In addition to my dog who comes from Spain, I am friends with another Spaniard living in the Netherlands and he came to Amsterdam on Saturday for the climate march. We would drink coffee at Central Station. I wanted to march along, but I had to watch sports to have something to report about it here. The climate had to give way to sports and work, also in my life. Disappointed in myself, I watched Manchester United-Manchester City. The fact that Donny van de Beek was allowed to play was no consolation. Not even when the commentator said that Donny was going to be a father and that meant Dennis Bergkamp was going to be a grandfather. Apparently Donny does it with Bergkamp’s daughter. I did not know. I also didn’t know that the line between gossip and sports commentary had been lifted.
The climate march reached the Westerpark when Celta started the Vigo-FC Barcelona. Within five minutes Ansu Fati scored. The supporters sang and banged on panels and reminded me of the supporters in the Netherlands. As an explanation for the rampant supporter violence, I read here and there that it would be due to corona. Corona is also being blamed everywhere these days. Italy and Spain have had a much tougher time in terms of lockdowns and deaths, but there are no reports of supporters becoming more violent. Sergio Busquets made it 0-2. Moments later, Memphis Depay scored: 0-3.
The Spaniard sent a message. The Central Station was silted up with climate protesters returning home. If he could come and sit it out at my house for a while. “You have to watch Celta de Vigo-Barça,” I replied. He sent a puking emoji. Moments later, he rang the doorbell and said: “I studied in Vigo. I could hear the goals from my room.” I said they were down 3-0. The second half had begun. We watched Spanish football with Dutch commentary. The Spaniard said: “Vigo was such a city in crisis in the 1990s. Closed shipyards, high unemployment, many addicts on the street. So they struggled forward there, but when the club was forced to relegate because they did not have their housekeeping book in order, they suddenly revolted.”
“And then?”
“Then that relegation did not continue.”
Celta scored: 1-3. I asked if supporters in Spain were behaving more violently than usual these days. He hadn’t heard about that. I told him about the misbehavior of Dutch supporters. Celta scored again: 2-3. I said as neutrally as possible: “People would be frustrated because of the corona measures and turn that into aggression.” The Spaniard replied: “They are just spoiled here. The Dutch cannot deal with adversity at all.”
In the 95th minute Celta equalized: 3-3. When the Spaniard was home, I searched the internet for violence from Barça supporters in Vigo. I didn’t think so. I did meet political leaders from Glasgow who spoke about climate change in football metaphors. Soon they will tell us that, just like Celta, you can still play a draw against global warming in injury time. In the field of climate, every football metaphor hides a lie, you can’t play against gases.
Carolina Trujillo is a writer.
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