Il Campo, football fields

This is a typical example of a well maintained football field in Sicily. Indeed, this is AmoreMio's favourite field, and he claims it is the best he's ever played on. His 4 reasons for this are:

1. It's well lit. His team last year couldn't afford to repair the lights at the far end of the field, so all evening practices had to be restricted to the 20 meter radius of light provided by the remaining lamp (about a third of the field).

2. It has a decent set of stands for viewers. Many fields have limited or no seating. I have watched with my face pressed against chicken wire fences, from the shoulder of the road above the field, and on cement blocks so overrun with weeds I was sure I would get a tick. This field actually has an entire quarter lined with 11 rows of cement benches. Not world class, but much more comfortable than being on your feet in the high grass.

3. It's a full-sized field. Usually if AmoreMio wants to play football he has to pay 5 (per player) to rent a field for a casual game with friends. The only problem is that it's difficult to organize a game among more than 10 people due to everyone's  busy schedules, which means they have to rent the smaller field, which isn't necessarily bad, but he prefers some extra space to run. Now that he's on an official city team though, he practices with more than 30 other players. Thus, full-sized field, and no more 5 euro fee!

4. It's a sand field, which, according to AmoreMio, is the best kind of field there is. A grass field would of course be the ideal, but proper grass fields are typically reserved for higher qualifying teams. Caltanissetta has one grass field that I know of, and it's strictly for the professionals. I assume that this is due to the difficulty of maintaining a well trimmed grass field in an area that suffers annual drouts and temperatures exceeding 40 Celsius.

However a sand field is considerably better than the slippery, crumbly astroturf that is usually used. Often it is worn through in places, and it provides next to no cushioning from the cement floor underneath. However, I am at least thankful that he has never had to play on the field in Bronte, which, according to our friends there, is scattered with lava ash.

For those of you who have never touched lava ash or rocks, trust me that it is comparable to playing on a field of broken glass. Our poor friend had the misfortune of falling on the field once, and was unable to put on a pair of jeans for the rest of the weekend.

When AmoreMio and I visited my family back home in America and I took him to the local football fields, he had two immediate reactions. First he gasped in awe at the pristine expanse of grass, then he was overcome with nausea at the sight of so many empty fields on a weekend afternoon. In Sicily he has to reserve a bit of astroturf in advance in order to play, while in America great grassy fields are open to the public and empty.

So next time you Americans are playing on your big, well lit grassy fields, remember the devoted Sicilian footballers and their fields of lava, and be grateful.