Class (Civil) Warfare

I take my customary place near midfield to observe today's action. This time, however, I stand beneath an umbrella to protect myself from the torrential downpour from above. The desert southwest is taking its biggest drenching in recent memory. The fields are soggy and muddy, and the sun seems to have taken a leave of absence.

Players, coaches, parents, and fans begin to arrive at the field about 45 minutes before the scheduled kickoff. Unlike the previous week, there does not appear to be a sizable gap in the social statuses of the two teams. They both seem to be primarily upper-middle class. Players from both teams arrive in brand name warmup jackets and pants.

Parents begin to fill up the sideline. Most are under umbrellas and holding cups of coffee. Unlike last week, parents of the two teams seem to have an interest in each other. Friendly conversation can be heard taking place up and down the sideline. The most common questions are about previous results in the league and the opposite team's most exciting players. In addition to talk about soccer, a lot of friendly banter is also taking place.

Both teams have organized warmups run by the coaches. One team plays a significant amount of keep away, and they look like they will emphasize possession of the ball. The other team does lots of shooting and long passing. The drills a team chooses to use in warmup usually hint toward the type of soccer they are going to try to play. At this point, it looks like the first team will possess the ball and go about business in an organized, controlled way, while the other team will try to use fast counter attacks and precise long balls to undo their opponent.

The game starts, and my predictions prove to be almost spot on. The first team dominates possession, but the second team still looks dangerous when they win the ball. There is no clear juggernaut.

As the game becomes more chippy, the parents start to get after each other a little bit. Nothing is blatantly disrespectful, but there are lots of backhanded comments and subtle digs.

One man in particular is very loud and fired up. He seems to forget that this is just a match between thirteen year-olds, not the World Cup. His comments are directed toward anyone who will listen. The referee, the opposing players, and the opposing fans are all subject to his abuse. After a particularly nasty comment to the referee, his wife lets him know that he is out of hand.

The game concludes without incident, and people disperse quickly because of the rain.

I found it very funny that the parents were almost making it a contest to see who could be more civil before the game, but that all went out the window the second the whistle blew. To be honest, all the good will before the game seemed a little bit phony. I don't think that this type of interaction is uncommon for people of this social class. In fact, I think it is a bit of a stereotype, and these people played right into it.