NON-FAMOUS EMPLOYEES AND THEIR TIES TO PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL CLUBS IN SOUTHERN RIO GRANDE DO SUL: NARRATIVES, BELONGING AND IDENTITIES

Abstract

This article analyzes how club belonging and identity production are created for non-famous employees who work or have worked in different professional football clubs in the southern region of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Based on the methodology of Oral History, four employees from different clubs were interviewed, leading to the conclusion that club belonging was built in different ways, such as: going to stadiums during childhood; notions of sociability established at the club; the need for an income source; and family influence, even if indirect. Furthermore, the importance of clubs in building subjects’ identities was perceived as the narrators placed clubs only after their families when setting hierarchies. It was also possible to see that non-famous employees root for their teams in different ways during matches, and places chosen and certain attitudes are considered relevant markers for analysis.