Why Peru is better than the Netherlands – Part II
Door: Kevin
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Kevin
16 Augustus 2009 | Peru, Lima
In the series promoting the image of Peru, this week, football! I can imagine the first frowns already. Is he seriously going to tell us that Peruvian football is better than Dutch? No! Of course not. How many Peruvian players can we name? Jefferson Farfán, Paulo Guerrero, Claudio Pizzaro… and that’s about it. They are nice players, but only star at team just below Europe’s best or are backups for bigger stars in better teams. The quality of the national league is not very impressive, with lots of effort but a lack of tactics, oversight, and even technique. The national team is nothing like the glorious team of the 1970s of Cubillas.
In my first weekend I ended up talking about football with Aldo. As a Peruvian he, and I quote, eats football. Champions League, UEFA Cup, the English, Spanish and German league.. everything. The same goes for actually playing football. When I explored the surroundings of the place I live last Sunday, I ran into a lot of small parks. Each of them had a fenced area with a small football pitch, more or less according to futsal regulations. Men between 15 and 50 were playing there at a time of the day you would normally expect them to be in Church. When I asked Aldo which is his team here in Peru, he responded that he really doesn’t have one because the level of the national league is too pathetic for his liking. Describing the national team next, he said that “..we are so bad that we always cheer and celebrate, no matter what the result is. If we draw, we get drunk!” Joanne, a French girl that has been here for over a year and works for a Peruvian ministry, overheard our conversation and kindly informed me about a local saying: “Peru jugó como nunca, y perdeu como siempre.” For those who did not understand yet, Peru played like never before, and lost as usual.
So what the hell of football in Peru is it, that is better than in the Netherlands?! Easy. Watching football. I think that the last full league match I have seen on a normal cable channel was Ajax-Feyenoord in 1996. It might have been even earlier though. I’m not sure. Since then full matches have only been broadcasted by channels that cost you extra, like Canal+. In the past years we almost had a national revolt against the sale of the rights to broadcast summaries of the matches, that ended up with the already extinct channel TALPA. They were bold enough to treat on a half a century old tradition of showing the matches at Sunday, 7pm. Currently we need to pay 5,95 through pay-per-view or take a subscription for the nominal fee of 9.95 per month if we want to see a full match.
To my surprise, after using internet radio to listen to Ajax – RKC on Saturday, I found that Peruvians have almost free access to our league. When telling Richard, another Peruvian guy living here, about the matches I had listened to, he asked me if I know that I could simply have watched them on television. Those that are fortunate enough to be able to pay standard cable television receive a broad range of sports channels that broadcast matches from many leagues around the world. Showing me the channels, an integral coverage of Twente – PSV was broadcasted, including a 20 minute talk about the match and its best moments afterwards. The rest of the day there was the French league, best moments from friendly matches of Real Madrid and Barcelona, VfL Wolfsburg getting hammered by Borussia Mönchengladbach and coverage of matches in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Brazil. During every commercial break a great match was announced. Don’t miss it! Don’t forget to set the alarm! Go to bed early next Saturday! Sunday at 5.30am, PSV – Ajax!
I did actually set the alarm and watched about 10 minutes of the match before really wanting to get back in bed. The point is, though, that back home I would have to pay at least 5,95 to see this match, or get a subscription on Eredivisie Live. Here, however, all I need to do is turn on the TV. This match was very early, but the ‘normal’ ones start right about the time that I get up. I can hardly imagine a better Sunday morning. With access to so many leagues there will always be at least one important match available. Who would have expected that?
In my first weekend I ended up talking about football with Aldo. As a Peruvian he, and I quote, eats football. Champions League, UEFA Cup, the English, Spanish and German league.. everything. The same goes for actually playing football. When I explored the surroundings of the place I live last Sunday, I ran into a lot of small parks. Each of them had a fenced area with a small football pitch, more or less according to futsal regulations. Men between 15 and 50 were playing there at a time of the day you would normally expect them to be in Church. When I asked Aldo which is his team here in Peru, he responded that he really doesn’t have one because the level of the national league is too pathetic for his liking. Describing the national team next, he said that “..we are so bad that we always cheer and celebrate, no matter what the result is. If we draw, we get drunk!” Joanne, a French girl that has been here for over a year and works for a Peruvian ministry, overheard our conversation and kindly informed me about a local saying: “Peru jugó como nunca, y perdeu como siempre.” For those who did not understand yet, Peru played like never before, and lost as usual.
So what the hell of football in Peru is it, that is better than in the Netherlands?! Easy. Watching football. I think that the last full league match I have seen on a normal cable channel was Ajax-Feyenoord in 1996. It might have been even earlier though. I’m not sure. Since then full matches have only been broadcasted by channels that cost you extra, like Canal+. In the past years we almost had a national revolt against the sale of the rights to broadcast summaries of the matches, that ended up with the already extinct channel TALPA. They were bold enough to treat on a half a century old tradition of showing the matches at Sunday, 7pm. Currently we need to pay 5,95 through pay-per-view or take a subscription for the nominal fee of 9.95 per month if we want to see a full match.
To my surprise, after using internet radio to listen to Ajax – RKC on Saturday, I found that Peruvians have almost free access to our league. When telling Richard, another Peruvian guy living here, about the matches I had listened to, he asked me if I know that I could simply have watched them on television. Those that are fortunate enough to be able to pay standard cable television receive a broad range of sports channels that broadcast matches from many leagues around the world. Showing me the channels, an integral coverage of Twente – PSV was broadcasted, including a 20 minute talk about the match and its best moments afterwards. The rest of the day there was the French league, best moments from friendly matches of Real Madrid and Barcelona, VfL Wolfsburg getting hammered by Borussia Mönchengladbach and coverage of matches in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Brazil. During every commercial break a great match was announced. Don’t miss it! Don’t forget to set the alarm! Go to bed early next Saturday! Sunday at 5.30am, PSV – Ajax!
I did actually set the alarm and watched about 10 minutes of the match before really wanting to get back in bed. The point is, though, that back home I would have to pay at least 5,95 to see this match, or get a subscription on Eredivisie Live. Here, however, all I need to do is turn on the TV. This match was very early, but the ‘normal’ ones start right about the time that I get up. I can hardly imagine a better Sunday morning. With access to so many leagues there will always be at least one important match available. Who would have expected that?
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22 Augustus 2009 - 08:15
Soraya:
nog steeds een voetbal fan.
njoy ur sunday's.
x
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
