Yesterday I ventured into the Arenillas soccer stadium for the second time in my eight months here. As pathetic as it is, I´ve always had this little… or maybe big… fear of entering that stadium. I just imagined all the men who sit on the street drinking reunited in those walls for every soccer match. But to my surprise, it really is a family outing and you run into just about everyone you know among the crowd. Of course you have those occasional drunk men, but what I´ve found to be the secret to going to game and being able to fully enjoy it is, sit between Don Telmo, the local radio broadcaster and Ian. In front of the youth from our magazine project and behind a family with babies. In this setup any fears are washed away.
My goal is to become a soccer expert in time for the World Cup, even though Ecuador won´t be in it, we know that for every game the town will be dead as everyone gathers around the tv watching with intensity. I can´t say I´ve mastered the expert thing yet, but I´m at least able to follow who has the ball now.
For me the most entertaining part of soccer so far is seeing these grown men act like drama queens, as they roll on the ground and drag out their fall until someone pays attention. Scenario: player trips and falls, rolls on ground for a good minute as the game goes on without him, finally ref will give him attention, the firefighters come onto the field and usually carry player off on a stretcher, a trainer will then spray some magic liquid on the leg, and the player bounces up and is back in the game, or at times is carried off in the stretcher and the second they put him on the ground without receiving any real medical attention roles over, gets up, and is back on the field. To be a good soccer player you must have this over exaggeration skill mastered.
The local team, Condor, has had a pretty good season and are close to qualifying to continue in the selection. Saturday´s game could be considered a make or break it for the team, had they won it would have been almost a shew in for the selection.
What started as a great game in our favor soon ended with an up rise from the crowd. In the second half of the game, it all went downhill when the referee called a penalty kick in our favor, which they say to be a guaranteed goal. However a minute later after much debate it was decided that it was not a penalty kick and we just got possession instead, but had we gotten that kick there is a high possibility we could have tied the game. The up rise against the referees started with this and only progressed when a player from the visiting team was tripped, and our player was giving a red card, means he is kicked out for this game and the next game. Even though afterwards we were told by some fans that is was fairly called they just weren’t happy that it happened. Needless to say a player did have to hold back his own coach from the referee. At the end of the game, as the other team ran off the field celebrating, police also had to run on the field, to protect the referees who were now surrounded by the entire condor team and coach screaming. Angry fans pushing towards the gate of the field and throwing plastic bottles. Keeping in mind our no pasa nada mentality we watched from the top of the stands this great entertainment breaking out in front of us, took some photos, and then decided we better sneak out the back side of the stadium before the winning team trys to get out, because that is when things may get ugly. It was a sad day for Arenillas fans, although the up rise did make for great entertainment, although now we have the big decision ahead of us if Condor should get the front page of the next magazine the youth produce, or if this upset knocks them to the back...the big debate to come...
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