Mario
Origins of a Nickname
Nintendo: The cause of countless hours staring at TV screens in my youth with the primary culprit being Super Mario. Whether it was Super Mario Bros., or Mario Kart, marathon sessions with friends were commonplace. The popularity of these games wasn’t just isolated to my social circle; this franchise was, and still is, a global phenomenon. Unsurprisingly, over the years anyone with the name Mario typically tends to be dubbed with the moniker of the game’s protagonist. Football also has its own Super Mario: the one and only Mario Balotelli.
The nickname, while in good fun, inadvertently minimizes how seriously Mario is taken; it adds to the aura and character that he’s become. That persona has resulted in some deeper issues often being overlooked, layers worth exploring that provide a more holistic view of him. Once time is taken to do this, the thing Mario is most renowned for, football, quickly becomes a small portion of who he is as a person. Investigating the substantive matters he’s faced off the pitch provides insight into why his career has manifested as it has, and why the general opinion that he’s failed to live up to his potential may be myopic and erroneous.
The Early Years
Mario Barwuah, his birth name, is where a nuanced story in a complex life and society begins. Mario is the second child born to Ghanaian parents who lived in Palermo, Italy at the time of his birth.. When he was one, an intestinal issue struck Mario, leaving the Barwuah’s in a trying position with mounting medical costs. After about a year, his condition improved and the family moved north and settled in Brescia. Sharing an apartment with another family, the Barwuah’s would seek assistance from social services due to Mario’s recent health issues. Social workers would propose placing him in foster care with the Balotelli family as a solution. Thinking it would be in his overall best interest on the heels of a major health scare, the Barwuah’s accepted the proposal. Mario’s life in a new household had officially commenced at the age of two.
This arrangement wasn’t what is known as a “closed type adoption”, where a child knows nothing of their biological family, in fact Mario would see his birth parents and three siblings on the weekends. So while he knew the Barwuah’s, he was also cognizant of the foster situation he was in. Adoption is already a complex subject and experience, so one can only imagine how a young child of African descent, now living with a white family, begins to process this reality.
Mario (left) during one of the weekend visits with the Barwuah’s
Studies show that potential psychological effects experienced by adopted children include:
identity issues
struggling to know where you fit in
difficulty forming emotional attachments
sense of grief/loss for your birth family
Of course only Mario truly knows which of these resonate with him, but considering the publicized experiences he’s faced, it wouldn’t be shocking if he’s wrestled with some, if not all.
Racism and Identity
When I reference publicized experiences, I don’t mean the tabloid fodder he's become inextricably linked to, I’m referring to the racist incidents that have plagued his career. Let’s begin with the identity issues and struggling to know where you fit in as potential challenges faced by adopted children. As if his familial situation didn’t present enough challenges in that regard, the society he grew up in certainly didn’t make things any more pleasurable. Italy isn’t quite like other European nations such as: England, France, Netherlands, and Germany where multiple races routinely make up the national representation.
While there are actually Italians of different races, there is an archaic and exclusionary resistance to this reality. Of course we mustn’t paint all of Italy with a broad brush, but the reality is society in general—not just in Italy—is laden with varying degrees of racism towards people of color. In Italy, there appears to be a standard held by some, that Italians can only be white. As a result, a person with Balotelli’s physical appearance has perpetually faced non-inclusion and racism despite being born and raised in Italy. This experience isn’t isolated to Balotelli, unfortunately it’s shared by many people of color who consider Italy their country, and the only one they’ve ever known.
The experience lived by people of color in Italy
The Ugly Side of Fans
In 2009, during Mario’s time at Inter, some Juventus fans displayed a banner during a match that said, “A negro cannot be Italian.” As if that wasn’t despicable enough, they accompanied that disgraceful message with chants of, “You will never be Italian.” In the following 11 years, there have been similar incidents of racism while he played for Milan from the opposing Roma fans, and most recently during the 2019/20 season while representing hometown club Brescia. In the one year he spent with Brescia, he was on the receiving end of racist monkey chants in matches versus Lazio, and against Hellas Verona, the latter of which almost resulted in him leaving the match. After a temporary suspension of the match, and fellow players pleading with him to continue, he eventually returned.
The ignorance wasn’t limited to his club career, however, as even his international appearances provided sparse protection. In 2012, Italy reached the final of the Euros, their best international performance since the victorious World Cup in 2006. A major contributor to this run was Balotelli, as he was joint top scorer in the tournament with 3 goals, 2 of which came in the critical semifinal victory over Germany.
In the preceding match against England he also performed admirably. In their post match coverage of that quarter final victory against England, one of Italy’s leading sports newspapers, La Gazzetta dello Sport, had a cartoonist ignorantly depict Mario as King Kong.
