Last night Patrick and I attended the Olympique Lyonnais vs. AC Arles-Avignon football (soccer) match. Before coming to France one of the things high on my "to do" list was go to a soccer game. If you are unfamiliar with French soccer it works like other European soccer leagues. There are a number of different leagues (i.e. Ligue 1, Ligue 2, etc). The bottom three teams in Ligue 1 at the end of the season move into Ligue 2 and the top three teams in Ligue 2 move up to Ligue 1, and so on. Olympique Lyonnais last year was second in Ligue 1 (since they can't move up any further they just stayed put). Arles-Avignon was also in the top three last year, the top three of Ligue 2. This year Lyon is sitting in third place in Ligue 1 and Arles-Avignon is, you guessed it, in 20th (last) place. Not only are they in last place, they have only won 1 game this entire season and are 14 points behind the team in 19th place. Suffice it to say, they are bad. They make the North Texas football team look like the Pittsburgh Steelers (minus the sexual assault).
Patrick and I took the subway to the game, which was quite easy. As we came out of the subway I was expecting to see the stadium rise above everything else around, like when you come out of the "el" in the Bronx or at Willets Point. We crested the top of the stairs and there were throngs of people, but Patrick and I both did the same thing; we turned around in circles trying to figure out where to go next. Finally, I noticed what appeared to be a high school football field in Texas and said, "Oh, I think there's the stadium."
Patrick and I walked over to the stadium, which was built in 1930, and looked as if it hadn't been renovated since 1946 (and that's even questionable). But I didn't care, I wasn't going to the game for the stadium, I was going to watch some fantastic European soccer. In fact, the stadium gave it a little character. Patrick and I found our seats in the upper deck (superieur). This is where the size of the stadium really helped. We were in the upper deck and couldn't be more than 150 feet from the playing field It was great!
Now, I don't know if any retransmission, rebroadcast or account of the game without the express written consent of Ligue 1 is prohibited, but I'm going to go ahead anyway. Arles started with the ball, and they had it for about 7.4 seconds before Lyon took the ball away. This kind of set the tone for the entire game. They scored 2 goals within 20 minutes and then proceeded to win 5-0. Nobody would have confused this game with competitive, but I had a blast. This old stadium was moving with the excitement of 35,000 fans screaming and shouting. There were guys waving flags and banging drums. There was face paint, OL scarves everywhere. These fans had so much more zeal than fans at American sports. When Lyon scored a goal (which as stated above was often) the old stadium would literally shake and creak from the screaming of fans like it were struggling just to keep its walls up. In all, Patrick and I had a beer, watched a fun game and had a fantastic time. I can't wait for the Lyon-Marseilles game.
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