Cultural Submissiveness

One of the most pathetic things in Brazilian sports journalism is the zeal with which it tries to determine whether Italian teams should be referred to in the masculine or feminine form.

It’s all about “a Juventus” or “a Internazionale,” etc., always under the pretext that Italian teams are “associaziones” (associations), and as such, should be treated as feminine.

First of all, that’s not true. Some Italian teams are “associaziones”, but most of them are not.

We have Associazione Sportiva Roma, but on the other hand, “Juventus” is actually Juventus Football Club (in its original English spelling).

The team that Brazilian newspapers insist on calling “a Inter” is simply Football Club Internazionale Milano (again, in English spelling).

Brazilian media didn’t always have this concern.

It all started with the São Paulo journalist of Italian descent, Sílvio Lancellotti—a food columnist but also a football commentator, specializing in Serie A, the First Division of the Italian championship.

Because of his cultural and family ties, he knew exactly how people in “the old Boot” (as he used to call Italy) referred to the teams.

With the typical Brazilian spirit of imitation (just remember that everything done one day in the United States is copied the next day in Brazil), a fad began in the Braziian press to try and guess whether a team like Venezia, for example, is masculine or feminine in Italy.

(It turns out it's actually masculine: “Il Venezia.”)

The other day I asked a journalist who supports such nonsense: “But how do you know whether a certain team should be referred to in the masculine or feminine form?”

He proudly replied:

“I look it up on Google.”

It didn’t use to be like that. In the past, there was a very simple rule in Brazilian journalism: teams that denoted a native city or nationality (like Fiorentina in Italy or Portuguesa in Brazil) were referred to in the feminine. All others were to be called in the masculine, just like in Brazil we say “o Fortaleza” or “o Bahia.” In the case of Ferroviária, in São Paulo, it actually is an “association.” Its full name is Associação Ferroviária de Esportes.

I might be the only Brazilian sports journalist who still follows common sense—and I will continue to do so. Especially because the use of articles in Italian is quite confusing. You can have “Il” and “Lo” for the masculine, “La” and “L’” for the feminine, and in the feminine plural, “Le.” For example, “Le Donne,” the women.