Real Cartagena vs Real Bucaramanga

It took me long enough, but finally after nearly two years I went to my first Real Cartagena soccer game.  A lot has happened with the team since I first got to site in January 2013.  The biggest change being that they no longer play in the top division, but were relegated to Colombia’s B division.  Needless to say they are now struggling to bring in fans.  This is a shame because the stadium is actually one of the nicer venues in Colombia and it’s 16,000 seats were filled not to long ago when Cartagena hosted a few of the games for the U20 world cup in 2010.  But really who can complain when you can get amazing seats for $5 and not have to wait in a single line?  Not this guy...

When I finally got to the stadium, 1 hour from site, I was immediately approached by ticket scalpers-- I wonder what gave away my gringoness?.  Now there is no way to tell if the tickets they were selling were real or not, but some of the scalpers made pretty convincing cases.  One lifted up his shirt to show me his Real Cartagena tattoo on his left peck as to say, "Would a guy with a local soccer club's tattoo on his chest really sell a gringo a fake ticket?" and another pointed to a tattoo of the team shield on his right calf.  But after spending some time in Colombia I thought it would be wise to walk the extra three minutes to the ticket window.  

I guess maybe I have been here a little to long because as I finally got to my seat the two teams had already been playing for 20 minutes.  Luckily I didn’t miss a goal and everyone left happy after the 2-0 Real Cartagena win.  If I had to estimate I would guess there may have been 1,000 fans inside the stadium, 200 watching from the outside, 75 cops, and 4 police on horses.  So even though the stadium is in a sketchy part of town the amount of police made the venue feel a bit safer.  However, the 100 diehard fans were by far more impressive than the sound security.  These select few were out of their seats jumping, singing various Real Cartagena chants, and whistling at the opposition and ref for the entire 90 minutes.  Now it is one thing to paint your face and yell for the home team when the seats are packed and everyone is doing it, but it was just crazy to see 1/160 of full capacity yelling as if the place was sold out and Real Cartagena were playing with a shot at the championship on the line.  With only a few more months left in Colombia I am glad I got to check a visit to the local fútbol club off the bucket list.            

And the crowd goes wild!