A Day’s Labor of Love
The soccer tournament kicked off with a rallying cry: ¡Que vivan los jornaleros! Long live the day laborers!
The cheer marked the start of the fifth annual competition for immigrant workers from throughout Los Angeles County, held in Pasadena next to the Rose Bowl. The prize: a 4-foot-tall trophy and $300 for a carne asada celebration.
Scores of players took to the field in bright uniforms, bought or borrowed, ready to fight for bragging rights for an entire year. For most participants, it was a break from long days spent waiting hours for work in parking lots or hiring centers or -- if fortunate enough to get a job -- toiling at manual labor that homeowners and contractors did not want to do themselves.
Sixteen teams participated in Sunday’s all-day tournament, designed to build solidarity among the workers and improve their public image. The tournament, called “No Human Being Is Illegal,” comes at a time when the issue of day laborer sites is sparking controversy in California and other parts of the nation.
“Something as simple as soccer creates a sense of unity,” said Victor Narro, project director at the UCLA Downtown Labor Center, who helped organize the soccer tournament.
The day laborers, from Canoga Park, Redondo Beach, Malibu and other areas, raised $5,000 for referees and trophies.
Some teams persuaded local businesses to sponsor them or provide coaches. And for weeks leading up to the competition, the men practiced at night or on Sundays, planning strategies and getting in shape.
“It connects workers from all these locations,” Narro said of the tournament.
Before the games began early Sunday, hundreds of players, mostly immigrants from Mexico and Central America, raised their right hands and pledged to follow the rules of the competition and to continue fighting for the rights of day laborers.
As they recited the oath, several fidgeted with soccer balls, eager to get onto the fields and start playing.
“We swear to work together to strengthen the unity of the corners, of the centers,” they said in unison, “and to promote the solidarity and brotherhood among all immigrant workers.”
Lisandro Mendez, 19, the youngest member of the defending champions -- a team from Harbor City dubbed the Crocodiles because of the famed alligator currently residing in their neighborhood’s lake, predicted a repeat.
“I scored one! Did you see?” Mendez asked after his squad beat Glendale, 5 to 1. “We’re going to take the trophy again.”
Mendez, who came to the area two years ago from Chiapas, Mexico, said life as a day laborer isn’t easy. Employers sometimes don’t pay. Occasionally, police arrest them. Often, there isn’t work. For this one day, Mendez said he could forget about all that and simply play soccer.
Among the players were Francisco Villa, 25, and Felipe Esqueda, 28. During the week, the two Mexican immigrants compete for jobs at a hiring center in Pasadena. But on Sunday, they played as teammates, doing everything they could to win the championship.
During the Pasadena squad’s first game against a team from Hollywood, they fell behind 1 to 0. With 15 minutes still remaining, Pasadena still hoped for a comeback. Their cheering section, gathered under a nearby tent, chanted loudly: Pasadena! Pasadena! ¡Si, se puede! (Yes, we can!) One fan, talking through a bullhorn, promised free sodas to any player who scored a goal, prompting chuckles along the sidelines.
When one of the Pasadena players got the ball, the crowd yelled, “Run! Run!”
Esqueda, a construction worker from Tijuana, went to kick the ball and fell to the ground with an injured knee. The Pasadena team played on without him, but couldn’t score a goal.
After the game, the players sat slumped in a circle, drinking orange juice and discussing what they should have done differently.
The tournament is a chance, Villa said, to show people that day laborers have the same interests as everyone else, to have fun, to spend time with friends and family. For the players, soccer has been a passion since childhoods spent in their native countries. Still, Sunday was a time to be compadres, not competitors.
Villa, who has been a day laborer for seven years and specializes in landscaping, said he has heard what people say about them -- that they are all lazy illegal immigrants who shouldn’t even be in the United States.
“It’s not like that,” he said. “We’re hard workers.”
After a full day of matches, a new championship team emerged: First place went to the Hollywood squad and defending champ Harbor City came in second. Pasadena rebounded to finish third.
