My First Live Soccer Game

Last Saturday, Mat brought me to my first ever live soccer match. It was the final match between

vs

Which team we support you ask? Well… Melbourne Victory of course. We’re in Melbourne and it’s in home ground, and we were surrounded by Melbourne Victory fans… you get the picture.

We decided to go and support because one of the players, Rodrigo Vargas, in Melbourne Victory goes to our church.

The match was held in Telstra Dome/Etihad Stadium.

The crowd outside the stadium

I have never been to a live soccer match, mainly because I’m no soccer fan. But Mathias has been to a few soccer matches, and he tells me the atmosphere in a real live match is really really exciting. Well… I was about to find out.

This stadium can take 56,000 plus spectators. We entered the stadium pretty early, 1 hour before the match. As you can see, the stadium was not filled up yet.

But 1 hour later, look…

About 53,000 plus seats were taken up.

We bought the cheapest ticket of course . I had to pay $35 for mine, and Mat only had to pay $20, because student price. We went with 4 other friends. 2 of them couldn’t get seats next to us. Before we entered the stadium, we were given these huge ass hands!… which some partners later found out it was a total nuisance….. poke, poke, poke, poke……

It would have been better if we got seats in the middle of the stadium, rather than at the corner… but the view was still great. We could see everything.

When the players came into the field, we cheered.

Singing of the national anthem:

The kick start?… forgive me if I have my terms wrong

One thing which I found really really interesting… watching the fans. Their support for the team is amazing, with their singing, and chanting, and cheering, and stomping, and swearing…. yeah… they actually chanted swear words to the opposite team. We tried to follow what they were singing and cheering and all, except for the swearing. I shall not tell you what word they said, in case of bad influence!

There was a man sitting next to me, it was really interesting to hear what he had to say when the game was on. The referee of the match was not exactly very good, even I as a non soccer person can see that… really!… anyways, whenever the referee did a wrong decision, the guy beside me will shout, “Somebody, shoot the referee!”. It was hilarious. And the people at the back commentating on the game. The people in front, singing and waving the team flag. The atmosphere was indeed really really exciting!

There was interesting events as well. There was a fight…

Then there was an injury….

Then there was a goal…

Well, actually picture above is we’re celebrating the victory of Melbourne Victory. When they striked a goal, Mat and I was jumping up and down and cheering our voices out. Our 2 friends sitting with us, just sat there still contemplating whether to stand up and cheer or not -_-

Overall, the game is not as fast paced as the European football matches. But I really enjoyed the night. Thanks to my husband for giving me the experience!

Melbourne Victory won 1-0