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Managing furia latina: the making of a Romanian football system and style of play

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Florin Faje
Florin Faje*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
*
Email: florin_faje@yahoo.com
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Abstract

This article investigates the creation of a Romanian football style and system of play, best espoused by the Romanian national teams of the 1990s. It does so by engaging the works of Virgil Economu (1896–1978), undoubtedly the leading Romanian practitioner in the field. The analysis develops around the notions of furia latina – Latin fury – and “élan” and traces their elaboration and implication at two different historical periods, the interwar and the postwar. Premised on these notions, Economu sought to develop a distinctly Romanian style of football play, one emphasizing speed and individual technique. The successes of Romanian football in the 1980s and early 1990s, the rise of the midfielder Gheorghe Hagi, and the popular meanings attached to them are all intimately connected with Economu's contributions. Overall, my arguments document football's crucial role for modern Romanian nationalism.

Keywords

footballstyle of playélannationalismRomania
Type
Introduction
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 44 , Issue 6 , November 2016 , pp. 904 - 918
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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