It was yet another distasteful display of the lack of racial awareness he has been subjected to, even while playing for national team. Imagine the mental toll such ignorance takes on an individual. In spite of that, virtually all the aforementioned club and country examples share one recurring theme: Balotelli was a protagonist in each match. He would score critical goals and display his resilience in all those games despite the abhorrent behavior he was being subjected to. Somehow he’s consistently managed to contend with the immense weight such vitriol undoubtedly laid on him.
Health Concerns
Despite his performances, these experiences remain a hefty burden, and could further contribute to identity issues and a sense of belonging. Additionally, there are ramifications on the mental and physical health of those who are racially abused. In 2015, The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reviewed approximately 300 studies, and established that there are distinct psychological and physiological effects on people who have experienced racism.
The stress that racism induces has been linked to high blood pressure, a condition that presages other critical health issues. Unsurprisingly then, the rates of hypertension in the black community are markedly higher than other racial groups according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There has also been a connection discovered between racist experiences and internal inflammation in the oppressed, which can contribute to heart and kidney issues.
While the effects of racism can manifest physiologically, they are doubly likely to precipitate mental health complications. The studies above indicated that people who experienced racism also reported:
depression
stress
emotional distress
anxiety
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
suicidal thoughts
With all this in mind, the gravity of the treatment Mario has received from fans and some media outlets becomes amplified.
While he’s typically a model of strength and defiance against such ignorance, surely the results of these studies are cause for pause. In normal circumstances, no one is expected to withstand such open racist abuse anywhere—never mind in their workplace—and be immune to the effects of it. It would be unseemly to think Mario would be unperturbed by such incidents, after all, he is only human.
Media Fixation
The Balotelli narrative has unfortunately been skewed by the media as the persistent casting of him as enfant terrible is what sells well. Even a moment where he’s pleading for empathy, such as the famous “WHY ALWAYS ME” shirt celebration after one of his goals for City in the Manchester Derby, was depicted as a smug celebration. Only when he controlled the narrative in a 2012 Time Magazine article, and gave clarity to the shirt’s meaning, did people pause to understand his stance—rather than the media’s. His intent with the message was to simply ask why the British media were fixated on him and always invading his privacy off the pitch.
Sending a message in the Manchester Derby
The manner a 2012 car accident he had in Manchester was reported, starting from the headline, right through the content in the article, lends credence to his stance. Why his intimate life, or the fact he didn’t check on the other driver are included in reporting an accident—something most people aren’t subjected to in similar situations, is asinine. Of course, this is the type of sensationalist, and salacious, coverage that inspired his sartorial protest after scoring against United.
With such reporting permeating through the city of Manchester, it’s no surprise that a clip from the period he played for City recently made the rounds online. The video is of current City player, Phil Foden—10 years old at the time, playing for City’s youth team—being asked by an Italian reporter about his thoughts on Balotelli.
The media’s impact on Balotelli’s public perception is telling when even a preadolescent responds in that manner. The irony of course is that Foden has also had his own off-field incidents in the past two years, but coverage of his extracurriculars have been conspicuously tame compared to that of Balotelli.
Just for a moment, imagine if Mario’s early life history and foster situation may have indeed given rise to general trust issues, or struggles to form emotional attachments, as the studies referenced above mentioned. What then would such opportunist reporting further provoke?
The Numbers
Balotelli’s off field incidents haven’t been any worse than what other players have been involved in, but the scrutiny on him has always been heightened. What he’s accomplished in his career, despite the media’s persistent attention to non-football matters—coupled with the personal familial history he’s overcome—further displays his resilience. As a club player, in 2007, he became Inter’s third youngest goalscorer in a competitive match at the age of 17, scoring in a Coppa Italia match against Reggina.
This commenced a career goal tally that currently sits at 161 goals in 395 matches, and an average strike rate of 0.58 goals per 90 minutes played. For Italy, his scoring record is an equally impressive 12 goals in 23 appearances. With Italy failing to qualify for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, Mario’s goal versus England—in the 2014 Brazil World Cup campaign—is the last goal scored in the competition by the Azzurri to date.
Unfortunately Mario hasn’t been part of the international setup for the past four years. The mother of national team coach, Mancini, publicly voiced her thoughts on who would have made a difference in the recent 2022 World Cup qualifier defeat against North Macedonia, which denied Italy a place in Qatar. In her opinion, it was clear, a call up for Balotelli would’ve swayed the result in Italy’s favor.
In 15 seasons playing for nine clubs, Mario has won:
3 Scudetti with Inter
1 Premier League with Manchester City
1 Champions League with Inter
Some of these trophies, especially the latter, have never been achieved by even some the game’s greats. Over the years various teammates of his have stated that he is quite unlike his portrayal in the media. Instead, they describe him as a harmless, sometimes eccentric, character in the dressing room.
One of his former City teammates, Nedum Onuoha, who shares this sentiment, recently interviewed Balotelli for The Athletic. The conversation they shared was substantive with many talking points including: his ongoing belief that, while he can’t profess to be on Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi’s level regarding trophies, his technical ability has always been on par with both. The lasting impression that resided from the article, however, wasn’t that soundbite, it was the growth that Mario exhibited.
