SEA Games

Grinning stupidly from ear to ear, I literally skipped off towards the gate, filled with a new-found energy. Glancing at my ticket to find my seat I saw only a 'C' and realized that I had one quadrant of the stadium to choose from since the sections only went up to 'D'. Emerging from the entrance tunnel I turned and was met with an overflow of white T-shirts and waving moon flags, and accepted that I wouldn't be sitting at all. This was actually fine by me since it was too exciting to sit still so I elbowed my way into the hordes of people leaned up against the front rail, just happy to be here. 'Here' being the Laos vs. Malaysia semi-final football (soccer) match of the South East Asia (SEA) Games, in Vientiane, Laos. The match that had been the talk of the town, country rather, for the past few days. Everyone wanted to be there, so much so that when I arrived at the ticket office that morning, over an hour before it was set to open, there was already a crowd. All of whom would be disappointed when it was announced that the game was already completely sold out.

After spending the entire day bouncing from volleyball, to badminton, to track and field, to synchronized diving, I was resigned to catching the bus back to a pub to watch the match on television. That was when I passed a ticket booth that was being mobbed and was offered the most coveted ticket in town - at face value even (100,000kip, or $13Cdn). Hence my Charlie-and-the-Chocolate-Factory glee grasping my golden ticket and running inside.


Exhaustion was washed away by the energy of the crowd - the air was electrical! Before the match even began there was chanting, yelling, drumming, clapping and this only grew when the game began. Whether Laos was on the attack, or Malaysia was nearing the goal the crowd screamed their emotions. Even after Malaysia opened the score it took less than a minute for the energy of the open-air stadium to return.

Bursting out of the gate in the second half Laos poured it on, chance after chance, and I can't even describe the jubilation when they finally put one in the back of the net! I leapt as high as anyone, hugs and clapping and screaming even louder than seemed possible. Though I couldn't pick them out of the crowd, there must have been the equivalent of an entire marching band behind me - pounding drums, flaring horns and crashing cymbals (okay I couldn't help but see, AND hear, the cymbals which were right beside me).

In the end Malaysia came back with a couple of soft goals to win the match and end Laos' magical hosting-country run. But was it ever fun while it lasted! Parading out into the night with the most cheerful ~24,000 losers I've ever encountered I reflected on how unbelievably memorable this was, my first ever football match.