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Published: January 28th 2007
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La Stade Gerlande
Me in the stadium; it's sorta dark, but you can see my outline. Bonjour mes amis!
Well, the last time I posted I had just been on a tour around Vieux Lyon and to the Roman Amphitheatre. Last night - saturday - a few friends and I got to go see Olympique Lyonnais at Stade Gerlande! First of all, i'll give a little bit of background information on Olympique Lyonnais for those who don't pay attention to soccer. Lyon has won the french league title (the french league is called Ligue 1) 5 years in a row. Everyone in France HATES Olympique Lyonnais because they've won the league so many times, and have such a stranglehold on the french league, so it's rather interesting to hear other french people complain about Olympique Lyonnais. Also, Olympique Lyonnais are known for their crowd which is extremely colourful and loud! While it's no comparison to an Oilers' playoff game, it's still pretty cool when you watch the entire crowd hopping up and down in unison singing "Allez, allez, allez!"
The stadium Lyonnais play in is called Stade Gerlande, and seats approximately 38,000 people (so the sightlines are great from pretty much anywhere you sit). Most people take the metro to the stadium - the metro
and the tram are extremely efficient - and when you get out of the metro there are people everywhere outside the stadium. Fans must show up at least 1-2 hours before the game because there were people all over the place! One funny thing I noticed outside the stadium is that there are Kabab stands EVERYWHERE! Now, a kabab is basically a donair, but they put them in french bread, and the spicing of the meat is a lot different. Because there are so many Maghrebins in France (people of North African descent) this type of food is a mainstay in the french culture. If you want to eat fast food, there is McDonald's, Quick - basically the same thing as McDonald's - and Kabab shops, so you can all imagine what I eat if I need something quick! Also, drinking in public in France isn't illegal! They frown upon it - 'they' being the Police - but you can buy beer from a Kabab tent on the street and just drink beer in public!
So the game we went to was between Nice and Lyon, and we expected a high scoring game because Lyon had lost 2 games
Les Chanteurs
This guy was crazy! in a row (and they haven't lost more than 2 in a row since 1999), and Nice are the 2nd worst team in Ligue 1. To our surprise, Nice opened the game with a strike at about the 20th minute! All of the Nice fans - who were seated in one section and totaled about 30 fans - were going crazy! Nice were playing surprisingly well, but the home team countered with a goal 3 minutes before the half. Sidney Govou (some of you may know him from the French national team) centered the ball through to Milan Baros (newly acquired by Lyon) and he buried the ball in the back of the net to equalize. At these games, there are also these guys in opposite ends of the stadium with microphones chanting the songs of Lyon! It's kind of cool because they totally get the crowd into the game, and it synchronizes the songs really well! As you can see in the attached picture, one of the guys was really hardcore, and actually took his shirt off for about a half hour! Now, it's cold in Canada, but it was ACTUALLY really cold at this game, and it didn't
seem to bother this guy one bit!
Pretty funny stuff...anyway, the two teams traded chances for the rest of the game - there weren't many chances to be had to be honest - until Nice took down Milan Baros in the penalty area for the dreaded penalty kick! One of Lyon's two Brazilians - Fred - stepped up to the spot, only to MISS the penalty! As a side note, I find it funny that most Brazilians have exotic names like Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho, Adriano, and Ronaldo, and FRED! How did this guy get the short end of the stick when they were handing out names? Anyway, this was with about 5 minutes left in the game, so Lyon had their chance to win and didn't come through. All in all, a good game, but not a whole lot of offense to speak of, and a lot of fouls from each team. But when all was said and done, i'll go again because the atmosphere at the game is unparalleled, and it's just a really fun time to go and see a game! Stay tuned for more action! I'm HOPING i'll be able to get a ticket to the
Champions League game against AS Roma, but i'm expecting that I won't be able to get a ticket, or it will cost too much, so we'll see. Anyway, once again, hope everyone is doing well at home, and i'll talk to you guys soon!
Patrick
P.S. It snowed here! I've attached a picture, as it's quite beautiful when it snows! It's actually been surprisingly cold, so i'm definitely glad I brought my winter coat!
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Sarah
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Fred
I'm pretty sure that would have been my favorite part, I would have cheered for Fred obnoxiously all game long. Poor guy. He couldn't have gotten Frederico? Alfredo?