Still Going
Currently playing for Adana Demirspor—in Adana, Turkey—Mario exudes mindfulness during that interview with Onuoha. Content and focused on his football, he says, “At this moment, there are not really people talking bad about me. I’m always training. Thank God, I live in a city where there is not much to do. You can go to the cinema or something like this so there is really nothing to talk about here. And that’s what I always want, I want people to talk about football, not my life, you know, and this is happening now so I’m happy about this.”
That last sentence speaks volumes in its simplicity, but there is also a palpable frustration that he hasn’t been afforded that for much of his career. In addition to his new pace of life, he talked about the impact of having his two kids a few years prior; for him, such life changing events provided a clarity that he’s appreciative of.
As mentioned in the quote above, he observes the correlation between the decline in coverage recently, and his more subdued demeanor resulting in nothing sensational for the media to spin. Sure, he hasn’t been playing at elite level clubs in the last few years, but the reduced spotlight isn’t purely down to that. Attention could still be given to the fact that this current season, in the Turkish Süper Lig, his returns were the following:
18 goals (Adana’s top scorer)
Second highest scorer in the league (two behind the league leader)
Goals per 90 - 0.77 (top of the league)
Total shots on target - 56 (top of the league)
Shots on target per 90 minutes - 2.41 (top of the league)
This production helped Adana eventually finish 9th, their highest position in 39 years, and even ahead of traditional heavyweight Galatasaray in 13th. His final goal of the season, the last of five he scored in the same match, is surely a contender for goal of the season (see below).
Of course none of that appeals to the preferred Balotelli narrative. Instead, leave it to pockets of the media to only give attention to his Turkish spell by falsely reporting he punched a teammate this past season. In actuality, out of frustration at the match and for being substituted, he hit the bench, and as his hand came back down it made contact with his colleague’s shoulder/elbow. Sadly, the fallacious story about Mario in a violent exchange with a teammate will sell more than the one highlighting his current form, so that’s what makes the rounds.
Legacy
Balotelli has been a presence for so many years now that it’s easy to forget he’s still only 31. His age serves as a reminder of his longevity, but also how young he was when he first became a known quantity in football. Signing for a club of Inter’s stature when you’re only 16 is no small feat. Additionally, being more than just a role player at an elite club from the age of 17-20, scoring 20 league goals in 59 matches, is remarkable.
When he moved to Manchester City, still only 20, and managed a league goal return of 20 in 54 matches in the following three seasons, he further cemented his ability despite his youth. The point here is that, yes, there were off the field incidents occurring during that period, but the production remained and spoke volumes.
How does one handle the circumstances Mario has faced? Your childhood and upbringing presented significant challenges that requires extensive time to process. You grew up in a country where, on some days, you’re treated as an outsider, and on others, open racism endeavored to make you feel inferior. The football talent and ability you possess thrust you into a lifestyle of wealth, fame, and scrutiny at a tender age.
A fully grown adult’s mental health would be challenged by such scenarios, never mind a teenager or someone in their early 20s. Nevertheless, the empathy granted to Balotelli has been scant. Obviously it’s difficult to say with certainty how such a reality is confronted unless you’re embroiled in it. I don’t know, what were you doing when you were 17? I was playing Nintendo. It’s hard to imagine managing such things while being so young, but the feeling, in Balotelli’s case, is he was hardly granted any leeway.
After everything he has experienced and accomplished, coupled with his present maturity, there’s a valid argument that he has actually fulfilled his potential on and off the field. Only he should be entitled to speak on whether he feels his career thus far has fallen short of expectations. He’s faced, and overcome, what so many couldn’t fathom, and he’s still persevering.
He has grown into his own as the years have passed, and now seems to have a true sense of his identity. He told Onuoha in the interview with The Athletic that he is, “African Italian, and proud of both.” A quick look at his Instagram page further illustrates this, as the name he has selected for his profile has come full circle: Mario Balotelli Barwuah. Computer game characters aside, there’s certainly something “super” about Mario.
Mental health terms referenced above:
Mindfulness - a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique (Oxford Languages)
Anxiety - a mental condition characterized by excessive apprehensiveness about real or perceived threats, typically leading to avoidance behaviors and often to physical symptoms such as increased heart rate and muscle tension (Oxford Languages)
Depression - a mental condition characterized by feelings of severe despondency and dejection, typically also with feelings of inadequacy and guilt, often accompanied by lack of energy and disturbance of appetite and sleep (Oxford Languages)
Stress - state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances (Oxford Languages)
Empathy - understanding a person from his or her frame of reference rather than one’s own (American Psychological Association)
Resilience - the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress—such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors (American Psychological Association)
Growth - the development of any entity toward its mature state (American Psychological Association)
All statistics above are from: www.fbref.com and www.statsbomb.com