Greek Futbol

This past Sunday we went to our first local Greek futbol match.  Fotis told us there are around 300 local futbol (soccer for you Americans) teams in Patras alone!  I can't say enough how popular this sport is here.  The local teams are just made up of young men, and some older men, who live in the area.  Each neighborhood has at least one team.  So it is customary to go out and support your team from your neighborhood.  Fotis is quite the sports supporter so naturally he goes to as many games as he can.  He is also very proud of the fact that there are only 2 or 3 teams that have their own field....his being one of them.  We were happy he invited us to join him in watching one of the games.  We even recognized some of the players as waiters from the restaurant where Brian gets his free meal from everyday!

The field was dirt.  Despite this, they play with as much energy and importance as any soccer game I have ever seen on TV or in person.  They take this very seriously I must say and the rivalry between the teams and the fans is just as intense.  As the game got going we started to get into the mood and the feel of cheering for every positive thing "our" team did and oohing and ahhing for every bad.  Most of the fans in the stands were older men who you could tell live for this sort of thing.  All of them were flipping their worry beads and discussing the match and the players like they had bet their life on the outcome of this one match.  A younger man in front of us had a bullhorn and would blow it at any opportune time.  Finally "our" team scored a goal and I felt like I was at the World Cup, the hugs, the hi-fives, I swear I saw a tear.  After the goal things really got heated.  The screaming intensified and the players and coaches even started to scream back at the men in the stands, it was awesome.  It was all so dramatic, even the coach for "our" team is missing a hand, can you imagine what he looked like waving around his little stump in excitement?  The game got really excited at the end and some of the older men rushed the railings over the field not failing to lose one word of harassment (Malaka was every other word....this is the worst thing you can call someone here).  Just minutes before the end the other team scored!!!  So the screaming intensified and then the game was over in a tie!  Brian and I rushed out of there sure there were going to be a hundred fights but everyone seemed to just jump in their cars or on their motorcycles and zoom away...just another futbol game, all good fun.  I can't wait for the professional games to start here!  I can only imagine what those must be like!  

With that said, I can't wait for Brian's games to start!  He finally got his schedule this week and their first game is November 15th here at home.  It will be so exciting to finally have the season start.  It feels like we have been here so long without anything really happening!  They will play a couple more "friendly" (versus unfriendly) tournaments up til then.  I think they are all sick of all the training and lack of games, so it will surely boost their spirits and motivation to start playing (and hopefully winning) some games!