Peru Peasants in World Cup Frenzy
The most popular sporting event in the world has caught the attention of almost everyone, including the countries that are not taking part in the extravaganza.
Touted as the most watched sporting event around the globe, South Africa 2010 has caught the imagination of the rich, the poor and even the women. Many communities are organising their own football events to join the passion and spread the message of love through this beautiful game.
South America is undoubtedly the Mecca of football, and includes three countries that have won the tournament a staggering nine times between them.
Brazil has won five World Cups while Argentina and Uruguay have annexed two world cup trophies of their own.
The passion for the game is also present in another country in the continent that has failed to qualify for the event at all. Peru is a country in South America where a football event of a different kind is making waves in the media.
The tournament is a traditional event contested by peasant women who are caught up in World Cup soccer fever as they represent their favourite teams in their very own Mamacha World Cup. The Andean women, who are up for a battle on the field, are known as Mamacha’s
The event is staged to encourage healthy sporting activities amongst the peasants who generally live a tough life battling with poverty and lack of opportunity of progressing in life.
The peasants taking part in the event are dressed in their traditional long skirts.
The players are aware of the actual world cup stars and sport the jerseys of their favourite teams as they faced off against one another on the first day of the three-day tournament.
The World Cup kicked off by a team representing Argentina and Spain at Lima's Exposition Park. However, the opening game was not a big draw as only a handful of spectators were there to cheer on the players.
Before the official kick-off, the tournament was opened in tradition fashion as a spiritual man used a floral potion to give both the teams’ good luck.
The two teams taking part in a match go through the spiritual process and after the Argentine mamachas, their opponents - the Spanish mamachas - had their heads and bodies rubbed with an armadillo like animal which is said to bring luck.
A member of team Argentina, Isabel Rodriguez, told the media gathered at the start of the event that she was confident that her team - complete with their own players representing Argentina star Lionel Messi - had what it takes to win the trophy home.
“We are the mamachas of the soccer champions, she is the 'Messi mamacita' and we are fans of Argentina and we are going to win!” said Rodriguez.
After the opening match, women representing the continental power house Brazil and England also took the field.
The teams will go head-to-head on a round robin basis before a winner emerges over the course of this weekend.
The fun-filled action was intense at times as neither team was willing to give an inch away to their opponents.
The intensity might not be same as the World Cup being played in South Africa, yet a player from team Spain bribed a referee to avoid being evicted from the hotly contested match against the Argentine mamachas.
Meanwhile team England player, Catalina Palomino, was confident that her team was as good as anyone in the completion and would go all the way and lift the trophy. However, her team’s first task was to get past the Brazilian mamachas.
"We've made it here to the Mamacha World Cup, we've scored two goals, England is going to win!" said Palomino.
The event brings a sort of relief to the harsh lives of some of these mamachas, and it also reflects that football truly is a ‘beautiful game’ that has the potential of bringing joy to people struggling to make ends meet.
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