When you enter a soccer field, the first obvious features are the large green grass or turf areas. The field are long with lines around it. There is also a line in the center of the field that cuts it in half. In the middle of the centerline, there is a circle in the center. There are white goal posts at the two ends of the field. The length of the soccer field is longer than the width. Around the soccer field, there is track field. There are more complicated lines around the goal that helps organize and control the game and rules. The soccer field is not the only recognizable thing in the park. One also sees basketball courts on the side separated with big gates and the track field.
On the field, many people are wearing jerseys. This was one of my cultural artifact. A soccer jersey is a symbol that many people can automatically connect to soccer. There are many sports with similar jerseys. But a soccer jersey is distinct and someone can automatically distinguish a soccer jersey from a non- soccer jersey., especially someone in the soccer subculture. Many soccer players and fans own a jersey because it is part of the game. We wear jerseys to play, to watch games and for casual wear.
When I approached a group playing a small game on ¼ of the field, I caught a lot eyes. People already knew I was part of the subculture based on how I walked, looked and carried myself. The jersey I had on was the team I played for that practiced in that same field. So they knew already knew I was good. Also, I already knew a couple of people that were there. So I automatically got respect just from my looks. Your physical appearance affects how one is perceived. Once people see you in field as an outsider or insider, their perception of you is made up. This can be a positive or negative perception. People will show you or act the way they want you to see. So a person might act and talk more freely if they are an outsider interacting with another insider.
My experience playing in a known soccer team is an advantage for me in my professional ethnographic research. I know the in and outs of youth soccer from a player’s point of view. I know many people in this subculture. Since I have been playing in the club for almost a decade, I have a lot of information on the subculture. But my experience is just one view. This research will allow me to have multiple views and experience on the topic. I want to look at youth soccer from the outside. Being an insider is an advance because I’m not seen as a stranger. I will be trusted and accepted more in the subculture. It can also be a disadvantage because I can come into the study with bias and interpret my findings differently. I can also have a problem with relying too much on the people I know already. This can involve bias also.
A soccer field is completely empty at certain times, and full of people at other times. When it’s busy, certain fields have many different ethnic groups. In these same fields, there ethnic groups are usually segregated and playing amongst themselves. This time it was a full house with many people on the soccer field, track, and basketball courts. The soccer field was the most crowded. There were football players running a small game in the middle of the field. There were multiple games on each side of the field. The more competitive game is usually on the right side of the field. That’s the game I went to since those games are more serious and there were familiar faces. On the field, you can hear many phrases being screamed out. One second it’s “Man on!”, the next it’s “switch!”, then it can be “ball!”, or “foul!”. There are many insider languages on the pitch. Even the football and basketball players had their own language. I just wondered why some people running on the track would go the other way? There isn’t a right way to run to on the track but everybody usually runs the same way. There were two people who ran the other way and I wonder why if they saw everybody running the same way? Also I wondered how people usually end up at the field around same time and play? Many people usually come play and leave at the same time almost everyday but different times depending on the day? Is there a group chat I’m not part of? I usually go when I can and always end up catching people playing. In addition, why are more soccer players in the park in a country where basketball and football are more dominant sports? There is a more of an aggressive play on this South Bronx field than other fields in nicer areas (Pier 40, Randall’s Island, etc). Why is that?