Fresno State’s Valley Public History Initiative will showcase the history of soccer within the Valley through an exhibit titled, “The Other Football: Tracing the Game’s Roots and Routes in the San Joaquin Valley.”
The exhibit will be displayed in the Social Sciences quad on Thursday from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.
The project will document the history of amateur, collegiate and professional soccer within the Valley through interviews, photographs and local research.
“We want to learn about the efforts by migrant people in places like Visalia and Madera to found adult leagues, the rise of the game in white suburbs, and the inclusion of this sport on high school and junior college campuses,” said Dr. Romeo Guzmán, a Fresno State history professor and founder of the initiative, in a news release.
The research was gathered by graduate and undergraduate students throughout the spring semester. Guzmán hopes the exhibit connects the San Joaquin Valley and other parts of the world.
“A history of the sport can tell us as much about the game as it can about the migrant experience. Whether in the 1940s Chicago or today’s Sunday Leagues, the game was/is vital to migrants’ arrival, settlement and adaptation,” Guzmán said.
Fresno Football Club will attend and a number of prizes will be given away. Prizes include Fresno FC tickets, Kennel Bookstore gift cards and soccer merchandise.
For more information on the exhibit, contact Guzmán at [email protected] or 559-278-6622.”‹
