Fútbol
Football
or Fútbol...
I am currently teaching English in a small town located in Spain, where I have been learning what fútbol really means, to the town and to Spain.
When heard out loud football and fútbol sound the same, but between the United States and Spain, the sport of football and fútbol are two completely different things. One thing that is the same, is an American’s and a Spaniard’s love for the game. In America, Sundays are for football. The day is spent representing your favorite team and enjoying some buffalo chicken dip or chili as you cheer, holler and scream at the tv. The NFL team you are cheering on is normally based on where you live. As for me, being a Chicago Bears fan, I always hold on to the hope that they are gonna win this game, but most of the time I am left disappointed. As for college football fans, your day starts bright and early. Loading up the car with coolers, tables and chairs to make your way over the football stadium’s parking lot. There you open up your trunk, drag out the canopy and start up the smokey joe to get the hotdogs and burgers grilling.
But in Spain there is no such thing as American football, only fútbol. In the school, right after the students ask where I am from and how old I am, the next important question that follows is what is my favorite fútbol team, Real Madrid or Barcelona. When I give my answer of ‘Real Madrid’ half the class sighs and half the class cheers. These two teams hold the hearts of the Spaniards and the students pick between the two. In Spain there is a different type of obsession for fútbol than what is apparent in America. Fútbol seems to be everyone’s favorite hobby. Everyone plays fútbol, everyone loves fútbol. Seriously, everyone. During the break at school, students rush to play fútbol and during the weekends when kids aren’t playing fútbol they are watching fútbol, going to the town’s fútbol stadium. There, fans’ choice of snack are sunflower seeds, similar to baseball games in the United States. Fans snack on one sunflower seeds after another and they are scattered everywhere in the stands.
With my time in my small town I have joined the Women’s fútbol, team, Fútbol Femenino, really jumping into the experience of Spanish culture of fútbol. for women. In Spain the passion of fútbol is primarily with the men, it is not as popular of a sport for women. Many girls slowly stop playing as they grow older and rarely do you see any of the girls playing fútbol at school during the break. I culture around women who play fútbol is very different in Spain. There is defined stereotype and image that women fútbol players are given. It could be because of this defined stereotype that girls slowly stop playing as they grow older. On the field or should I say battle ground, the girls do not hold back. It can get ruthless out there and easily become a battle over a game. Many time the whistle is blown as a girl needs a few minutes to recover from a collision. It is more likely to suffer a dislocated jaw than an ACL tear.
Every practice I slowly understand and add more and more fútbol Spanish words to my vocab. There are still many time when I have no idea what is going on and I start defending a girl that is suppose to be on my team. Even with the language barrier the girls have been friendly, offering smiles and thumbs up during practice and even mixing in a few English words.