“Today we are Nacional fans”, Franco explains to us as he
hands us our red, white and blue soccer scarves. “We have to show the colours,
and participate in the songs and chants, or else people may get angry.”
Today we are in Uruguay, and ready to take in the ‘derby’
between the two First Division soccer
clubs based in Montevideo – Team Nacional, and Team Penarol. Somewhat
comparable to a matchup between Manchester United and Manchester City,
with Spanish chants as opposed English chants. To make it even more exciting, Nacional
is at the top of the league and will win the cup for this ‘Apertura’ season if
they win this game, although they lost the derby last year by a humiliating
score of 5-0. People have flags that say “6-0 (or more)”. Franco also tells us
that Nacional’s Recoba (a.k.a. ‘Chino’)
has the best left foot in the world, even though he is ready to retire.
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| A true fan. |
We arrived early to avoid the crowds and also to get seats
all together – a full 2-hours early. We get to see the entirety of the 65,000
seat Centenario stadium, built for the first World Cup back in 1930, gradually
fill up to bursting. The match has been
moved here to accommodate the sell-out crowd as well as the fact it is better
suited for the security situation. Penarol fans enter via one blocked-off road,
and Nacional fans enter via another blocked-off road. It was hot (over 30
degrees in the direct sunlight), but we got to watch a Third Division game to
keep us amused.
So… how to be a Nacional fan?
1) Wear
the gear. Hats, scarves, jerseys, face paint, flags (lots of flags). If you
have a ball cap that is black (Penarol wears black and gold) – buy another hat.
2) Bring
in garbage bags full of ripped up paper bound in small packets, pass them
around to all your friends, or biff them down to the unsuspecting crowds below
you. At the appropriate time – take the binding off, throw them in a twirling
motion into the air, and enjoy the paper snowfall.
3) Blow
up red, white, and blue plastic tubes passed around by the thousands, bang them
on your hand, shove them into the air, and bop them together. The whole
Nacional section of the stadium had these tubes and they were passed around so
that you could see the stripes on television. We were in the red section (can
you tell?)
4) Whistle
when a call goes against your team (even if they deserved it). Cheer when your
team takes a shot (even if it is way over the bar).
5) Chant
– even if you have no idea what the words are. I think we were swearing at the
other team at one point – who knows? Follow the drum beats, clap you hands, but
mostly pump your arm in defiance.
6) Jump
up and down, lots. Good thing the stadium is made of concrete…
7) If
the other team makes noise – make more noise to drown them out.
8) If
you team is down a goal – chant louder.
9) Watch
the shenanigans of the kids trying to climb over the fence to be repulsed by
the police in riot gear.
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| The Paper Boy |
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| The Red Section |
First half: Our team does not look so hot. At around 25
minutes they pick up a bit, but at half-time there is still no score. At 57
minutes, Penarol gets a penalty kick (bad call by the ref, obviously), and they
score. Oh no – yell louder!
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| The Competition |
The minutes tick by. I begin to wonder what it is going to
be like if we lose. Both teams lose a man on red cards through vicious tackles.
Nacional puts in all three subs at 70 minutes for a boost of power, but still
seem to be shooting at a much bigger net than is sitting there. At 89 minutes,
it does not look good – the Penarol fans are ecstatic – and – we score! The
crowd goes crazy!!! OK – a 1-1 draw may not be too bad.
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| Just a few flags..... |
Extra time is active, and since the extra minutes are not on
the scoreboard we figure it must be over…. At 94 minutes, there is one last
free kick for Nacional about 25 yards out by Chino, he kicks with that left
foot we heard about….and scores !!!!! The crowd erupts!! The game is over, and we are still singing
about 20 minutes later.
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| GOAL !! |
Protocol for a a game ending:
1) The
‘away’ team (Penarol) are cleared from the stands by riot police row by row,
and are escorted back down their segregated road by mounted police.
2) The
‘home’ team, (Nacional) has to wait until the ‘away’ team has been gone for 15
minutes, and then we wait a bit longer to cheer the team that comes out to
celebrate on the field, and then slowly make our way out of the stadium and
back down the segregated road (still singing, of course).
So… How was the game? Awesome!
