Soccer in the Atacama Desert
My brother Scott is currently spending a quarter abroad in Chile. While traveling in the Atacama Desert, the driest place on earth, he came across a couple soccer fields, one of which had a game going on at the time. The scenery is striking and I asked him to give me permission (heck, I told him, he’s my younger brother) to post them here. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Scott writes that “the first two pictures were from the side of a dirt road about 10km northwest of San Pedro de Atacama. A couple friends and I were biking out to Tulor, the site of the oldest excavated village in the region, when we accidentally rode onto the set of a German movie being filmed about a German man who falls in love with an indigenous woman. After being yelled at, we went back and stopped on the side of the road to wait for them to stop filming. Right alongside the road was this soccer field with wooden goals and chalked out lines, missing only nets and (obviously) grass.”
Scott continues, telling me that the next few pictures “were from a small town 30-something kilometers southeast of San Pedro called Toconao. It’s a small indigenous community with a population of approximately 500. A few of us arrived in Toconao as part of a tour of the region and walked around for a half hour. First thing we noticed was that many of the shops and restaurants seemed to be closing, despite the fact it was noon. We soon realized why: the town’s girls soccer team had a game against a rival from a nearby town. It’s not entirely evident in the photos, but it seemed as if at least half the town was out to watch the game. Toconao (the team with blue and white jerseys) had crisp, clean, matching uniforms, not to mention nets on their goals while their opponents just had matching jerseys and many played in pants instead of shorts. Toconao was winning 1-0 when we left.”
Of the last pictures, Scott writes that they are “of a soccer field on the outskirts of San Pedro itself. It seemed to be affiliated with a local school because they were right next to each other. Again, a sandy field with big rocks in it for some reason, but these goals were metal frames instead of wooden rectangles, though they also lacked nets. Perhaps someone puts up the nets when there’s a game to be played.”
Do you have any pictures of soccer fields from out of the way places? I’d love to publish them here. Perhaps it could even be a regular feature. Email me with ideas or pictures at david [at] cultureofsoccer [dot] com.
October 22nd, 2007 21:16
I have to say that one thing that really struck me about these pictures is the fact that girls were playing. The stereotype is that women in Latin America don’t play soccer and so seeing a girls’ team in an incredibly rural and indigenous was a (pleasant) surprise to me.
October 23rd, 2007 17:29
Wow, great to see pictures of the atacama. i have enjoyed your blog immensely in general, and am just commenting here because i played for a club and a university in chile. one thing about the grassless fields. there are ubiquitous in south america, africa too. our university team in vina del mar (actually universidad de la catalica de valparaiso) trained on a dirt pitch. the only problem was when the lights were cut out during the middle of our practices due to periodic black outs which were due to the drout. anyway, i love your blog, i have played my whole life, all over the world, and now i run a street soccer progam for the homeless and am responsible for organizing the us team to the homeless world cup. keep up the good work, lawrence
October 24th, 2007 16:01
There are some great teams from Northern Chile playing in Division 1 of the Chilean league. What is weather when you are playing soccer? Soccer is life; everything else is details
October 25th, 2007 10:31
Ignacio – My brother is the one who is in Chile so I don’t know what the weather is like down there. Sorry!
October 25th, 2007 12:20
Have been lurking on your site for a bit – really enjoy your comments. So when I saw this article about my home country, I had to post. Truth be told, even in the southern parts of Chile where rain is not unheard of, a majority of the fields are patches of dirt mixed with stains of grass and rocks. But, no one cares. Just playing the game we all love is good enough – no matter where. Great pics. Keep up the good work.
October 29th, 2007 11:57
I don’t know if you are familiar with this photographer, but check out his website: http://www.hansvandermeer.nl/
He has made photos of pitches in amateur leagues all over Europe, and they all have that grassroots atmosphere to them. I myself like that picture of Knippla, Sweden best.
October 29th, 2007 12:18
By the way, the photographer I mentioned above also made a photobook about “The other final” http://www.theotherfinal.com. Both his photobook and the documentary are a real treat for people who like football in it’s essence, stripped of the usual hysteria.
October 29th, 2007 18:40
Lorik – I have heard of Hans van der Meer and have always wanted to get my hands on some of his books. Perhaps I will try to do so and see if I can arrange an interview with him. I love his photographs.
January 27th, 2009 08:47
[...] players like nowhere else in the world. I find myself driving and seeing beautiful fields that we don’t have in South America, and they’re empty and it’s sad. I think of all the times when I was little and thought, I wish [...]
July 7th, 2009 10:25
Hello everyone. Here I find myself looking and reading about soccer in the USA, and how it had affected the immigration of professional soccer player to this country (for a college essay). Surprisingly, I found these pictures and they touch me. Because I am from Chile, from the city of Antofagasta that is to the coast of the Atacama Desert, and it is so rewarding to see such recondite and forgotten place reaching us as a reminder that simple things are still available to all of us. It is impressive to see that the spirit of the most popular sport in the world can reach these hidden places around the world, but it is so hard to understand that football is still having struggles to reach this country simply because racial issues or discrimination reasons. For example, Jack Kemp said, “I think it is important for all those young out there, who someday hope to play real football, where you throw it and kick it and run with it and put it in your hands, a distinction should be made that football is democratic, capitalism, whereas soccer is a European socialist [sport].”
I hope this mentality changes soon for the sake of the sport in this country and the people who practice it. Keep up the good work.
April 29th, 2010 10:51
[...] from The Culture of Soccer (though the picture is actually from [...]