Joseph O’Sullivan (@footballtravelman) is a football creative and teacher who has been traveling the world experiencing football culture.
Recently, a longer stay in Brazil uncovered an amazing community phenomenon, Várzea football. The word 'Várzea' refers to the geographical terrain of the 'floodplain' areas football was first played in Brazil in the late 1800's. 'Várzea' is also a word used to describe anything made precariously, something which is improvised, that is broken or not quite right.
We spoke to Joseph to learn more about his experience.
Can you tell us about who you are and your relationship with football?
I am beyond fortunate as I get to travel around and discover football culture and call it "work." I freelance in content creation, I am a football writer and I also teach languages to footballers, coaches, agents etc as part of a football specific language business called Lingol that I set up. I got to a point where I decided that whatever I was doing to pay the bills had to involve football. Now, that is the case, so I'm absolutely delighted.
What have your travels been like throughout South America recently? What inspired the trip?
I visited Brazil a few times before but it was always too brief a stay. I wanted to learn the language and discover football culture in Brazil instead of stopping off for a weekend and taking in one or two games. Over the last 3 months I was able to dive deeper into Brazil, meet fans and journalists from different clubs, travel to new cities and stadiums and even discover local favela football leagues.
Now tell us about Várzea, and how your found out about it.
Várzea doesn't really translate into English but I would describe it as Brazil's answer to Sunday league. It's similar because it's amateur football played on a Sunday but bar that it couldn't be much more different. Usually games are played on dirt pitches and teams represent their favela or neighbourhood. Games get fiery and the stands fill up with small but passionate organised fan groups who bring flags and flares in support of their team. Várzea is huge in São Paulo and Sunday is a sacred day of football.
What made this Sunday so special? Are there any standout details from the afternoon?
I spent a Sunday watching varzea football in a place called Maúa, SP. A place big enough to be its own city. Here the várzea scene is huge, and the area is made up of lots of different favelas that live to compete against each other. On the day one small stadium hosted back-to-back games, and then in the afternoon I visited friends in a neighbouring Favela called Kennedy. Despite being a small barrio it has its own grass pitch, two local teams and football graffiti was absolutely everywhere on the streets.
What’s the energy like in the neighborhood? Is it friendly? Fierce? A bit of both?
In both Maúa and Kennedy I was welcomed with open arms. People were super friendly and the surroundings felt very safe. I often find that some of the places where people are most skeptical to visit is where the people are most warm. They want the best for their neighbourhood just like anybody else would and they want visitors to take that message with them. The on-field action in Maùa was as heated as anywhere else on the planet, but the off-field action was certainly the most impressive I have seen for local amateur football.
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