GOOOOOOL!

Hola chic@s!

After over 3 months of living in Spain I finally got to participate in one of the most treasured cultural events ...un partido fútbol. I'm not a huge soccer fan but I knew that a soccer game in Spain is much more than just a sporting event. Let me assure you.... it definitely was.

Sunday morning I woke up like any other day and sat down to breakfast with my madre. I told her I was going to the Hérucles vs. Elche game and her reaction was quite surprising. Apparently this game is the most anticipated rival game in our province. There is an enormous animosity between Elche and Alicante...you might be able to compare it to UofO and OSU, but professional soccer of course. Once she knew I was going that afternoon she ran into the kitchen to get me seconds because she said that I would need a lot of energy... oh dear. After getting suited up in my blue and black I set off to meet some friends on the corner by the train station...bad idea. As I rounded the corner I saw the street lined with police officers on horses and realized I was trapped. Somehow I had stumbled my way between the "line of defense" and the overwhelming crowd of elche fans pouring out of the train station. I stood my ground and was bombarded by the wave of hundreds of chanting fanatics waving banners and scarves. Once the crowd settled I saw my friends on the other side, far from harms way, laughing at me because they knew I had gotten caught up in the tussle.

As we approached the stadium I noticed that every single cafe or bar was overflowing with soccer fans drinking beer and singing prideful songs, many of them littered with foul language. We took our seats inside the stadium and waited for the show to begin. I never thought soccer to be a particularly exciting sport but let me tell you, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time! Maybe it was the enthusiasm of the crowd, or the sunflower seeds, or the shouts and hollers that contributed to my excitement but one thing was for sure, I was a fan. With every call by the referee there was an instant uproar from one side or the other. My personal favorite was a little boy, maybe 6 or 7, sitting a few rows in front of me that would scream at the top of his lungs "IDIOTA!!" everytime the ref made a call in the other teams favor. While his mother didn't seem to appreciate this, I found it quite funny.

One of my favorite parts of the game was the people I was surrounded by. I was sitting in front of a few guys that were clearly die hard Hércules fans. Whenever I didn't quite understand why such horrid swear words were flying out of their mouths they would quickly explain what had happened in the game. I picked up quite a few phrases and cheers from my fellow fanatics, most of them not appropriate enough to share. By the end of the second half the score was Elche:2 Hercules:1 and you could cut the energy with a knife. When the clock stopped and Elche had won, the fans went wild. Elche fans poured over the fences onto the field and the players ripped their jerseys off in triumph. On our side, a few heads were bowed, chants errupted, and the masses started to flow out of the stadium. One of the most interesting things I found was that as we left I didn't see a single person from Elche leave the stadium. My Spanish friend explained to me as we were walking through the aisle of police on horseback that the Elche fans were not allowed out of the stadium until every single person sitting on the Hércules side had left the area. In the past they had tons of riots and violence between the two rival cities and this became very apparent to me as we walked behind the stands to find Elche fans yelling profanities, spitting and throwing trash over the top onto the defeated Alicantinos.

Soccer is a way of life here. I have never felt so much passion come from such a diverse group of people. The fans joined hands in the stands to cheer and sing and amongst the crowd you could find fathers, sons, sisters, grandmas, friends, students, babies, mothers, and everyone in between. As a part of their culture, soccer brings people in Alicante together and gives them something greater than themselves to believe in and root for. I had a blast being a part of it and definitely have changed my perspective of what it means to be a sports fan.

Nose bleed seats were definitely the way to go

moments before a GOOOLLL for Hércules

Half time and hopeful

I imagine that some of you are sports fanatics as well. Who is your favorite team? Have you gone to alot of sporting events? What is your favorite aspect of being a sports fan?