Fights, Football, Fire: Ceará vs. São Raimundo

I went to a Ceará game Saturday out at Castelão. Originally this game had been scheduled for the smaller stadium, Presidente Vargas, but the game was moved to the larger Castelão as of last week. Until I arrived at the game I was curious as to why the game was moved, but any question was resolved after I arrived at the stadium. I arrived to see the stadium surrounded by approximately 30,000 fans seeking to get in to join 20,000 already inside the stadium. Seeing the crowds which undoubtedly would pack the upper deck beyond capacity, I thought that this might be a good time to go ahead and pay the extra $5 to sit in the much less crowded lower deck. The entrance and ticket office for the lower deck is on the opposite side of the stadium from the upper deck ticket office and entrance, and so I began to walk around the stadium. I quickly encountered a woman running with her child, who grabbed me and said, "Briga!". As I walked a little further I quickly realized that briga apparently can be translated either as large fight or small riot, depending on your perspective. I immediately turned away from the growing fight and crowd of military police and rejoined the long queue for seats in the upper deck.
I entered the stadium to see the largest crowd I have seen at a game here in Fortaleza.The upper deck was filled to capacity with people seated on the stair wells and in every available position in the aisles. The lower deck was only about half full, but the experience was incredible in the crowded upper deck. The game proceeded with a very boisterous Cearense crowd screaming at the referee frequently and cheering on their team with great enthusiasm. As the team entered the field, the fans had thrown toilet paper onto the field, covering the area around the field between the two moats (Yes the stadium has two moats). Late in the game, an errantly launched firework hit some of this toilet paper resulting in a fire adjacent to the field during the last ten minutes of the match. It was quickly brought under control by security. The game report follows below, but the game certainly could not compare to the excitement outside and inside the stadium…


Ceará vs. São Raimundo
Estádio Castelão
21 Out 2006
1800

Ceará looked to continue their winning ways against São Raimundo in a Serie B match Saturday. Ceará has climbed from 20th (last place) in Serie B to 15th in the last few weeks, and with a win today would climb to 12th position.

The match got under way with a few quick chances for the visitors, easily parried away by the Ceará keeper. In the 10th minute of the match a Ceará striker received the ball just inside the penalty area, and blasted a shot inside the left post to give Ceará a 1-0 lead. The teams traded chances over the next 20 minutes. During this time a São Raimundo midfielder was cautioned for a reckless challenge to the legs of a Ceará attacker. In the 30th minute, the player repeated the infraction and was sent off for a second caution. This left Ceará with a man advantage for the remainder of the game. Ceará controlled the flow of play with the man advantage, with the best São Rainmundo chance deflecting off the woodwork late in the game. The game was marred by a pregame riot outside the stadium, and a fire in the stadium late in the game. The fire which consumed some of the toilet paper thrown onto the field during the pregame celebrations, appeared to result from an errantly deployed sparkler or other pyrotechnical device which made its way onto the field adjacent to the playing service, igniting the aforementioned toilet paper. The fire was quickly extinguished as Ceará held on to win the match 1-0, advancing in the standings to 12th position.