This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health on 12 Feb 2014, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/2159676X.2013.877962This essay is a contribution to debates about football in Brazil. It is also an
attempt to engage in discussions about how we come to know and talk about the
social world around us. The central element of the essay is the story of one
young man’s interaction with a particular sporting space and the emotions and
insights that are triggered by memories of that place, situated as it is in a rapidly
developing country but retaining many of the problems associated with under
development. Absolved from any responsibility to adhere to a dominant value
system or to feel constrained by research ethics, the storyteller is free to offer
honest, if conflicted, personal reflections on a range of issues, including poverty,
‘race’ and sporting values. The result is a story which does not negate the
necessity of more orthodox research on sport in Brazil, particularly related to the
hosting of sport mega events but which reminds us of the importance of
understanding the world through everyday personal experience
