Soccer in Bahia: The Lion and Superman

I was reminded of a blog entry I had posted about a year ago, while watching international soccer friendlies this past weekend. The games I took in saw the United States trounced by world champion Spain 4-0 and Brazil held to a 0-0 draw with Holland.


In that blog entry I had written about the world cup and what it means to Brazil. I had promised to write about soccer in this part of the country Salvador, Bahia. Thus I shall share my introduction to futebol in Bahia.


The Bahian state championship - Campeonato Baiano - concluded a few weeks ago. Bahia's two most famous and successful clubs - both based in Salvador - Esporte Clube Vitoria and Esporte Clube Bahia were surprised this season by a young upstart club called Bahia de Feira de Santana, a team from the city of Feira de Santana in the interior of the state. Bahia de Feira defeated the mighty "Leão" of Vitoria (who had won the last four state championships) to claim the title. The victory brought as much joy to Feira de Santana as it did sorrow to Vitoria and its supporters. It was another kick to a storied team that had recently been relegated to the second division of Brazilian football after a less-than-successful 2010 campaign.


Vitoria and Bahia. Bahia and Vitoria. One of the most intense football rivalries in the country. Known by Brazilian soccer fans as Ba-Vi. Esporte Clube Vitoria, founded in 1899. 112 years old.  Vitoria is the respected elder. It's colors are rubro-negro (red-black). It's mascot the Lion. Vitoria is the team for those with discriminating tastes. Vitoria supporters are proud of its team and its history. The team has won 26 state championships (first one in 1908).


But Esporte Clube Bahia is the people's team. Founded in 1931. Winning the state championship in their first year. Not only has Bahia won more state titles than Vitoria (43), Bahia also has the distinction of winning two Brazilian titles in 1959 and 1988. Something Vitoria has never been able to accomplish, not even once.  Bahia's colors are blue, white and red. The colors of the Bahian flag. They are called O Tricolor. And Tricolor de Aço (Tricolor of Steel). And Fúria de Tricolor  (Tricolor Fury). And Campeão dos Campeões (Champion of Champions). In the Bahian dialect, they are also affectionately known as BAÊA. (Instead of "By-ee-a". They say "Bah-eh-ya"). Their mascot - Super Homem (Superman). Whether they be in the first division or second division, Bahia supporters are fiercely loyal and are considered by many in the soccer business here to have some of the most passionate fans in the country. Even when the team was struggling and mired in the second division, it was not unusual to have turnouts of 60,000 supporters at the Fonte Nova Stadium. Most impressive for a second division team.

             Super-Homem: The man of steel for the Tricolor de Aço


Fonte Nova Stadium was recently razed and a new Fonte Nova is in the works for the upcoming World Cup in 2014. In the meantime, Vitoria and Bahia are temporarily playing out of smaller stadiums. For Bahia, Stadium Pituaçu seats 32,157, not nearly the number the club is used to having, but the crowd is just as passionate, just as lively and makes just as much noise.


Sonia's family are all Bahia supporters save for niece Roberta, whose fiancee Rodrigo is a Vitoria fan. My nephew Fabio who is a die-hard Bahia supporter was thrilled that I had taken to supporting Bahia (How could I not?). Last year, he surprised me on my birthday with a classic striped Bahia jersey and saw to it that I had tickets to a couple of games. As I am a big sports fan I was very much looking forward to attending some games in person. A Bahia game at Pituaçu is like attending a family function. If you support Bahia, you are one of the family. You are welcome.


This family function starts with a fair-like atmosphere outside the stadium. Vendors set up shop and begin to sell their wares: Bahia shirts, hats and flags; ice-cold beer, Coca-Cola and Guaranà. (a popular soda made of the Guaranà fruit. It reminds this North American a bit like cherry) And then there is the churrasco - barbecue. Vendors set up their grills and sell skewers of beef and chicken as well as hot dogs and sausages.


As kick-off approaches, the fans make their way to the stadium, singing songs and calling out battle cries of, "'Bora Baêa!" (Let's Go Bahia!) Once inside the stadium, you quickly find a seat. No reserved seating here (except for season ticket holders). You choose your place and do so quickly so as not to have to sit in a less desireable location.  We manage to score a few sweet seats down close to the field, but with an excellent view of the action.


