This is the story that I submitted to the Gloucester Daily Times and the Salem News. Enjoy.
Football at Fenway showcases old ballpark’s versatilityIt might be a completely forgettable season full of injuries and underwhelming performances for the Boston Red Sox but you have to admit it’s been a great year for Fenway Park, their beloved home.
In the span of a little over a year, the fabled ballpark which was built in 1912 (second oldest remaining in MLB behind Chicago’s Wrigley Field) has hosted concerts by the Dave Matthews Band, the Winter Classic featuring the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers on New Year’s Day, a college hockey game between bitter rivals Boston College and Boston University and then on Wednesday night it was the venue for the Fenway Football Challenge: Celtic FC (a Scottish club) against Sporting Lisbon (a Portuguese club).
Forward Georgios Samaras scored in the 71st minute for Celtic on a penalty kick which he had earned himself after being taken down in the Sporting box. Fenway shook when he put it in the net and it appeared about all 32,162 people in attendance took pictures with their cameras and phones at the same exact moment. Sporting forward Helder Postiga tied it in the 81st minute after his header into the vacated Celtic net followed a header off the crossbar by teammate Diogo Salomao.
Celtic won 6-5 on penalty kicks. Both teams amazingly enough went through their first five shooters with all of them scoring. Finally, Sporting’s Liedson skied one over the net and Paul McGowan, a Celtic substitute clinched it with a well-struck shot into the right corner.
“It was an honor to play here,” said Sporting Lisbon manager Paulo Sergio. “It was a little strange to play in a baseball stadium but from now on I’ll be curious about the Red Sox and the sport.”
The two goals were placed on the left field line (by where third base would be) and between the bullpens in the outfield. A layer of synthetic field turf was put over the Fenway grass and most of the infield. There were short advertisement boards down the sidelines and both teams sat on benches near midfield while the dugouts were empty. Every part of the park was open, just like it was a normal game day for the Red Sox and the vendors were selling the same overpriced food and drinks. However, the merchandise being sold was all soccer related.
Boston Bruins announcer Jack Edwards and former MLS player Brian Dunseth were broadcast partners for the live telecast on NESN from atop the Green Monster. There was a huge banner for Football at Fenway with both teams’ crests (logos). The Red Sox-A’s score was the only out of town score on the hand operated scoreboard in left field while the two soccer teams took up the main part with 1 and 2 representing halves rather than innings and check marks and x’s denoting made or missed penalty kicks.
Coming on the heels of the wildly popular 2010 World Cup in South Africa, not to mention the U.S.’ strong showing (winning their Group and losing in extra time to Ghana in the round of 16), this exhibition match seemed to come at exactly the right time as interest in soccer appears to be at an all-time high in both the United States and New England as well. The last time a soccer game was played at Fenway Park was in 1968 when Pele-soccer’s answer to Michael Jordan-participated in a match here against the Boston Beacons. Both Celtic and Sporting had players that had recently returned from South Africa and representing their home countries: Greek forward Georgios Samaras for Celtic and Portuguese midfielder Pedro Mendes for Sporting Lisbon both started the match.
If you think American sports have long seasons (and they do), get a load of European soccer schedules: the two clubs were using this tour of the U.S. as their preseason trip as they traveled across the country playing MLS teams and other European clubs before their regular season begins in mid-August. Depending on how far teams go in Champions League and other domestic cups, their seasons can last until mid-May. Soccer isn’t a winter sport in the colder parts of the U.S. but they play in the wind, rain and sometimes snow in Europe.
It was nearly impossible to find a Red Sox jersey or player t-shirt, a ubiquitous part of walking around Boston these days. Everywhere you looked at Fenway, there were few if any American sports jerseys in the park, most fans were wearing some soccer jersey of one team or another. Celtic was much more represented at the game than Sporting, which was a little surprising considering all the Portuguese living in New England. Then again, Boston has always been an Irish Catholic city so it makes sense.
One of the biggest differences between an American sports crowd and a European soccer crowd is the constant singing, chanting, hooting and hollering of the soccer diehards. The nauseating sounds of Sweet Caroline, a trademark experience of a Red Sox game during the seventh inning stretch were replaced by countless team and country specific songs.
All in all, it was a memorable summer night at Fenway and who knows when the next time will be that they have a soccer game here?
Both stories will be available on gloucestertimes.com and salemnews.com later tonight.
