During the first weekend I was here, I went to a local fútbol game. Santander has it's own fútbol team that is in the same league as Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. This is a source of great pride for the residents of Santander.
We watched a match between Real Racing Club (pronounced ra-SING, not racing like horse racing) of Santander and the Athletics of Bilbao. This match was the last of the season and described as a local rivalry because Santander and Bilbao are two cities located near each other. Unfortunately Santander lost 1-2, but I still had a really great time at the game!
Here are some pictures of my time at the fútbol game:
The outside of Real Racing's stadium. It is located really close to our university!
My ticket! We had "preferencia este," which translates into east preference. We had great seats- only five rows back from the field!
Here's a shot of the field. It's not a spectacular or incredibly large stadium.
These particular fans were leading several cheers with their drum. The environment at the stadium was very interesting. People of all ages come to watch the game. We sat by four year-olds, 14 year-olds, and adults. During the entire game, the fans were cheering for their team and shouting vulgar insults at the opposing team/players/refs. When Bilbao scored a goal, a person sitting in front of us yelled something about the Bilbao fan's "b**** grandmother." It seemed like everyone in the stadium was smoking a variety of substances which gets annoying. Despite this, nothing compares to the electricity in the stadium when the home team scores a goal! As the announcer shouts "Goooooooooool," the entire stadium begins cheering, jumping up and down, standing on the bleachers, singing songs, making fun of the opposing team/fans, waving their scarves, and high-fiving each other.
We lost 1-2. Our professor explained to us that Santander didn't exactly have their hearts in this game. Apparently the worst two or three teams in the league get dropped down to a lower level. Though it's not the same, it would be like the worst major league baseball teams dropping down to Triple A minor league for the next season. Santander had already won enough games to ensure their continuation in the more advanced league, so they didn't have anything to play for and lost their competitive edge.
The Santander team (and their cow mascot) thanking the fans at the end of the game.
In other fútbol news, FC Barcelona recently won the league championship 3-1 against Manchester United, a major English fútbol powerhouse. It was a very exciting, well-played game! Every time that Barcelona got a goal, someone set off fireworks. The point of origin was located very close to my casa, and it was so loud that I thought someone was firing a gun or cannon.
Last Saturday, the US team played the Spanish team that recently won the FIFA World Cup. Talk about pathetic- the US lost 0-4. At least we can play the other version of footbal.
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