Keeping Amateur Football Alive

Rodrigo Erib, Brazil

Rodrigo Erib is a photographer from São Paulo. He has been playing for Autônomos FC since 2008, and supports Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras.

My name is Rodrigo and my relationship with football has been constant, especially playing. My favourite object as a small kid was definitely a football. I first played for a team during school in a club called Sesc in São Paulo, Brasil.

I have been part of a team since 2008, Autônomos FC from São Paulo. I also support a professional football club, Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras. I go to a match about once a year. I live near the stadium and the social club, which I use for football, yoga very early in the morning, coffee at the bar, lunch, parties, drinking a beer, watching the games in the bar. I really go often.

I feel a very close connection with football because it is my favourite sport and part of my social life also. I have been involved with football since I was a very little kid, like almost everybody. It is one of the most important things in my life, really.

What impact has Autônomos FC had on the local community and on you?

I was part of another team called Trem das Onze and we played against Autônomos, so I saw that Autônomos was more organised and had values that matched mine in the way to play and see the world. We believe another kind of football is possible, one that if it is not professional, does not have to emulate its commercial standards and be more free.

I see the team as a community. Having one game per week makes us very busy, both keeping the team alive in its structure (finances, uniforms, tournaments, and engaging politically) plus the game itself. The club believes in the idea of providing football for everybody. Sometimes we engage in activism, such as demonstrations around the World Cup 2014 in Brazil, and protests against gentrification that turns football pitches into buildings that are only accessed by upper classes.

What did you try to show with the photos? Was there any wider meaning with the photos?

The photos were taken in places where amateur football survives in São Paulo, Brazil. Football is struggling forever because of the growth of the city. The city has no interest in having real football fields, as they are more rentable instead of having a green beautiful open air place.

There is no room for football in a city that is only interested in money and not a sustainable and healthy way of life. In the global south it seems that there is no culture of respecting leisure. A six-day working week still exists in legislation. If you have just one day per week to rest, you are going to clean your house and rest. When are you supposed to play football? Day by day football in Brazil is becoming only for professionals and not for the people.

I tried to show our joy and also despair at the conditions of what amateur football in Brazil is like. The photos give the impression of how abandoned amateur football in Brazil is. As I said, it is a pleasure, a joy, but the conditions are very poor.

At the places we play football there is not even toilet paper in the bathroom and no grass on the field. Still, the beer is cold. Good conditions are only possible with spending money in fancy and private places. One cannot call this the "country of football" with the public conditions we have here.

What role does football play in your life and in your community?

The people I play with at Autônomos FC are the ones I spend the best days of my life with. It is the best moment of the week. Football is the place where I feel good. I hope I can keep playing despite my age. I feel in shape to keep playing as a veteran, so my goal is to keep playing well.

We have also done some trips as a team to play in other cities and countries, like Rio de Janeiro and Florianópolis in Brazil, Fray Bentos in Uruguay, Gualeguaychú and Jesús María in Argentina, Bristol in the UK, and Bologna in Italy.

We always had an internationalistic way of thinking, so we bond with groups that have the same ideology of trying to do the best for the amateur football community, playing football while sharing ideas and friendship. We believe in the importance of breaking boundaries and frontiers to avoid alienation, and knowing other parts of the world.

What do you think the future looks like for football in your community and in Brazil? What would you like to change?

Football plays the big role of getting people together, maintaining a community, keeping it united and healthy. I think football is important worldwide, not just for Brazilian society. It is so important because of its therapy benefits, it is when you can forget about problems and work with your emotions.

I worry a little bit about football in my community because of the lack of renovation. Young people are not so involved and we are getting old. What I would like to change is the infrastructure and conditions so we have better pitches, with natural grass, dressing rooms and all the surroundings. Football could help to have a better city, a healthier city.