The Story of “Ararat-73”: Football and National Identity in Late Soviet Armenia

Abstract The paper deals with “national revival” in late Soviet Armenia, seen through the lens of football, focusing on the success story of FC Yerevan Ararat in the Soviet football league. This research is based on two academic currents, one dealing with “the nationalities question” in the USSR , and, the other focusing on the relationship between nationalism and sport, particularly football. Supporting Ararat in the late Soviet decades became an experience that provided an expression for Armenian national identity that was going through a revival in the 1960–1970s. Ararat became the centre of consolidation of Armenian national sentiment in late Soviet years. The promotion of the club was part of a larger policy of the Republic’s government, which sought to strengthen the football club as a locus of loyalty and consolidation of the Armenian public. It was both a safety valve for channelling nationalist sentiment, and an instrument for strengthening Armenia’s distinct national identity. Thus, the story of Ararat-73 offers insight into the peculiar relationship between local nationalism and Soviet government policies. On the one hand, the Soviet government allowed and even in certain ways encouraged the national “revivals”. At same time, the government policies sought to contain and manage rising nationalisms.