Readers’ Forum Fútbol in San Miguel, it’s a kick! By Jim Henry

Sometimes, walking along calle Umarán near the Jardín, you’ll notice a knot of people peering in the window of that bar in the front of Mama Mia’s. When you look in to see what they’re watching, it turns out to be what we call a “soccer” game.

The Mexicans, of course, call it fútbol, and without a doubt it is the country’s favorite sport. It is the most popular sport in the world, a fact drummed into us every even-numbered year that is not divisible by four, during the World Cup. And yet, outside of watching the occasional game when, and if, the US makes it to that event, most Americans hardly give the game any notice.

But if you’re living in Mexico, wouldn’t you like to know a little about the game? You can learn something by going out to watch San Miguel’s own professional team. It’s a great deal of fun. Okay, I grant you, Atlético San Miguel isn’t one of the big-name teams in the country. Understandably, those teams reside in the bigger cities and tend to have national followings. América, located in Mexico City, is the most popular team in the country, according to one poll. Chivas, from Guadalajara, runs second. Certainly Chivas has the most flamboyant uniforms (broad red and white stripes with blue highlights), so their fan base—both men and women—is visible everywhere.

Fútbol uniforms seem strange to folks from the USA because, unlike our baseball and football uniforms, the space on them can be bought. Every Primera División team in the Liga Mexicana (Mexican Soccer League) has a major and a minor sponsor, whose corporate logos are printed right on the team uniforms. These logos are often more visible than the team crest, which usually appears somewhere on the chest or a sleeve. The sponsor names, however, are big and bold. One major sponsor is Mexico’s biggest baking company—Grupo Bimbo. It is the fourth largest food company in the world and sponsors three of the eighteen Primera División teams.

San Miguel’s team is a long way from the glory, the whoopla and the money of the Primera División. Our team labors in the Tercera (Third) División. Despite the name, this is actually the fourth (and lowest) level in the Mexican league system. While the big matches in Mexico City and Guadalajara might draw 50,000 fans, Atlético San Miguel will be lucky to pull in 200.

This does not mean the fans are any less enthusiastic in support of their team. They arrive with drums, noisemakers and a ready store of snappy epithets suggesting referee myopia. They make their presence felt. On the whole, the crowd tends to be better behaved than what you might encounter on a Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. The games feel like family events and given the relatively small crowd, it seems likely that the families would be largely those of the players. My wife and I have been to a half dozen games and we’ve never seen more than two or three other gringos in attendance.

No matter who you are, you sit on concrete. The near-side grandstand is, however, totally covered, so you sit in the shade. On the other side of the field are open bleachers. Traditionally, the far-side seating is for fans of the visiting team, but because the San Miguel games are played in the late afternoon and because, as a general rule, the sun sets in the west and thus in the eyes of the far-side fans, practicality prevails and even the visiting fans tend to sit on “our” side in the shade.

Once in the “comfort” of your concrete seat, watching the teams go through their warm-up exercises, you can survey the food and drink possibilities. Cold beer and soft drinks are offered at about US$1.20, which compares quite favorably with the $7.50 or $8.00 you’d pay at any US Stadium.

When it comes to food, there is no comparison. I’ve never found a single food item at an Atlético San Miguel game for sale at any baseball or football game in the States. Peanuts and Cracker-Jacks give way to chickpeas and chicharrones, plus a number of items whose names I don’t even know.

All in all, it’s a very fun afternoon. So why have you never been to a game? Maybe because you never knew there were games. To find out about the games you have to pay attention to a most democratic medium—lampposts. As far as I know, this is the only form of promotion employed by the team. A week or two before a game, roughly printed flyers start appearing, taped to a few select lampposts around town. Keep your eyes open.

Noticing these posters is the hardest part of finding a game, because the rest is simple. The Atlético San Miguel games are usually played on weekends at Estadio “Capi” Correa, located behind the old Gigante Supermarket near the Tuesday Market. We’ve always taken a cab and never had to give any more explicit directions than the name of the stadium. We once got a ride from a cab driver who, upon arriving at the stadium, decided to simply knock off for a couple of hours and stay for the game himself. This worked out well for us, as we had a ready-made ride home when the game ended.

The outside of the stadium is a brick wall painted white and at the near end, a hole in the wall serves as the ticket window. The tickets are general admission and cost 20 pesos. The last two times I’ve gone, I had the honor of buying tickets from the eponymous “Capi” Correa himself.

Inside, find a vantage point near midfield, settle in and enjoy the atmosphere. All fútbol games consist of two halves of 45 minutes’ running time with a 10- or 15-minute intermission. The whole event is over in less than two hours. The games generally start at 4pm, so by 7pm you can be drinking a margarita at the bar at Harry’s, telling the gringos about the spectacular goal our new striker scored. You also will have enjoyed a sporting experience that is probably more truly Mexican than bullfighting. 

Letters

Editor,

Muchas Gracias from IREE. On behalf of the children of Instituto de Rehabilitación y Enseñanza Especial (IREE), the San Miguel school for deaf children, I wish to acknowledge and thank the many people who helped to make possible the benefit production The Death of Reason which recently played at Teatro Santa Ana. 

The play, performed January 14–18, not only helped to raise further awareness and rally much-needed community support for the school, but also raised 6,000 pesos to be donated to IREE. The amount donated represents the net profit of the event following production costs.

Special thanks go to the play’s cast, crew and creative team, who donated countless hours of time and effort, to Deb Connor of DC Events, and to Ricardo Sautto of Bacco Ristorante. The restaurant provided a wonderful setting for the opening-night reception for the 54 audience members who sponsored the event with above-ticket-price donations. 

The theater production was part of a multi-tiered fundraising effort to benefit the school, including an event at The Restaurant, and a recent film series. The school, however, continues to need financial help to keep it operating through 2009. With continued support from the community, we feel confident that we can continue to provide an essential education, as well as a caring environment, for the children. 

Cecilia Escobar
Director IREE

Editor,

I would like to express my thanks to you for publishing my photograph “Decision” last week. The photograph was made in the campo and is intended to depict the young people’s dilemma: whether to stay on the farm or to seek opportunities elsewhere.

Photography that tells a story has been my interest for many years. In 2001, I began to photograph the people of Mexico in their environment. You may recall that it resulted in an exhibition of 40 photographs at the Instituto in 2004.

I am looking forward to submitting additional work from time to time.

Richard Wolfeld
.