On 21st May I was lucky enough to have a ticket for the football UEFA Cup Final, which was played in the Olympic Stadium.
For days leading up to the game the city was invaded by a growing army arriving from Scotland in the form of the Glasgow Celtic football fans.
All too often football fans (in the case of the UK they are usually English, it has to be said) get a bad press because of the actions of a minority
. On this occasion, the city paid tribute to the visiting hordes, estimated on match day to number up to 80,000
from Scotland and a further 20,000 from Porto, Cerltic's Portuguese rivals in the final.
Police, bar owners (in particular!) hoteliers, shopkeepers and the Sevilla population in general had nothing but praise for the boisterous - to say the least - behaviour of the Celts. They partied for days on end, thousands sleeping rough because all the accommodation went long ago. No trouble, no fighting. Just a huge coming together of two sets of supporters who swapped flags, shirts, scarves and bought each other drinks, trading banter with each other, whilst attempting to empty the Cruzcampo brewery of all stocks.
It was a brilliant day, although my heart went out to the brave souls who were visiting the city in the form of tourists, who must have been shocked by what was going on!!
They must have been intimidated at first, then relaxed and enjoyed the incredible atmosphere. I hope the pics have captured a bit of that atmosphere, although it has to be said that the photographer, while trying to dodge the searing heat that day, had to consume copious amounts of liquid to stave off heat exhaustion.... that's my story anyway!!
Bars closed early, not because of licencing laws or signs of trouble, but when you have no beer, whiskey, vodka etc it is difficult to oblige the masses!! These kilted chaps can certainly drink!!
The only downer (unless you were Portuguese, was the result, Celtic losing 3-2 after extra time.
Anyway, here's a glimpse of what Sevilla looked like on that fateful day. There are two small albums
here and
here (By the way, the author is wearing a green and white shirt!)