It took me a little while

It took a few weekends more than I thought, do to first jet-lag and then an off weekend, but I finally made it to a football (soccer) match. On Sunday 14 Sept. Karsten, Orlando, and I went to the great Luzhniki Stadium, which as part of the Lenin Sports Complex was built for the 1980 Olympic Games (the ones in which the Americans boycotted in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan the previous year). The stadium itself is rather large and of a sort of neo-classical style. It is round, fully enclosed (not a dome, though it does have a partial roof that covers the seating) with sorts of pillars around it. From the outside it is rather plain, on the inside it has artificial turf, 2 jumbotrons that did nothing more than say the score in plain font, and seats of red, orange, and yellow- apparently that color scheme trend of the 1970s did not pass over the Soviet Union. The stadium is easily accessible by the Metro, about a par 5 distance (Tiger could drive it) from the station Спортивная. It is surrounded by a park like setting with areas for giant tents to be set up for events, several smaller outbuildings, a giant statue of Lenin, and a dilapidated looking and nearly crumbling swimming stadium; in other words it is set up well for the Olympic games: plenty of room for people to meander around, a pretty and inviting setting, easily accessible to tourists, etc. The day we were there, there was a chill in the air, with gray clouds, and a cold breeze; the park areas were cordoned off by barricades, the tents closed, no alcohol allowed even in the Metro station, and police/soldiers (they're very difficult to tell apart in Russia) everywhere.
The match was between ЦСКА, one of the Moscow teams, and Луч-Энергия Владивосток, the team from Vladivostok. Honestly, the play wasn't very good, the final score was 3-1 ЦСКА, the goals were decent, but the overall play was no better than you see in the MLS (I've seen much better in MLS actually)-it definitely wasn't like watching a big EPL or World Cup match. The stadium was very empty, one half of it was actually gated off except for a little section for the Vladivostok fans (there were no more than 100 of them in the section!) The ЦСКА section was rather impressive, while not huge, they made a good amount of noise, stomping and chanting waving flags and lighting flares when their team scored, it was really cool. We sat in what we assume to be the soldier and children section. There was maybe 50 of us in the section, 25 being off duty soldiers in dress uniform, freezing due to lack of coats, and then there were a bunch of parents with kids. The kids were really cute all bundled up wearing little ЦСКА hats and scarves waving little flags; two of the older ones, maybe 10-11, were hilarious hooligans in the making, chanting along with the fanatic section and trash talking the entire match.
While the game lacked excitement, other than the gnarlitivity (how's that for a Deezian word?) of the fanatics' songs, chants, stomping, etc, the real experience came afterwards. When we left the stadium we noticed even more police and soldiers than we saw going in, each one eying the group and individuals intently, with their frequency and intensity of their angry looks increasing as we got closer to the Metro station. This then culminated into a grand police and soldier finale. The final 150 or so meters to the Metro's entrance was lined by police and soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder creating a pathway about a meter wide in which to walk. The first 50 meters were ordinary looking police officers, the second 50: police holding their clubs in hand wearing riot helmets, and the last 50: out and out soldiers wearing camouflage holding their batons; each group being separated from the other by officers on horseback. It was a truly intimidating receiving line meant to do exactly what it did: keep order and calm the people walking through. As we approached their receiving line everybody was talking, laughing, hooting, etc, but as we walked along the police path all was quite and it seemed like nobody around uttered a word or sound, every step a horse took in its place rang out loudly and echoed from every direction. The faces of the police and soldiers were far brighter than I would have imagined though, some wore smiles and seemed almost inviting, others had serious and intent looks, while others looked simply bored. In total, I would guess that there were more police/soldiers in and around the stadium than there were fans. But everything seemed to go smoothly, so I guess this Russian formula works in the way intended-then again it was a small match with a team from Vladivostok, who travels the 10 hours from Vladivostok to watch a football match that means almost nothing? I'd say it was the perfect inaugural match for me, calm, not too intimidating and in a what I am told relatively inviting atmosphere. The only trouble we had was upon entering the stadium; my studded belt and chain wallet set off the metal detectors prompting a pat down. The first officer seemed to have serious problems with my stuff, but his superior smiled, waved me on, and said “иностранец” (foreigner) as he shrugged to the first officer. Next time I will, as I did this time, be sure to wear neutral colors, but also avoid anything that could be an issue. Maybe the next match will be packed and really loud: I just hope I sit in the safe kiddie section again!

Update: Well interestingly enough I have now been to another match and still haven't posted about the first. This one was between Динамо (Москва) and Сатурн (from just outside Moscow) at Dynamo stadium in Moscow. I personally think the play was better than the other match though the first half was really boring. I think I liked this one better because it seemed to have less fanfare and I didn't feel as tense: for one Dynamo stadium is 80 years old and feels like a semi-dilapidated highschool or college stadium (very Communist too) so it gave the Russian authorities less concern, for 2 we sat closer to the field among fans that hurled curses at both teams for the entire match, and for 3 I feel much more comfortable in Russia and have developed the ability to communicate with people. The negative of it all was that I got to witness Russian racism: when a black player took a corner and when one was subbed out, parts of the crowd would make monkey noises and yell racial slurs, it was absolutely disgusting. Each and every black player in Russia is a Jackie Robinson showing incredible courage and confidence, I give them my full respect. Other than the racism it was awesome.