VA-MOS, VA-MOS LE-ONES!!

Let's go, let's go Lions!!

Tonight I attended my first Latin American football (ok, soccer) match. And what an exciting time it was!! This one pitted the Lions of "La U," which stands for "The University of Chile," but doesn't have ties to the university any longer (the original players, back in the 1920s & 1930s, were students, but they have since relinquished their ties to the University), against cross-Santiago rival Colo Colo (sounds like "Coca Cola" to me, too, but it's different!).

I went with two students from my spanish class, as well as my spanish teacher Sebasitan and several of his friends. Sebastian and his friends are very much fans of "La U", so we sat in their corner of the stadium. I guess this is normal in Latin America, but the police presence leading to the stadium was impressive. Lots and lots of officers: some on horses, many others in full riot gear, and bomb squads at just about every intersection leading to the stadium. Guess this match has a history of violence?

The game was played in Estadio Nacional (the National Stadium), which is old but has character. It is the home field of "La U" (Colo Colo has another stadium somewhere else in Santiago). Even though it was the home field of Uni Chile, the stands were about 50/50 between each set of fans. The "cheap" seats, called Galeria, were in the end zones, and thats where we sat. 6000 Chilean pesos, or US$12, got you into the game and into the end zone seats. The more expensive seats in the middle sections actually didnt fill up, but the end zones did --- so it was kinda strange looking at a half-full stadium and everyone sitting on either end.

But actually this arrangement was the best. The Galeria sections were full-on parties, complete with lots of rowdiness, singing, dancing, smoke-bombing, etc ... you name it, we probably had it! And this was before the game started!

Once the game began, it was clear that two story lines were ongoing. The first, and perhaps most interesting, was the continual battle between the many loud and rowdy youths attempting to scale the fence onto the field and the Carabineros (police in Chile). The police were decked in full riot gear and were pelted with tons of debris from within the stands. Mostly, however, they stayed low-key, only advancing towards the stands when one (or more) of the fans jumped down the fence & started toward the field. The second story line was the football match itself --- which was interconnected with the police, as I'll describe below.

The first half was uneventful: 0-0, with mostly passionate - but still sloppy at times - play from both teams. Colo Colo came out possessing well and got the first few good looks on goal, but didn't connect. And La U finished stronger in the final 10 mins of the half, getting one or two really nice shots that just missed. As we were about to sit down at the halftime, a fight broke out on the field (as the two teams were heading to their locker rooms). One of La U's players was red-carded (a disastrous foul meaning he was kicked out and La U had to play 10 players against Colo Colo's 11 in the 2nd half).

Our fans were enraged and began to literally destroy the stadium and throw it onto the field. I am not kidding. Seriously. Concrete chunks, hand-size, along with the wooden bleacher seats. Once the refs left the field (surrounded by 8 riot-gear police using their plastic shields to protect them from the pelting), we quieted down. But the tranquility was short-lived once the second half began.

La U had a couple of good possessions, and even two good shots on goal, but the red card proved prophetic: on a bad pass into the box, Colo Colo intercepted and quickly advanced down the right side of the field, lobbing a goal over the under-manned back line to go ahead 1-0.

Remember the anger at the referees? Well, only a few mins after this goal was scored (they didnt have a game clock posted, but I would guess the goal came in the 55th minute, ~ 10 mins into the 2nd half), our fans began earnestly pelting the police -- and also the field, by Colo Colo's goal keeper -- with pieces of the stadium. The game was delayed twice, and by the 60th minute, the referee had enough and ended it. So Colo Colo won 1-0 in "suspension".

Not surprisingly, as we exited the stadium (full of sadness!), we were herded completely away from the Colo Colo section --- again a full complement of police in riot gear (and even some tear gas lingering from an earlier use) forced us to move perpendicularly from the stadium.

But regardless of the poor sportsmanship from La U's fans, I still had a great time. The emotion was incredible, the fans were loud and chanted & sang for just about the whole time. I especially liked feeling the stadium rock up & down as 20,000 people bounced and jumped to the tune of one of their songs. Once I figure it out, I have a few movies that I took during the match.

So, VAMOS, VAMOS LEONES!