O árbitro do futebol de formação (The youth football referee)
QECR B2376 palavras
Andrés Puig has refereed youth football for twenty years. In his regional association, seven out of every ten new referees give it up before the end of their first season. We spoke to him in a car park, half an hour before a match for twelve-year-olds.
Q: Seven out of ten. What happens to them?
A: The story people expect is that they cannot stand the shouting. The shouting is real, and I will not pretend otherwise. The ones who leave, though, are almost never the ones who had a terrible afternoon. They had an ordinary afternoon, went home, and found that nobody had anything to say to them.
Q: Nobody from the club?
A: Nobody from anywhere. You referee your first match at sixteen, alone, in a town you have never seen, with two sets of parents behind you who have known each other for years. Then you get changed in your car and drive home. Nobody is waiting to tell you what you got right.
Q: Are they not trained for that?
A: They get a course, an exam and a whistle. The course teaches you the laws of the game. It cannot teach you what to do when a coach walks along the touchline asking, very politely, whether you would care to explain your decision to the parents. That part you learn while it is happening, in public, at seventeen.
Q: And the pay?
A: Thirty euros, minus the petrol, and your Saturday is gone. Nobody starts for the money, but the money is what they mention when they resign: it is the only reason that sounds reasonable out loud.
Q: So what keeps the other three?
A: An older referee who phones them on the Monday. That is not my theory; it is what they tell me. We tried pairing beginners with experienced referees twice, and both times we had to stop, because it takes people and there are never enough people.
Q: And today?
A: Today there is a girl of seventeen doing her fourth match. I have arranged to be here, on the touchline, in my coat. Whatever happens, we are having a coffee afterwards and I will tell her the two things she did well. It takes twenty minutes.
Palavras que talvez não conheças
- refereeárbitro, árbitra
- to give something updesistir, deixar
- shoutingos gritos
- to get changedmudar de roupa, trocar de roupa
- whistleapito
- the laws of the gameas leis do jogo
- coachtreinador, treinadora
- touchlinea linha lateral
- petrolgasolina
- to resigndemitir-se, renunciar
Perguntas
Respondem-se com o texto à frente. Não é memória: é perceber.
According to Andrés, which new referees usually leave?
The ones who went home from an ordinary match and heard nothing from anyone — Andrés descarta o que esperaríamos: quase nunca são os da tarde horrível. São os que tiveram uma tarde vulgar e não encontraram ninguém que lhes dissesse nada ao voltar.
Andrés denies that new referees are shouted at.
False — Falso: diz precisamente o contrário, «The shouting is real, and I will not pretend otherwise». O que nega é que os gritos sejam a causa das desistências.
New referees are given a course, an exam and a ___.
whistle — «They get a course, an exam and a whistle». A lista é curta de propósito: é tudo o que recebem antes de arbitrar sozinhos.
What does the detail of getting changed in the car mainly tell us about a new referee's first match?
That there is nowhere at the ground that belongs to the new referee — O texto não o explica, mostra-o: chegas sozinho, mudas de roupa no carro e vais-te embora. O campo é dos outros; o árbitro novato não tem ali um lugar seu.
Why is the pay the reason people give when they stop refereeing?
Because it is the only reason that sounds acceptable to other people — Ele próprio faz a distinção: ninguém começa pelo dinheiro, mas o dinheiro é o que se diz ao sair, porque é a única razão que soa razoável em voz alta.
Why does Andrés end the interview by describing his plan for the seventeen-year-old?
Because he is doing on his own, for one referee, what the association could not keep going — O plano de juntar principiantes a veteranos foi tentado duas vezes e das duas parou: «it takes people and there are never enough people». O que ele conta no fim é isso mesmo por sua conta e para uma só pessoa: estar na linha lateral, o café e as duas coisas que ela fez bem.