The sight of ecstatic fans after their team has won, taken outside the window of my flat.
Deafening honks lasted for 4 hours, between 8pm – 12am..
Deafening honks lasted for 4 hours, between 8pm – 12am..
My ardent readers would recall that this is my second post on football. The sad reality is that Colombian life is dictated by complicated transport arrangement and football schedules. Sunday was the final of the Colombian cup. And since it was Millonarios vs Medellín, and Mill being Mario’s team, I couldn’t get any excuse not watching, especially when it’s been 24 years since Mill had the chance to compete for championship.
The interesting thing about football in this country is not the sport itself but the baffling cultural behaviour around the sport. The game was the second lag between the teams, held in Bogotá. So the scandalous Colombians decided that they wouldn’t let the opponent team’s supporters get in the stadium to watch the game. The whole stadium ended up unusually with just one colour – bright blue. When I inquired how Bogotá managed to do this, the answer was, ‘Medellín also refused the entry of Bogotáns previously!’ In reality, it was probably wise not to have let Medellín enter the stadium to reduce risk of conflicts and violence, since you would get violence even among the supporters who supported the same team. But can you imagine this? The act of refusing entry based on your t-shirt colour = refusing human rights without justifiable reasons! This would have caused an outcry in Europe where every columnist would have written about it!
Unreasonableness extended to the players’ behavior, which was characterised by a distinctively South American abrasiveness fueled by passion for their national sport, turning football into rugby. And referees didn’t seem to know how to manage the situations, so whenever they were required to resolve tackles among players, as with many other activities in Colombia such as shopping and dining, there was also a lot of delays.. 5 yellow cards were given out in the game, and the best episode was Felipe Pardo showing his professionalism by agitating the audience after his team has scored a goal.. It was totally unnecessary and he brought his team down by one player as a result.
And just to make the spectacle even better, on top of the messy travesty you get fireworks! Yes! Supporters secretly smuggled firecrackers into the stadium, firing the crackers whenever there was a fight, ending up giving a satirical effect to the players. Then the teams’ managers had to gesture to the audience begging them to calm down so that the game could carry on.
The game turned into a farce and players became comedians.
In case you’re interested in the results, Mill won, at the penalty kicks..
onechineseincolombia.com 
Millos Millos!!!!
sounds like a game in cy…same fanaticism(even though we’re “europeans”)