On Sunday afternoon (21/8), Markus took me on an adventure. You see, Markus is a major football fan and the team that he supports is called Brøndby IF. This Sunday, Brøndby IF was to play their first game of the season, and instead of sending me off to do something else in Copenhagen, he invited me to join him and his friends to the game.
I’ve never been to a real football game before, and even though I by birth and geography support the Swedish team Hammarby, I actually don’t know how they did last season. But I’m pretty sure that Hammarby, being a Stockholm team and all, is The Swedish team that has the biggest fan base in relation to how terribly bad they’ve been doing these last couple of years in the Swedish football league.
As for my personal experience of football, the most lasting impression is a game we played during PE in first grade, my class against the other class in our year, and I was standing in the middle of the field, minding my own business, when the ball suddenly came charging at me. Of course I protected myself with my hands. Apparently, though, this is not allowed behavior in football. So it led to the other team getting to do a free kick or something, and a guy in my class screaming at me that I was STUPID. I was a shy little girl and he was one of the more aggressive boys in my grade, and getting the ball in my face really hurt. I was traumatized. Ever since, I’ve been scared of balls. All through school, I was one of the best girls in my year in sports (I even won stuff), my strengths being running and overall fitness due to my riding – but I could never learn to handle any ball sports.
So, football has not been a favorite activity of mine for multiple reasons. But I’m all about trying new things. So, even though watching football for me seems like an even more incomprehensible activity than actually playing it, I agreed to go with them.
I have so many prejudices about young men who watch football. That they drink buckets of beer, that they communicate by screaming, that they after the game meet up in a back alley to pound each others faces. And, boy, did my prejudices get confirmed. Except for the fighting part, it was exactly like I thought it would be. Guys guys guys and beer beer beer and constant screaming. But there was also this incredible energy, all these people engaging so wholeheartedly in the same thing, concentrating all their energy, their hopes and dreams for this short moment in time on that tiny ball being kicked up and down the field. I couldn’t help being swept away by the game, even though I part of the time had no idea of what was happening and why. It was intoxicating.
I did end up having a lot of fun. Somehow, mugs of beer and slices of pizza appeared in my hands. It was a very nice way to spend a hot Sunday afternoon.
Unfortunately, the game ended 1-1. But it’s right in the beginning of the season, Brøndby has plenty of time to win games. And on the way back home, I kind of promised to take Markus and his friends to a football game when he comes to Stockholm to visit. Let’s hope Hammarby has managed to win something by then.
Katja Malmborg 