Kicking away stereotypes

Patrick’s interest in India grew some four years ago,when his father,a shoe designer,was offered a job in Agra,another shoe manufacturing hub across the world. “This was the time when my entire family was deciding whether to shift to Agra. I decided to make some Indian friends online,and I began to chat with Jordan on Orkut,” says Patrick,24,refering to Jordan Wangdi,currently the manager of Shastri FC. He told me about the kind of work he was doing,like setting up a football academy,and on a whim,four years ago,I decided to travel to India,” says Patrick. “I stayed for a month in Nasirpur near Dwarka and underwent all the usual tricks that foreign guys have to endure — 100-rupee rickshaw rides and all. Then Jordan invited me to stay with him at his house in Dwarka and that’s what I did.”

Patrick now curses profanely and incessantly like a “proper Dilliwallah.” As part of Wangdi’s Nirvana FC,Patrick traveled around the country playing football in some of the smaller centres in Assam,Sikkim and Haryana. With Nirvana registered in Assam,Patrick had never played in Delhi until this season.

In 2009,during a state-level tournament in Assam,he was spotted by a talent scout from Thailand. He gave two trials for clubs in the Thailand Premier League. While the first was unsuccessful,he was soon selected for Samut Songkhram FC,a side that had finished seventh in the previous season. The deal soon turned sour as Patrick was asked to play for far less than what he signed for. His stint in the TPL lasted just two games. The one positive was that he would meet his future wife during his stay. A back-and-forth existence between Brazil and Thailand followed until Wangdi invited him once more to Delhi to play in the senior division.

But Patrick,who grew up in a part of Brazil sharing a border with Uruguay and Argentina,could have surely found a good local club to play in? It is a common stereotype that every Brazilian is great at football,he suggests in reply. “People hear Brazil and think of Rio and the sunny beaches. Morro Reuters is up in the hills and cold,” he says. “From where I come from we have no footballers playing professionally in Brazil. Maybe one. He plays for some fourth division club. As a goalkeeper. Reserve goalkeeper I think.”

But despite Patrick’s protestations to the contrary,most Indians on hearing the word Brazil automatically assume him to be a dribbling genius. “Everyone thinks ‘wow boss,you are from Brazil’. Everyone thinks I will be able to show them some samba type football. But from where I come from,we don’t do samba. I think many of them are a little disappointed.”

Indeed,Patrick says that he feels more of an Indian,having spent nearly four years in the country. He is looking to get an Indian citizenship now,and even his Facebook status wishes friends a happy Independence day. “I learnt football in an academy until I was 18. Everything since then I have learnt in India. You could say I am a Brazilian who learnt football in India,” he says.