Clash of the masses

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As  our friends know well: We're not into football, but when you happen to be in Rio on the day of a Fla-Flu match, you just can't sit at home.

Fla-Flu - the more than one hundred year old, intense rivalry between the two local clubs of Flamengo and Fluminense - is considered among the most beguiling derbies in the entire world.

Unfortunately - this Sunday the two teams didn't, as is normally the case, clash together on  the fabled Maracanã stadium. If that had happened, we absolutely would have tried to get seats at the 'Clássico das Multidões' (the derby of the masses) - on the packed bleachers surrounded by what is described as a pandemonium of flags, banners and fireworks.

This Sunday, the Fla-Flu match was (by reasons we didn't understand) placed on an obscure stadium far from Rio and we had to make do with watching it at one of the local taverns.

Prior to a 'fla-flu' encounter the excitement is building up all over Rio - and even in Vidigal, where many men walked around from early morning dressed in the red and black jerseys of Fluminense - the favorite team around here.

We actually felt the excitement building up inside us. We really looked forward to be a part of a special thing.

And, in this respect, we felt rather let down, when the match actually began.

It was - a football match! And, as far as we could see from the TV hanging on the wall, not  a really interesting one at that.

And all this about 'Clash of the masses': The bleachers on the stadium was eerily half empty - and here in Vidigal, most people were probably watching at home. Just a handful of hardcore fans had found seating at our local bar

We enjoyed our outing, though. We did have more than a couple of some very nice, very cool beers and we felt truly welcome, as the locals gave us 'thumbs up' and 'high fives', whenever something good seemed to happened. The fans obviously appreciated the gringos meeting up - even though they could soon see, we were completely ignorant about the niceties of the game.


The anthem of the Fla-Flu matches begins with "O Fla-Flu começou quarenta minutos antes do nada. E aí então as multidões despertaram".    Or in English: Fla-Flu has no beginning. Fla-Flu has no end. Fla-Flu came into existence forty minutes before nothing. And then the multitude was awakened.'

These are big words, and sorry to say - as far as we could see, this Sunday the multitude wasn't awakened - not in our favela at least.

PS
If you're into football and want to see highlights from the match, you can find it here:



www.youtube.com/embed/OiA9w4uE7uY

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