The rivalry between Universidad de Chile and Universidad Católica is not only apparent among students attending the two schools, it is present on a national level largely thanks to football (soccer) fanaticism. Even Chileans who never went to either university tend to strongly favor one team over the other. For instance, my friend Juan Pablo who is a groundskeeper at my apartment complex always roots for the University of Chile even though he wasn’t a student there. On the other hand, my host brother Matías, who reads the sports section of the newspaper religiously, is a huge fan of Universidad Católica, and he is actually studying law there. Because I am taking all of my classes at Universidad Católica, I have also decided to cheer for them when we had the fortune of going to a game this past weekend. I borrowed Matí’s shirt to bring along some team spirit, even though our program director advised against it because it can often spark violent controversy even outside of the stadium. Luckily, my team won and I could wear the shirt proudly! Chileans, along with pretty much all Latin Americans, take their football very seriously.
A prime example of exactly how fanatical Latin America is about football can be seen in the case of the final between Boca Juniors and River Plate in the Copa Libertadores in November of last year. Widely considered as the fiercest rivalries in the sport, their playoff was postponed due to a clash of River fans and the police which lead to tear gas and rubber bullets injuring the players of Boca’s team. Copa Libertadores, which translates to “Liberator’s Cup” is in honor of Latin American countries gaining independence from Spain. Ironically, the final ended up being played in Spain because the Argentinians couldn’t handle the heat.
My personal experience with the fanaticism started back when I studied abroad in Peru, and our classes would be put on pause just so that everyone would watch the World Cup Series. Although I have yet to watch a game at my university classes here in Chile, at my internship with Generadoras I did catch my coworkers watching games in the conference room on various occasions.
Pick up games in the park and in the street are another showcase of South America’s devotion to the sport. The apartment where I live is next to a large golf course and soccer field, and I often hear the cheers and whistles of tournaments. I find it wonderful to see people drawn closer in their cultural love for football.