Last week, I attended my first Brazilian soccer game… and what a game to see. It was the Flamengo v. Fluminense (Fla-Flu) game in the Rio de Janeiro city championship tournament. Apparently, this cross-town rivalry began way back in 1911 when a few unhappy Fluminese players, left the club and joined the Flamengo club where they started the soccer program there.
Flamengo is the most successful team in Rio State Championships. They are “up one” on the Fluminense 31-30. There is also an interesting social dynamic between the two teams. Fluminense was originally started by sons of the elite who had come into contact with soccer while studying in Europe. Since then, it has been traditionally supported by the wealthy, which leads to resentment from the middle and lower class fans.
Before the game, it was already apparent the sincere divide between allegiances. When presenting our ticket (which was in the “neutral” and “tame” section of the stadium… tame is a very relative term) we had to declare which team we were rooting for. Randomly choosing Flamengo, we were told we had to go to the other side of the stadium. In Brazil, it is necessary to divide teams spectators simply for protection. Those wearing jerseys, had to take them off to walk through the opposing team’s side of the stadium, or risk getting hardcore heckled or even assaulted.
Once inside the 95,000-seat stadium Maracaná Stadium, you couldn’t help but feel the energy. Between all the fireworks (snuck in by spectators and set off in the stands), waving banners, and zealous chants, the atmosphere was indescribable. We faked as much enthusiasm as we could muster after arbitrarily choosing to support Flamengo and attempted to mouth the cheers, waving our shirts in the air with the best of them. Our support must have helped because Flamengo had a late comeback to take the win!
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