Morocco 0 Gambia 2
If I end up with permanent hearing loss, I will be able to attribute it to attending a football (soccer) game in Gambia. Man, those fans are loud! So Saturday started out hot and sunny as usual. About 1/2 an hour before game time, the sky opened up and it poured! Fooey. No matter. The game was still on and our friend Lamin picked us up in his car even though the stadium is pretty close to our house. He dropped us off at the gate of the stadium and we got in line with our tickets. Getting into our section required 3 security checks. Some umbrellas are admitted, some aren't so lucky. We Canadians can't tell evil umbrellas from good ones apparently because Sharon's got confiscated.
Our tickets cost us 50 dalasi (or 2 bucks) and this lets us into the "covered section". Except the bottom ones, where there were seats left, were not so covered and the seats were soaked. We sucked it up and planted our butts in the puddles. Just as the game was beginning the rain started again so everyone headed WAY up into the covered section. We actually ended up standing in the very back for the whole first half of the game. All the Gambians buy whistles that they blow kind of whenever they feel like it. Earplugs are a must. When the Gambians scored their first goal the whole stadium (30,000 people) were up on their feet, yelling and whistling. So crazy. During half-time, we went back down to the front rows and found new seats. We could see a whole lot better and were way closer to the action. It was great. We yelled and cheered and I even started our section in a round of "Ole...Ole Ole Ole" :) Straight across from us on the other side of the stadium was the Gambian Scorpions Fan Club. The entire game they were on their feet dancing and playing drums. Next time we're totally sitting with them. The best part was after the second goal, everyone in the stadium started waving their arms like scissors in front of them. It's kind of crazy to see 30,000 people doing that all at the same time. So much fun!
Next game: Gambia vs. Mali. Go team!
Our tickets cost us 50 dalasi (or 2 bucks) and this lets us into the "covered section". Except the bottom ones, where there were seats left, were not so covered and the seats were soaked. We sucked it up and planted our butts in the puddles. Just as the game was beginning the rain started again so everyone headed WAY up into the covered section. We actually ended up standing in the very back for the whole first half of the game. All the Gambians buy whistles that they blow kind of whenever they feel like it. Earplugs are a must. When the Gambians scored their first goal the whole stadium (30,000 people) were up on their feet, yelling and whistling. So crazy. During half-time, we went back down to the front rows and found new seats. We could see a whole lot better and were way closer to the action. It was great. We yelled and cheered and I even started our section in a round of "Ole...Ole Ole Ole" :) Straight across from us on the other side of the stadium was the Gambian Scorpions Fan Club. The entire game they were on their feet dancing and playing drums. Next time we're totally sitting with them. The best part was after the second goal, everyone in the stadium started waving their arms like scissors in front of them. It's kind of crazy to see 30,000 people doing that all at the same time. So much fun!
Next game: Gambia vs. Mali. Go team!
posted by brandy at 3:09 PM
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