Football

One Sunday while I was in Mzuzu I took a walk toward the stadium that is on the outskirts of town. Once I was there I couldn't resist taking a look. I paid my 100 MK without asking what it was that I was going to get to see. Once inside the stadium I found that the afternoon was to be filled with football.

The game that was playing when I got there was between two local teams. The crowd was fairly small. However, it began to grow as the game drew to a close and the main attraction drew nearer. By this time I had made some friends in the crowd and I found out that the big game of the afternoon was between two 'Super League' teams. The favourite to win was the home team called the Eagles (made up entirely of members of the Malawian Police force) and the other team was the Moyales (made up entirely of the Malawian Military). I was already excited before the teams took to the field.

As the game drew nearer the noise got louder and louder. (I don't know if anyone here watched the FIFA Cup in South Africa? It's not something I'd normally do myself but it was big time here. Well the loud horn (vuvuzela) they had in South Africa has found its way to Mzuzu.) Little kids were dancing and spirits were generally high. I bought myself a lollipop and got ready for the game.

The first half was pretty exciting, but there was no scoring. The League leaders (the Eagles) were not performing as the local fans expected, but there was a very large and appreciative complement of soliders on hand that were excited about how well the Moyales were doing. The crowd exhaled a loud 'eeee' every time anyone came close to scoring. Half time came with a short break in play and an intensification in people trying to sell us things (lollipops and candy, newspapers, bread rolls that they call Obamas, and more).

When the second half began it was only a few minutes before the Moyales scored. The soliders went crazy and a few started doing victory laps around the stadium. The Eagles fans that I was sitting with took the goal in stride. The rest of the second half ticked away until we were in the final minutes. At this point I was considering leaving before the end of the game so that I would avoid the crowds and get back into town nice and early. But, before I did there was a penalty called on the Moyales and the Eagles were given a free kick. Hope returned to the loyal Eagles fans. The kick was made... and a goal was scored. Once again the crowd went wild (we were jumping up and down at my end of the field). The soliders weren't quite as happy though and a good number stormed onto the field. I couldn't see from where I was, but apparently fist fighting broke out between the Moyale fans and the Eagles team.

The two teams represent law and order in Mzuzu, so they had to get things under control pretty quickly. We were all interested to see what would happen next. The field cleared and the final seconds of the game resumed. The Moyales took possession of the ball and made a charge down the field... and the Eagles all drifted away from their goal leaving the Moyales to score again and win the game 2-1. Excellent conflict resolution I thought!

As I was leaving the soliders and their fans were packing into the back of army trucks to take some loud victory laps around Mzuzu. Good times!