Re: RIP Pele

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Some interesting information

Dec 29, 2022, 2:31 PM

"Pele was Brazil's first modern Black national hero but rarely spoke about racism in a country where the rich and powerful tend to hail from the white minority.

"Opposing fans taunted Pele with monkey chants at home and all over the world.

""He said that he would never play if he had to stop every time he heard those chants,'' said Angelica Basthi, one of Pele's biographers.

"He is key for Black people's pride in Brazil, but never wanted to be a flagbearer.''"

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Pelé grew up in poverty in Bauru in the state of São Paulo. He earned extra money by working in tea shops as a servant. Taught to play by his father, he could not afford a proper football and usually played with either a sock stuffed with newspaper and tied with string, or a grapefruit.[11][6] He played for several amateur teams in his youth, including Sete de Setembro, Canto do Rio, São Paulinho, and Amériquinha. Pelé led Bauru Athletic Club juniors (coached by Waldemar de Brito) to two São Paulo state youth championships. In his mid-teens, he played for an indoor football team called Radium. Indoor football had just become popular in Bauru when Pelé began playing it. He was part of the first futsal (indoor football) competition in the region. Pelé and his team won the first championship and several others.

According to Pelé, futsal (indoor football) presented difficult challenges; he said it was a lot quicker than football on the grass and that players were required to think faster because everyone is close to each other in the pitch. Pelé credits futsal for helping him think better on the spot. In addition, futsal allowed him to play with adults when he was about 14 years old. In one of the tournaments he participated in, he was initially considered too young to play, but eventually went on to end up top scorer with 14 or 15 goals. "That gave me a lot of confidence", Pelé said, "I knew then not to be afraid of whatever might come".

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Re: RIP Pele

I watched Pele play live in the Pacaembu and Morumbi stadiums in Sao Paulo, Brasil when I was growing up. He was well respected by ALL fans whether Santos was your team or not. My team is Corinthians and, just like all fans, we hated to lose.

However I remember one game in the Morumbi stadium when Corinthians played Santos. We lost 3x0 with 3 goals from Pele, but instead of the fans being too upset, they just simply said, "It's Pele".

I was lucky to have gotten to meet Pele at a book signing in a bookstore in Chicago. As he entered the room, I was starstruck! :-D When it was my time to get his autograph he thought I was Brasilian from my Portuguese, but I had to admit I am American.

He was so down-to-earth and genial. We chatted for a couple of minutes, and those minutes will remain etched in my memory for life.

Such a giant on the world stage. He even stopped a war in Africa. His name is known by just about everyone in the world. Even many non-soccer fans here in the US know his name and that he was a soccer player.

While Edson Arrantes do Nascimento has passed (his legal name), "Pele" will live forever. The Greatest Of All Time.

O Rei Pele. RIP

RIP Pele

Some interesting information

Re: Some interesting information

Re: RIP Pele

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