Futebol: Coritiba in Curitiba

Before coming to Brazil, I knew that futebol was a very important aspect of life to Brazilians, but I had not realized the extent the spirit that came with futebol until attending the game in Curitiba. In class we discussed the teams and the the way that futebol connects people in Brazil in the clubs. I have never been a person who was invested in playing or watching sports, but when I was in the stadium I found myself become excited whenever Coritiba was about to score and devastated if they missed. When the Coritiba team entered the field, the Coritiba fans went wild. They yelled chants and played drums with so much energy that it made we want to yell and jump as well. The outer appearance reminded me of a baseball game in the Boston where the people are walking around and selling food and drinks. However, in the futebol game, the fans all seemed completely invested in the game more than the atmosphere. Cheering was important in order to fuel the game play, but the entire crowd would focus when there was important action occurring in the game. 

I remembered noting in class the assumption that I had heard from people about Brazilians having a natural talent, but not the teamwork aspect of futebol as much. When watching the game, I saw a lot of teamwork from both teams, thus disproving what I had heard from others. The players maneuvered the ball with an enormous amount of skill, but I know that the crowd and spirit was what made the game. When a player from Coritiba shot and missed so many people in the crowd would get upset and throw their hands in the air and curse. Whenever a player on the opposing team would miss or make the ball go out of bounds, the crowd would also go wild and curse them out as well.

When I was watching the players and the game of futebol, I thought back to class and how there were the “rice powder” teams. Looking at the Coritiba team, I noticed most of the players were white, and I saw few that were not white. I thought that maybe they were a "rice powder" team, so I decided to look up the demographics of Curitiba so see if they reflected the population. The population in Curitiba is actually 78.9% white people and 19.7% pardo and black people, so the difference in race in the team made more sense. However, it was interesting to note most of the non-white people on the team were of lighter dark skin. 

I felt so lucky to be able to experience a Brazilian futebol game, with all of the energy. Even though our team lost, it was easy to see how so many Brazilians are committed to their teams and get completely invested.