…Finding Football in Brasil.
Bom Dia.
It shouldn’t be hard to find football in what is considered to be the home or at least the heartbeat of our beautiful game and on most given days of the week when the sun is shining and the weather appears from paradise it most certainly wouldn’t be.
Turn up at the turnstile for most Brazilian League fixtures and you’d be likely to find yourself a spot in the stadium, this of course is unless you’ve attempted to watch one of the bigger teams that populate this incredible country.
I earmark teams such as Palmeiras, Flamengo, Mineiro.
You then have many other teams that adorn and complete the picture of a predominantly 3 tier system compromising of A, B and C leagues respectively.
Yes, Yes there are many other leagues and there are certainly many other cup competitions but trust me on this, that is for another article. You’d only have to look at the structure of these competitions to give yourself a dull headache in regards to how they actually work, Liberatores and the like.
Moving Forward and shedding some light onto the course of this article is my adopted Brazilian team, Sport Recife.
I make no bones that I usually tarnish any clubs prospects once I’ve set my gaze on offering my diluted support even from as far as across the Atlantic. It would appear that any club I chose to follow falls into a barren patch that attempts to not only relegate the club but also push them towards absolute non-existence.
Take for example Queens Park Rangers…case closed.
Sport Recife play their football in the North-East of Brazil in a state named Pernambuco. The North-East is a glorious part of the country none more than for its beautiful coastal areas and views of the Atlántico. The aforementioned of course brings its own tumultuous plight to the fore with the occasional season of tropical downpours, wrecking havoc on the local community with flooding and turmoil to agriculture which is paramount to survival throughout most neighborhoods.
It of course lays havoc to any local Football Fixtures.
Yes I am attempting to watch the beautiful game in this particular region and you soon find out as a tourist that travelling to other regions not only takes up to days of travel but you’d also be faced with the unprecedented chance of the game being postponed for the same reasons.
In Brazil there is no such thing as a quick pop out to the shops for a paper and a pint of milk…oh no, especially dressed in full gringo attire. Without brushing aside the football talk, homicides in Brazil are fairly regular and usually coincide with chance robberies. I say no more.
So we move slowly to my quest of finding a ticket to a game of Football in Brazil during the rain season. There are of course more pressing issues to address than watching Football, but if you’ve got this far into the article then you’re probably just as obsessed with the game as me.
The Sport Recife website reads as if there is no issue and no red alerted weather warning for their game against Ponte Preta, however in local areas people are literally using Jet Ski’s to get around town, I kid not.
On a more serious note people living in certain areas are struggling with water levels which has not only caused homelessness but also death. Sport club Recife have made great strides in offering the “Ilha do Retiro” as a welcoming salvation for people effected.
As always people and the welfare of a whole region effected by the weather comes very much before 22 people kicking a lump of leather around a park.
I hope to enlighten you with a further article of my success in venturing to a game involving my adopted Sport Recife…however for the time being I am very much waiting in the hands of the Gods.
Brazil isn’t the worst place to be for that.
“Cristo Redentor“
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