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Hundreds crowd a park in Ybor City as teams representing Haitian and Honduran clubs compete for a championship.
By TAMARA LUSH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 22, 2002
TAMPA -- Manuel Hernandez hangs drywall in New Port Richey apartment buildings during the week. But on Sundays, Hernandez is a soccer star.
The 30-year-old plays on the Honduras futbol team, one of dozens of adult soccer teams in Hillsborough County. Most are grouped along ethnic lines; Haitians, Mexicans, Hondurans -- they all have a team.
Sunday was the league championship, a raucous affair that brought several hundred fans to Cuscaden Park in Ybor City. Hernandez's team -- called Honduras -- played Highana, a Haitian club.
Haitian families, still wearing their ties and suit pants from church, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Honduran families in T-shirts and shorts. On one side of the field, Haitians blasted Compas music from giant speakers. On the other side, Spanish rap throbbed from a shiny silver car.
"It's a big party," said Victor Sheran of Tampa, originally from Belize.
The game had been postponed a week because of rains, and dark clouds threatened the match again Sunday. But the rain never came, the breeze picked up and it was a perfect night to lounge and watch the rivalry.
The majority of the Honduran players are laborers, driving to job sites early in the morning and playing soccer until well after dark. The Haitian players are factory workers and taxi drivers, and they bring the same intensity to their practices. None are paid to play soccer.
In many ways, the game is a link to their home country.
"Soccer in Central America means everything," Sheran said.
Especially for Hondurans.
In 1969, alleged mistreatment of El Salvadoran immigrants in Honduras created friction between the two countries. When El Salvador defeated Honduras during a qualifying match for the 1970 World Cup, tensions exploded into a full-fledged war. Three thousand people died during the four-day skirmish before the Organization of American States brokered a cease-fire.
Hernandez said that during the recent World Cup, he got up at 1:30 in the morning to watch the games on Univision, a Spanish-language television network.
"I saw all of the games," said Hernandez, whose brother Joe is the team's goalie.
Haitians also love their football, and the traditions that surround it. At the entrance to the field, a Haitian woman fried pork and yellow plantains, making greiol, a Creole dish.
"For Haitians, soccer is the best thing," said Kinson Dort of Tampa, who coaches Flora, one of the Haitian teams.
Each team pays for its uniforms -- Haitians in yellow and blue, Hondurans in white and blue -- and the team "owners" cull players for practices, with the help of Jean Cenoble, a Haitian who organized the league several years ago.
Joe Garcia calls himself the "owner" of the Honduran team, and although he doesn't play, he practices with his team. He has a special talent for bouncing a soccer ball off his knees, ankles and feet while talking on a cell phone.
It is difficult to know how many people showed up for the game -- it costs nothing to watch -- but Garcia estimated that 500 people packed the sidelines and parking lot. There were actually two games held Sunday; one for third place, the other for the first place trophy.
The championship game had not finished late Sunday, and a final score was unavailable.
Anyone who got to the game early and parked in the lot couldn't leave until the game was over; fans parked haphazardly on every inch of the Boys & Girls Club lot.
About 10 feet away, the mother and grandmother of Douglas Gonzales, one of the Honduran players, sliced green plantains and dished out taquitos and carne asada for the Spanish-speaking fans.
"Soccer is basically a family tradition," said 16-year-old Tatiana Gonzalez, Douglas' daughter. "Wherever there is a soccer game, you have to watch."