That might go for all of Europe, I am not quite sure yet, but after having went to a match and participated in the atmosphere that is a football match(Yes football, not soccer. They will tell you when you are wrong over here and let me tell you, you don't want to start that conversation with some of these people.)I can honestly say that I have never been to an event quite like that one, Where it is a huge insult to be considered a 'Fan'.
So lets back it up, Quentin Tarantino style, and lets find out what has let up to this realization.
This week has been going really well. I have been keeping up on my reading, doing presentations for Global Cinema, and trying to keep up with the demands of my Econometrics course. It keeps me pretty busy but I love doing it. The weather here is relatively predictable. At some point in the day it will rain, never fail. Sometime it rains all day, and sometimes it cycles from rain, to clouds, to sun, to clouds, to rain, ect. I have learned to bring an umbrella with me at all times because you never know when you leave class and the heavens have opened to pour on you.
Outside of classwork I have joined the gym this week and have been trying to go there quite often. I have made some friends over here with my 4 flatmates, 3 whom are Scottish and one Frenchmen, and they have helped to introduce me to a lot of other people. The odd thing about the University here is that most of these people go home on the weekends, so the big nights to hang out and do things are in the middle of the week. Some people stick around for the weekend, and they are probably the ones I know best now. I have also joined the Stirling University Choir which consists of a ton of old people as well as a few university students tossed in there. Its fun and it gives me something to do on Monday nights.
So this weekend we thought it would be a good idea to head into Glasgow, a major city in Scotland, and go see the sights and see what there is to see. We also got ticks to a Celtic match (Celtic being a football club in Glasgow). This thrilled one of my flatmates who is an avid Celtic supporter, but made another flatmate angry because he is a supporter of the cross town rivals in Glasgow, the Rangers.
So we got to Glasgow, Sarah, Tabatha, and I, and we started to walk around. We went to the Glasgow Cathedral and the necropolis behind it and it was beautiful to see. It was one of the last remaining cathedrals that was not damaged or altered in the Scottish church reformations. It was absolutely beautiful to see and the stain glass windows were amazing. We arrived early enough to be the first ones into the cathedral and it was nice and quite and really had a special feel to it. The Necropolis behind it, the cemetery, was also quite nice with more tombs then i could ever care to count. After that we went to 'The Lighthouse' which is actually not a lighthouse, but an old building in downtown Glasgow. It was a kind of museum of architecture and it had a big spiral that lead to the top and it had a fairly good view of the city of Glasgow, which was not very impressive by the way.
After that we went through the shopping center and headed to a place called Glasgow Green which is a big park along the river in Glasgow. It was nice but the overcast was getting thicker and it was looking like rain very soon. So we started our walk to the stadium and made it there after a pretty hefty walk. We arrived a tad too soon so we began to walk around the stadium and the surrounding neighborhoods. There were vendors all over the place selling scarfs, tee shirts, jerseys, pins, and flags about every 10 feet. There were some food places but not a whole ton, and the stadium outside was really quiet. Around the stadium the pubs were filled with supporters getting ready for the game.
We eventually made it into the stadium after getting something to drink and we made it up to our seats, the very top row. It was actually really nice up there because you could see everything on the field without having to try to look around poles or other things in the way. This is where the differences from other professional matches started to make themselves clear to me. The was only one big screen in the place and it did not play a very important role in the game at all. They only showed highlights of goals and the same 3 ads over and over again. There was very few people who actually got something to eat and drink at the game, most never left their seats at all. Most people did not wear jerseys or anything to symbolize their team colors except for scarves. Everyone had a green and white scarf or some combination of Celtic colors. No music played at all in stadium, all music was provided to us by the Irish Brigade, a section of the stands that sang, all the time, and had drums and would chant and cheer and jump up and down. It was exhausting just to watch them for a few minutes.
I decided to go to the bathroom before the match started because I didn't want to leave during the match instead. It was in the bathroom I saw a poster that really confused me. It said, "Fans don't win matches, supporters do!" I looked at this saying and dismissed it pretty easily as just being another 'Scottish' thing that I don't understand. As I watched the rest of the game I got to be involved in all of the animation and emotion that comes with supporting a team. When Hamilton, the team they were playing against, scored a goal in the first 4 minutes, you could literally feel the air being sucked out of the stadium for a good 10 seconds.
Then a funny thing happened, the entire crowd rallied behind Celtic and started to try to cheer them up. It was the craziest thing I have ever witnessed at a sporting event. After the ball started to roll again the crowd was 100% behind 'their boys' and gave as much encouragement as they could to try to get them back into the game. The Brigade was singing and the entire place was focused on the match. There was no time for drink or snacks to be sold in the stands, this was football time. At this moment I understood the sign in the bathroom, Fans would sit and watch the match and cheer and go home win or lose and be alright with it. Supporters would pour everything they had into the game, onto the field, and would live the game with the players. The distinction was a big one and one you can't understand until there are thousands upon thousands of people pouring their hopes and dreams into a group of 11 men on the pitch. After Celtic scored their first goal the crowd erupted and after a bad penalty the crowd erupted.
It was unlike anything I have ever seen in my life and I doubt I will see anything like it again. Celtic did end up winning 3-1 and it was a good day. I bought a scarf for my collection and I am proud to say that I supported Celtic for a day.
Until next time, this is Nick, Signing off.
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