Farm Soccer
By Anim Steel
For many of us, Fall is harvest time. It’s also soccer season in North America. And for one group of farmers and food lovers in North America, the two go perfectly together.
“Farm-soccer” in Lincoln, MA is now a weekly ritual: a pick-up game of soccer created years ago by members of a regional farmers’ association. Today, farm-soccer has a large and diverse following. Many players don’t work daily on the land. But it retains its original name, its sideline chatter about potato weevils, and a spirit of friendly inclusion. The game is thoroughly co-ed, international, and good-natured. It has sparked many friendships which otherwise would not have existed.
In fact, farm-soccer is such a strong community-building force that it begs the question: what do farming and soccer have in common? Besides the ability to bring people together, why does the alliance of food and soccer make sense?
For starters, soccer, like food, is both universal and local. As the world’s most popular sport, soccer ranks right up there with eating as a widespread activity. While soccer is almost universal, it is also very local; each region has its own style, and the game is always shaped by the local environment. I’ve played pick-up soccer in the mountains of Ecuador, a beach in Ghana, and a park in Uganda. Same game-different flavors.
Perhaps more than any other sport, soccer — like food — is a system. The game unfolds in a complex series of interconnections. One person gets credit for a goal and someone else usually gets credit for an assist, but where does a goal really come from? The real answer comes often comes in dozens of passes and movements far removed from the point at which the ball finally enters the net. Much the same can be said for a piece of food that enters someone’s mouth.
Soccer, like food, follows fairly simple rules: put the ball in the goal without using your hands. There’s a simplicity to food, too. As my friend Miguel Santiestaban from the New Mexico Acequia Association said, “Without food, you die. Without good food, you also die.” (Of course, “You’re going to die anyway,” he also noted.)
Of course, both soccer and food arouse a lot of passion. If you’ve got a passion for both, I’d love to hear about it. Are there other informal farm-soccer leagues? Could there be a farm-soccer World Cup some day? How else could soccer — as a metaphor or as a tool — serve the movement for a just and sustainable food system?