the right time, it was a turning point. However, it also meant giving up what I had been doing agonistically for more than 12 years. It was not particularly hard since my decision to stay was followed by almost 2 years of complete disinterest in a sport that was so entangled in violence, becoming so commercial that I did not show any sign of regret, I could not see any source of inspiration in it. However things changed: my body was missing something, whilst the buzz of living in a new country and speaking different languages had become normality, I was settled and things seemed a bit boring. Accidentally (!) I started following English football and found it exciting to watch; further, people in pubs would be so much easier to meet and talk to than it would normally have been; conversations would soon take off if one had something to say about football. Time was ripe to play football in a different country, I would have learned more about the people I was dealing with, and how football was approached and viewed in another country. Obviously I could not expect to play in any official league, and like most ordinary people in the country I found a local amateur team that played Sunday league. I was soon impressed by how ‘seriously’ people would take the match at an amateur level: concentration, physical fitness, co-operation would still be required despite my initial ‘amateur’ approach. After this first English football experience I felt myself 'revitalized', therefore