The Brazilian Footballer Who Never Was

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.3 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 3 January 2019

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

At 12, Douglas Braga arrived in Rio de Janeiro, a wide-eyed boy, ready to live out the Brazilian dream and become a professional footballer. At 18, he was signed by one of the country’s top teams - but was also starting to realise he couldn’t be true to himself and be a footballer. By 21, he’d quit the game. He knew he was gay and felt there was no place for him in a macho culture where homophobia is commonplace and out gay men are nowhere to be seen. Now, at 36, Douglas lives in a country that just elected a self-styled “proud homophobe” as president, which some football fans have taken as a licence to step up their homophobic abuse and threats. But Douglas is back on the pitch and - with a growing number of other gay footballers - fighting back. Reporter David Baker Producer: Simon Maybin

(Image: Footballer’s legs with rainbow socks. Credit: BBC)

Transcript

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0:00.0	I have a confession to make. I've been coming to Brazil for nearly 20 years, but until making this
0:05.6	podcast I'd never been into a football match. It was an eye-opening experience and it taught me a lot
0:12.3	about one of the uglier undercurrents of contemporary
0:14.9	Brazilian society. A top-level football match in Brazil on the pitch in front of me 22 players living
0:27.0	out the Brazilian dream.
0:28.6	And I'm here because of someone who could have been here, but something got in his way.
0:37.2	This is the story of the Brazilian football star who never was. Welcome to
0:45.0	Welcome to assignment on the BVC World Service. I'm David Baker and I've come to Brazil the nation that's won the football world cup more times than any other
0:58.4	where the game is elevated to such a status. It's pretty much a religion religion but I've come to explore an ugly
1:05.4	prejudice that's infecting the beautiful game here and the fight back taking place
1:09.9	against it.
1:11.9	Douglas good to meet you.
1:14.0	What do you do here?
1:15.0	In the part of finance
1:17.0	I work here in the finance department.
1:19.0	I work here in the finance department.
1:22.0	I just graduated with a degree in psychology, so I'm still working
1:26.3	here as I'm transitioning to working in psychology.
1:30.2	Douglas Braga is a well-built fit-looking man in his mid-30s with glasses and a big thick black beard.
1:37.0	He's wearing jeans and a t-shirt and trainers.
1:40.0	We're here in Douglas' office at the university. There's a few computer terminals and a few of his colleagues,
1:44.8	two or three of his colleagues working, tapping away,
	...

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