Football Frenzy

A sea of people dressed in the same color can be an amazing sight. When they are all supporters of a sports team, the energy and enthusiasm among this mass of matching people is spectacular. Most in the U.S. believe they have seen it all with football and NASCAR fans. After all, many of these devout fans follow their team or driver around the entire country on any given weekend. Even at his/her face painted, jersey wearing, foam finger waving best, the American sports fan is a mere speck on the international sports scene. There is simply nothing present in the U.S. that can match the scale of adoration the rest of the world exhibits toward their football (soccer) teams.

I went to Switzerland to visit my mother, siblings, and friends during June of 2008. The entire country was in the midst of a month long frenzy as a co-host (with Austria) of the European Cup. As a host country, the Swiss football players were automatic participants. Swiss colors were everywhere, but not always the most visible. Supporters from neighboring countries gathered in the Swiss cities where their national teams would play like uniformed invading hoards. The streets of Bern turned orange as the Dutch matched the locals in numbers. The Swiss media watched 24/7 as similar scenes unfolded in Zurich and Geneva.

Tens of thousands came without tickets from allover Europe and watched the matches on huge open air movie screens around the country. For that month, all of Europe was either in or wholly focused on my country and Austria. There are no words that can adequately describe the pride and nationalism of an entire country feverishly supporting their football team. I felt it that summer, just as I felt it when visiting Italy when the Azzuri won the World Cup.

The Tuscan town I was staying in at the time of Italy’s victory vibrated like an earthquake had shaken it. People made noise from their windows, the streets and their cars. Screaming, honking, dancing, and flag waving along with tears of joy and hugs experienced simultaneously by millions of people throughout the country is an amazingly powerful event!

These large scale soccer championships are like carnivals that last an entire month. There is a camaraderie and brotherhood among the fans that transcends race and nationality. Experiencing the madness was a lot of fun as it is truly on a scale that dwarfs anything one can imagine.