hasta la muerte

Sevilla F.C. won the UEFA Cup on Wednesday night. On Thursday night the players and the cup itself arrived home to a city literally beside itself with happiness. The fans were out in the thousands as the team’s double-decker party bus made its way at snail’s pace from the airport, to the cathedral (only in Spain would they present their soccer cup to the Virgin), to the government building, and to the stadium. The beautiful part about it was that it was truly a citywide celebration, except for the loyal fans to the city’s other team Betis. Teenagers drinking Cruzcampo united with old men sweating through their collared shirts, their wives, little girls and boys with red and white soccer jerseys, boys on motos honking, women in cars honking, groups of boys screaming and cheering and waving huge red flags. Perhaps more so than Feria and Semana Santa, this celebration was open and welcoming to soccer fans of all shapes, sizes, ages, and colors.

I waited in the big plaza by the government building and watched as the fans waved their flags and scarves, jumped around, set off fireworks, screamed, sang, and chanted for hours and hours as they waited for the bus and the cup to arrive. It finally arrived at 1:30 a.m., about three and a half hours after it was supposed to have arrived at the airport, and though no one could see anything because the crowd was so big, everyone took their Sevilla scarves in two hands, held them high in the air, and sang the Sevilla theme song while swaying in time to the music. “Sevilla, Sevilla, Sevilla… Soy sevillista hasta la muerte (I’ll be a Seville fan until my death)” When the city’s mayor spoke to congratulate the team, his voice was drowned out by the chanting and cheers of the crowd. When the president of the club and they players got on the microphone to speak through the second story windows of the government building, the plaza went completely silent. Sevilla F.C.’s been around for 100 years, and I don’t believe they’ve won until now. I was there to watch the celebration.