One of my favorite things in Spain is the obsession with fútbol, or soccer as we Americans prefer to call it. And it is truly an obsession. Unlike in the US, universities do not have any type of Varsity competitive athletic teams. We are able to divide our attention between multiple professional teams (football, basketball, baseball, and hockey being the most popular) as well as college teams (usually football and basketball being the focus). In Spain, basketball is the second sport but it is so far below fútbol that it is hard to compare the two. Essentially, every Spaniard has two teams: the Spain national fútbol team (which is doing extremely well in the qualifying rounds for the Euro Cup 2012 and won the World Cup last summer, in case you hadn't heard) and his or her city team.
In Sevilla, there is a cross-town rivalry unlike any I have seen, and I come from the Cubs-Sox rivalry. Betis is slightly smaller and their colors are green and white. Sevilla is the larger, richer team whose colors are red and white. What I find strange is that Betis and Sevilla are in different leagues- Betis is in a lower division. In my opinion, that would be like having to choose between a AA baseball team and the Cubs...there isn't really a comparison. But that doesn't matter here- you support one team, win or lose, and you support them for life. Within my first week here, I learned that I would have to choose a side. Because my host-family supports Sevilla and I live ten minutes from the Seville stadium, that seemed like an obvious choice.
I have enjoyed going out with friends to watch the Sevilla games at various bars around the city. I played soccer through 8th grade and I always enjoy watching the World Cup, but I've never gotten that into it. It's easy to get involved in a game here though- everyone is obsessed. Watching a game with a roomful of Spaniards is intense. There is no talking during most of the game and goals are a matter of life-and-death. My only complaint is the ability to end on a tie- it's such an anti-climactic ending! I would prefer a shoot-out.
Unlike the jersey phenomenon in the U.S., Spaniards prefer to support their teams wearing scarves and track suits. I went to the Sevilla-Zaragoza game last week, and that's all that anyone was wearing. I felt extremely out-of-place wearing my maroon-colored long-sleeve shirt- it wasn't the right color red.
Prior to the games, all of the fans gather around outside the stadium (which is conveniently located alongside a mall with a food court. Almost all of the games are on Sundays, meaning that most restaurants are closed. However, the mall food court was open and packed with Sevilla supporters. About 30 minutes before kick-off, the fans make their way inside the stadium.
At a sporting event in the U.S., its usually fun to enter the stadium early to buy some nachos or a hot dog and watch warm-ups. That is not the fact in Spain- the concession stands are almost non-existent and few fans buy anything within the stadium- they're too focused on the game to worry about food or drinks.
I went to the game with my friends Danielle, Paige and Gena. We bought the cheapest tickets available, which ended up being in the visitors' section. Fortunately for us, the majority of people in the visitors' section were Sevilla fans.
It was a great game to go to because Zaragoza is not a very good team- we definitely outplayed them! The downside is that a lot of people didn't think it was a game worth paying for- the stadium wasn't even close to being filled to capacity. Most people decided to watch the game at the bars instead! Sevilla is in the white jerseys in the pictures below:
The final score was 3-1, Sevilla. Two of Sevilla's goals were scored on penalty kicks, which is extremely rare in soccer. But our seats were perfectly located to see both of the penalty shots- GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!
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