The Hooks' Adventure Continues!: Someone's Got Palle

This week, the Piazza del Popolo has been converted to a mini-soccer field. It all started Sunday, when I had to wonder at the general industry with metal pipes, netting, plywood, and then...astroturf?

Turns out that it's the local championships for calcetto (literally, "Little Soccer"), aka "futsal" (also in English). It's a mini-version of soccer that originated in Uruguay. Traditionally played indoors on hard surfaces, it's a five-a-side version of soccer...with some sense of "no holds barred." It's nearly balletic in its moves...or perhaps modern dance would be a better description, since there is a good bit of rolling around on the ground.

The teams are local. Very local. It appears that Todi centro alone hosts around 4 or 5 teams. The furthest away comes from Collevalenza (3 miles). We recognize many of the players and virtually all of the sponsors.

While it has been a big draw for the piazza, it is not unanimously welcomed. We'll say that the welcome has been universal minus one. The scuttlebutt is that a local who lives in Piazza marched up to the mayor on the opening night and openly castigated him for allowing such a "low" activity in the piazza; when the organizer tried to step in, she personally insulted his education, class, and more. Whoa! Anyway, there has been a little pushback, shall we say. The first goal scored was named in her honor, and there was a printed newspaper article which described the scene, including enough details about the "nameless signora" that it was clear to anyone local who it was. This even made the "local" section of the national newspaper...the only news from our town.

In any case, we are vastly amused by the play and the players. Balls are perpetually flying different directions over the protective netting, the players are putting new balls on or taking extras off, and mayhem would be a gentle word for what is happening. On the other hand, the players are generally being good sports with the opposing side's players...although there are a few tantrums and much gesturing when goals are scored. The histrionics are there, but they're generally not ill-tempered.

The commenter deserves his own paragraph. I didn't understand all he said by any means, but..."he's sweating out all of his karma" was one, and "give the goalie for Collevalenza an applause because he's old and doing his best" were fairly memorable. He teases many of the players as the game progresses, and is extremely entertaining.

Needless to say, I have had several fun-filled evenings that have provided major belly laughs.

Love,

Alexandra