Não Adianta ‘Só Saber as Regras’, tem que Saber ‘Levar o Jogo’ até o Final: Notas Etnográficas sobre a Arbitragem de Futebol num Circuito de Lazer de Porto Alegre

From an anthropological perspective, this work addresses production of football referees’ actions in an urban leisure tournament. Operating on concepts from the Actor-Network Theory and understanding that the action of refereeing in a match – and its uncertainties – involves associations of heterogeneous elements, we investigated how referees ‘take the match to the end’ in outskirts leisure experience in a tournament in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Based on data from field diaries produced in multi-sited ethnographic work characterized by circulation, which followed referees at work, we developed two association paths – respectively placing referees as intermediaries and as mediators. We conclude that ‘taking the match to the end’ involves performing juxtapositions and dislocations between these two courses. Uncertainties speak of these necessary dislocations and referees’ work in leisure sports.