Last night I went to my very first soccer game, and let me tell you, I have never experienced anything like it! The crowds were energetic, loud, rowdy, and extremely passionate! The best thing I can think to compare it to is what I imagine the Big House would be like if there were no rules or security guards. The fans had so many chants, cheers, and songs, and knew exactly when they were supposed to start yelling them. The crowd was filled with purple (the team's color), and there were so many purple and white stripped scarves, it reminded me of a Harry Potter Quidditch match.
Whenever there was a bad play, the people in the crowd would throw up their hands, scream, kick the seat in front of them, thrown their cigarette, you name it. One man was waving a large flag around and hit it against the seat in front of him so hard that he broke it clear in half. The most dramatic thing that I noticed was the entire section left empty between the Florence and Rome fans lined with security guards. At one point during the game, we noticed a cloud of smoke coming from the dividing section. Apparently, this was not cigarette smoke, fans from each side were throwing smoke bombs at each other! Could you imagine that happening in the US? It would be national news and considered some sort of terrorist threat. But it Italy, its just a normal occurrence at a football match. Here's a picture of this divide:
On a side note, the score was 0-1, with a Rome win. Rome did not score until the last five minutes of the game, so it was pretty disappointing.
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