Last week I went a СКА game with a number of friends. In full disclosure, this was my first professional hockey game. I have watched my fair share of college games, but I am not really a hockey fan, so if you want to know about the quality of Russian hockey versus North American hockey, I cannot help you. Suffice to say I was impressed with the athleticism of the players, and while I am a good skater myself, I cannot come close to what these guys do on the ice.
But enough about the hockey. I was more interested in the crowd. The game was played in the Ice Palace, a relatively young arena (finished in 1999) that comfortably seats about 13,000 fans, with nary a bad seat in the house. The stadium has all the amenities one would expect of a modern arena, including instant replay screens, ear-splitting surround sound, and reasonably comfortable seating. As with any stadium, what really gives this place its character is the fans.
I think it can be generally accepted that European fans, or perhaps sports fans across the world, are a bit more fanatical than American fans. We Americans love our sports, a fact backed up by the space age arenas opening across the country, by the eye-popping revenues of the NFL, by the completely absurd salaries earned by our athletes, and by the national obsession that is March Madness (while we are on the subject of American sports, could the NCAA please please please put in a tournament system for college football? Either that or dissolve Division I altogether. I'd be okay with either. See USC's current issues for why). But despite the violence inherent with America's most popular sport, football, American fans do not approach the level of rowdiness inherent in European sports matches. Sure, Fireman Ed may have shoved a drunk Giants fan out of the way during a pre-season game at the Meadowlands, but most fans just tailgate, cheer, boo, occasionally get tased for running on the field at a Phillies game, and go home without anything truly eventful happening.
Nothing truly eventful happened at this hockey game either, but it was a grudge match between Saint Petersburg and Moscow, and the Moscow fan section was surrounded by troops in riot gear. These troops were not needed; the fans were loud and energetic, but not unruly. I was impressed by the vigor with which they cheered; both the Saint Petersburg and Moscow fans had drums, cowbells, and other noisemakers, were waving flags, had coordinated chants and arm movements, and often looked more coordinated and better coached than the teams for which they were cheering. Nevertheless, the presence of so many armed troops probably helped to deter the Moscow fans from doing anything truly disruptive.
The soldiers themselves proved to be more of an annoyance than the Moscow fans, as they were sitting in some of the seats that my friends and I had purchased. Needless to say, asking a 200 pound soldier in body armor to get out of my seat didn't seem like the wisest course of action, and we engaged in a game of musical chairs in our section. We'd sit down, wait for the proper owners to come back and ask us to leave, then look for other empty seats. More of a nuisance than anything else, but still slightly aggravating.
But the game was still great fun, made all the more amusing by the fact most of the music played during the lulls in the game were American and British fight songs, music that is a staple at virtually every American sporting event. "We Will Rock You," "Welcome to the Jungle," "Walk this Way," and "Get Ready for This" were all heard throughout the game, and I think my friends and I impressed the Russians around us by singing in perfect English. If nothing else, hearing 12,000 fans screaming "we will, we will, ROCK YOU!!" in broken English with Russian accents was an experience in and of itself.
At the end of the day those dastardly Muscovites were sent home with a loss (final score: 3-2 Saint Petersburg), and we began to push our way out of the arena. The Moscow fans were not allowed to leave their seats until the rest of the stadium had emptied, confined to their section and surrounded by riot police, presumably to prevent any fights from breaking out in the atrium. I have no idea how long it took them to leave, but as a friend said, the last sight we had of them was in a circle of heavily armed and armored soldiers, and we never actually saw any of the Moscow fans actually leave the building...
You can draw your own conclusions.
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