It's about 15 minutes to kick-off, and the fans are celebrating all that is Bahia. Streamers are flying, drums are beating, supporters are dancing and singing in unison. As the team takes to the field, a huge "tifo" is unfurled. A tifo is a mammoth banner which is displayed over a large part of the seating section. The word "tifo" is an Italian word meaning supporter or fan. The banner usually displays a team slogan, a particular player or perhaps the team logo. We were lucky enough to be a part of the unveiling of one of these tifos. Starting from the first row of seats, the banner is unfurled and everyone in the vicinity helps as it passes quickly over our heads. The tifo acts sort of like a wonderful, colorful team bigtop for those under it, and for those on the other side, they are able to enjoy the spectacle of this grand tifo, which was made with all the passion and love of Bahia supporters.

At this point I noticed many fans enjoying another sporting pasttime - beer. As we had imbibed a bit outside the stadium, I proffered to buy everyone in our party a cold one, to which Fabio declined: "Não, tudo bem...é não alcoólico..." I couldn't believe what I heard. Here I was looking at a stadium full of football fans drinking beer, and all the beer was non-alcoholic.  Never in my life had I seen so much non-alcoholic beer consumed in one place. I enquired as to why this was. Fabio replied that the stadium wisely does not sell alcohol, but for those who like a pre-game beer or two or three it's nice to have the taste of beer accompany them while they enjoy the game.  Makes sense to me...

     "o lele o lala bahia vem ai o bicho vai pegar..."

After the lineups are announced and the national anthem is played, the whistle is blown and the game begins.  The Bahia supporters passionately root for their team with chants and songs to the ever-present rhythm of the beating drum.  Joining in with the crowd, I felt very much at ease among the Bahia faithful...that is, until Bahia scored. Then I feared for my life.


A goal scored by Bahia is greeted with the most incredible, passionate euphoria I have ever heard. Everyone is screaming wildly, jumping up and down, grown men grab each other in twos, threes, fours - many perfect strangers - and start hugging and yelling. I jest when I wrote that I feared for my life, but the sensation of being embroiled in such an eruption was a bit unnerving the first time. But once I had experienced my baptism by fire, I was ready for the next goal.


Unbeknownst to me at the time, being a part of this family has its responsibilities, which I learned quickly to accept. My responsibility came in the form of acting as balance for a 20-something fan, who was standing on his seat directly behind me. He kept his left hand on my left shoulder, so he would not fall forward. He never asked me if he could use me for support. In fact, we never spoke to each other during the entire game. But being that we were rooting for the same team, cheering for the same cause, it was a given. We were both supporters, so I was supporting him.  Throughout the entire second half of the match, this fellow continued to keep his hand on my shoulder, sometimes both hands on both shoulders, even occasionally grabbing me by the arms and burying his head into my back when Bahia missed a golden opportunity to score. While this guy's invasion initially conflicted with my North American sense of "back off and give me some space, dude..." I soon forgot about it and enjoyed being part of this family.


After the game ended - a 2-2 tie - we made our way out of the stadium to partake in the post-game festivities, which consisted of more libation and more good eating. We located a churrasco vendor - a mother and her three daughters - stayed close to the grill and gave them our business while we engaged in a post-game wrap up. As Brazil is a developing country, regulations in Brazil appear to still be in the developmental stage as the youngest daughter of this family, about 9-10 years old, was in charge of dispensing  the cold beer and soft drinks. She was very polite and very professional, she enjoyed her work, she was a good kid for cryin' out loud, but I could not help feeling odd purchasing alcohol from a minor.


Once we had enough, we climbed back in the car and carefully made our way home. I say "carefully" as Pituaçu Stadium is located right on the Paralela, which is Salvador's main thru-way. There is a traffic light to help folks cross the road, but it doesn't change quick enough for most and driving through this part of the Paralela is precarious on game days, and one most pay close attention to people darting across the road. Fortunately, a pedestrian overpass is currently under construction and will soon be ready to avoid any potential traffic fatalities.


Thus concluded my first EC Bahia match. I was taken by both the team and its fans. Their passion, energy and enthusiasm was unlike any I have ever experienced in any sport be it hockey, baseball or American football. 


Yet a few weeks after the game, I came upon highlights of a match featuring my hometown team, Seattle Sounders FC. I had heard much about the support the Sounders were receiving since their return to the major leagues, but  I was not prepared for what I saw. A passionate and enthusiastic support not unlike that of the supporters of EC Bahia. I was surprised and overjoyed to see such enthusiasm. It appears that the world game in the United States is finally catching up with the rest of the world. And it made me happy and proud to see the team I grew up with leading the way.