Cole PCQ 1/7/2014

An interesting idea that the article, The Making of Brazilian Football, brings up is the idea that soccer is a sport that can be learned and played by any social or economical class.  It is an easy game for young children to pick up and practice even if they come from a very poor background such as Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima.

“stocking balls served the purpose for the sandlot games hotly disputed by barefoot players, with goalposts easily improvised from any variety of possible materials”

Soccer became more than just a fun activity for many of the nation’s youth, especially because of the prospects of being drafted to more elite teams.  These elite teams were mainly sponsored by European factories with money to pay the players to play.  They also gave rival cities a chance to compete against each other without actually fighting.  Each team would try and out-play, out-support, and out-fund their rivals.  An environment like this was very conducive to training formidable Brazilian players who had strong national and regional pride for their team.  For them, soccer became a way of life rather than an interesting pastime. Continue reading →