This last week I went to my first European sporting event…ever. Growing up in just short of a sports fanatic family, this might be a surprise to them or anyone who knows us. However, that does not matter—I freakin saw my first fußball game- the Austria national team against the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team!
The game did not start at the advertised time 20:45, but really started at 7:00 in the morning in the streets of Vienna. Walking in the brisk morning air to German class, I saw scores of people dressed in blue and yellow scarves with beer in hands. This is when the game apparently started?? Escaping class and practice for a sandwich break at the local Billa grocery store, I heard chants in groups of fifty people with as much energy as I’ve ever seen. The craziest part of that morning was that blue and yellow is Bosnia and Herzegovina, not Austria! They mentioned there were protests in the city, but these groups of people seemed to be the bigger threat in the city!
I headed to the game at a conservative 19:15 to get there by about 20:00 and get in line. When my friends and I arrived, we were greeted by a brimming U-Bahn station with cheap beer and Bretzel stands lining the sidewalk. The atmosphere was incredible and definitely not the type of energy seen at an American Football game. After being yelled at in German for not folding my ticket to fit it in the ticket scanner, we were in! Once in the stands, we were basically in the Austrian national section, each seat equipped with the red and white flag to wave crazily.
Once the game started, some sections sat down, while the uber-Austria national section was standing, jumping and cheering the whole time just behind our goal. The game was exciting, not perfect soccer, but some great efforts and beauty in the process. Then without warning, the Bosnia fans started lighting fireworks in their side of the stadium. The first thought that raced to my mind was “Is this legal?” Soon there was a collection of fifteen or twenty flares and a cloud of smoke brewing. Okay… this is not America. To stop this insanity, which began at about the 15-minute mark, the announcer did not announce “this is illegal, please stop”. Instead, the announcer stated in German “Please stop creating the fires, we don’t want the players breathing in the smoke”. Apparently, the announcer knows how to approach these fans. Without complaining, the fans stop, and that was that… what?!?!
The rest of the game contained a couple of possible goals that were called back for offsides and such. The final score…0-0. Everyone clapped, and we raced to the U-Bahn station to escape. We barely crammed our bodies into the U-Bahn back home, and that was that. I just saw my first European Fußball game. I went for the atmosphere, and boy did I get atmosphere. Who knows what the next “Spiel” will be like!
Thoughts with David 