Something is happening to transform this bastion of machismo space in Siler City and in other towns and cities in the South where many Latino immigrants have come to work in construction, agribusiness like poultry or hog processing, or landscaping. Lately it’s not just men showing up on Sundays strapping on cleats. This early morning it’s Latinas in adidas, dark ponytails dressed in bright uniforms, who step out of the vehicles and begin to warm up on the field.
- from Paul Caudros’ essay in issue one of XI on the Latina soccer players of Siler City, North Carolina.
The Futboleras of North Carolina
Women’s soccer in the U.S. is typically known as a bastion of bright, fair skinned, blond ponytail players kicking the ball. But these players are very different. They are Latinas and they want to play, too. What’s most remarkable about them is that many of these players are not youth players but older women, moms even, who want to play competitive soccer on the weekends just like their husbands and boyfriends. In living out their soccer dreams they are transforming these traditional soccer spaces from being predominantly male to something else. And in the process these futbolera pioneers are challenging the limits of traditional female roles and transforming the norms of femininity in their own families and communities.
In issue one of XI Quarterly, Paul Caudros - author of A Home on the Field - explores how Latina soccer players in North Carolina are reshaping life through their love of the sport.
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