Football Tournaments

 

The communities in Bautista Saavedra are, on the whole, fairly autonomous units. People may barter with people from other communities, usually by travelling to a community at a different altitude where different produce is grown as a result of a different climate, but there are very few occasions where people from different communities get-together to socialise. One of the very few of such occasions is when a football tournaments is held. These always take place over two days and  generally (though not always) occur just before a fiesta. They are often entertaining affairs where local pride is at stake and are the venues for scores to be settled from previous competitions.

The most entertaining football tournament I have been witness to was in June in a small community at about 2,500m of altitude. About 10 teams from the surrounding communities had come to compete, with the prize for the winning team being a bull (the prize is always a bull). Although I took with me kit to play in, as I had walked about 6 hours to get to the community where the tournament was being held, I didn't have the energy to play once I arrived. The team that I put my support behind got knocked out in the semi-finals, but their nearest neighbours (let's call them team C) got to the final and played the team fielded by the alcaldia (the mayor's office). Team C are apparently notorious throughout the region for being bad losers and so it proved on this occasion. The game was going well, with all being square at 1-1 until Team C's goalkeeper seemed to handle the ball outside the area. The referee had little choice but to show the red-card. Team C weren't happy about it, but they got on with the game with only a little fuss. Shortly afterwards, their numbers were further reduced when another player from Team C received his marching orders (I didn't see the offence, but Team C complained bitterly about it). At this point things got very heated, with verbal abuse of one of Team C's players towards the referee turning to physical violence; he started by pushing the referee and then from somewhere grabbed a stick and proceeded to pound the referee with it. The ref, rather sensibly, fled across the pitch (while being chased) to take cover under the protection of the organizers of the event, with Team C's player threatening to kill the referee if ever he came across him again. The match was inevitably abandoned, and awarded to the alcaldia, who received the bull as a prize. By the time the prizes were given out, Team C had already left in disgust. I had great fun travelling back in the back of the truck with the bull, all the while doing my best not to be trodden on by said bovine. I asked someone from the alcaldia a couple of weeks later where they were keeping the bull. They told me with a grin that they hadn't had anywhere to keep it, and so had eaten it.