MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile’s passion for soccer fading but great enthusiasm with “La Roja”

Marcelo Bielsa the Argentine coach who has steered the revival of Chile’s national team

Chile’s passion for soccer appears to be fading, notwithstanding the national “La Roja” team’s recent success in making it to this year’s World Cup games in South Africa.

A recent Adimark/National Soccer Association poll of more than 800 adults from the nation’s major urban areas found them less enthusiastic about soccer than they were two years ago, at least among upper income groups.

Only 44.2% of Chile’s upper income groups (the A, B, C1, C2, and C3 economic profiles) named soccer as their favourite sport, down seven to 10 percentage points from 2008.

Strong support for soccer has only grown in Chile’s lower class (the D economic group), up 6.1 percentage points to a record high 71.1%.

Overall, only 60.5% of those polled named soccer as their most popular sport, down from 62.3% in 2008.

The poll found the greatest number of soccer enthusiasts in Puerto Montt, which registered a 79.4% soccer appreciation level. But support in Chile’s two largest urban areas – Santiago and Concepcion – is slowly fading to 58 and 54.6%, respectively.

The poll also found that those older than 46 are the most enthusiastic about the sport (72.5%), while those in the 31 to 45 year-old group lost interest by 6.7 percentage points over the past two years, down to 55.2%.

The poll confirmed, too, that soccer fans are unhappy with the new Chilean national championship system and its end-of-season playoff venue. This new way of selecting the nation’s champion team was “too drawn out” and appealed to only 22.9% of the fans. Much preferred was the old system, where the champion team was determined by the accumulation of points over the entire season.

But disillusionment with the national championship selection system has not kept Chileans from getting more enthusiastic about their national “La Roja” team, led by Argentine coach Marcelo Bielsa.

Prior to 2008, only 39.3% of the public looked upon the team favourably. The failure to reach the 2006 World Cup played a major role in this perception, as did the team’s poor showing at the last Copa America (the South American national championship).

But by the time of 2008 poll, Chile was fourth in qualifying for South Africa and this resulted in a substantially improved rating from the citizenry: to 81.9%. This number grew to 91.9% in 2010, now that the La Roja’s participation in South Africa is assured.

Most of those polled - 52.3% - said coach Marcelo Bielsa was the main reason for Chile reaching the World Cup, while 19,3% credited the players and 8.6% the leadership of Harold Mayne-Nicholls, president of the National Professional Football Association (ANFP). (Harold Mayne-Nicholls hired Bielsa for the coaching job).

Bielsa’s approval rating surged from 80.1% in 2008 - when Chile was in fourth place in the World Cup qualifying matches - to the current rate of 95.4%.

Chileans have traditionally demanded that coaches impose order and discipline on their players, but the 2010 poll found that the public beginning to appreciate other subtleties in the game – the leadership ability shown by different players and their mental strength.

The poll found that fans understand that the team’s current success has been a product of meticulous work and preparation, inspired by the coach, rather than a result of his strict discipline.

The public is also giving the La Roja’s players more credit, with 22.5% of those polled saying the players’ high level of professionalism is very important to their success – up from 16.4% two years ago. Still, the most important ingredient for success, says the public, is the ‘passion that comes from wearing Chile’s red jersey shirt’.

This passion has been evident in the team’s recent success. Attacking displays have defined the team, and garnered compliments from opposition countries.

“The team in South America that is playing the best and proposing something different is Chile,” said Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino, “They have players with good technique, they play attractive football, get a lot of men forward into attacking positions, and look to attack in the cold, in the heat, at altitude, at sea level, at home, away...”

The great majority of those polled - 85.8% - believe that La Roja unifies the country. They say that a nation’s soccer team has the power to unify in a way no other sport can.

Interest in the World Cup has soared because Chile’s team is travelling to South Africa in June. But the poll results also show great expectation in seeing the World Cup anyway, whether Chile is playing or not: 51.9% of those polled said they are interested in seeing every team in South Africa in June.

There is no doubt about the power of the World Cup. It stirs great interest all over the world, no matter who is playing. A good showing from Chile in June might just see those figures rise even more, and unify the country even further in this time of hardship.

By Eugene Fogarty – Santiago Times