Wednesday, November 10th

at my first futbol game

Today I went to my first futbol (soccer) game!! Katy and I were planning on going to 100 Mondatitos, our favorite restaurant in Madrid with the best tinto de verano and 1 euro sandwiches on Wednesdays, so we went around the school asking if the rest of our classmates wanted to go with.

Elke, one of the German girls, told us that she’d like to another night, but she had tickets to the Atletico Madrid versus Las Palmas futbol game. Moreover, she had two extra tickets for the game if we wanted to go with her! Of course we said yes!!

me, Elke, Marie, and Katy
cheering on Atletico Madrid

I had class until 6 pm so I had to rush home, eat super quick, shower, and bundle up for the game. It started at 9 so we met at the closest metro station at 8 pm to beat the crowd. Another girl from our class, Marie, came with too!

The game was so much fun, but super different from sports games in the US. First of all, there was a projector screen, but it was way smaller than the standard sports stadium in the states. They also didn’t show any video of the game nor did the announce anything other than when players subbed. This made it a little difficult to follow because none of us are experts in soccer so when different penalties would be called we wouldn’t understand what happened. I also wanted to see instant replays of goals and such, but they don’t show that either.

The biggest difference though was the fan conduct. Just like in the US the players hollered and cursed at the players, what was odd to me though was how they continued to scream when someone got hurt. The people around us would be yelling profanities at the players while the paramedics were on the field. In the states everyone is completely silent until the player walks off the field, in which case the entire stadium, no matter what team you’re affiliated with, stands up and claps. When Katy and I explained this to Marie and Elke, they were shocked. Marie was like, “but it’s part of the game.” I guess it’s just a cultural difference, but it bothered me. They were even hooting and hollering when this guy was gushing blood from his face. I mean I could see it from our “sky scraper seats”!

with our mixed beers :)

Overall the experience was a blast. It was also fun to enjoy a game and drink a beer at the same time, something that I obviously haven’t been able to do in the states! I’d really like to go to another futbol game sometime soon! J