Acceleration, deceleration, sonic torture and inertia: temporalities of a football match

Abstract

This essay explores the time relations in a football match and intends to evidence how controlling the passage of time and the changes in the progress of a match – which introduces rhythmic transformations from events and actions on the match, both by the players and the crowd, by means of the sound – play a fundamental part on the results of that match. This work is derived from a research that aims at comprehending how the crowd and the match are mutually constructed within the football spectacle by means of sonic manipulations that are absorbed as technical interferences between different agents. In this essay, four techniques will be discussed and explored: acceleration, deceleration, inertia and sonic torture. All observations were made through field work in Atletico Mineiro Football Club matches between 2008 and 2015, in the Independencia and Mineirao stadiums, in Belo Horizonte.