IS AMATEUR FOOTBALL AMATEURISH? ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE PORTO ALEGRE MUNICIPAL CIRCUIT OF AMATEUR ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL

Abstract

This study is an analysis of the notion of organization when related to amateur association football, or soccer. This has been done based on a multi-location ethnic study carried out between February 2009 and December 2011 within the soccer circuit of the city of Porto Alegre, known as the “Municipality of Amateur Soccer”. Within this circuit different immersion trajectories have been produced in order to follow people, practices and artefacts related to the processes of the organization of the teams and the competitions. We have attempted to show how the “amateurish organization” results from the tension between two models, here understood as from the categories of “closest to professional” and “here it’s amateur”. Based on the analysis exercise of the empirical field, we can realize that the expression “amateurish”, within the universe of the soccer organization studied, cannot be simply understood as lack of, or need for, organization, but rather as local constructions that are not so susceptible to the logic of a symbolic universe, since they depend on the recognition of the dynamics and assemblages of everyday life that go beyond the game itself.