As in many countries around the world, soccer (fútbol) is the number one sport in Ecuador. The second most popular sport is probably basketball, and both males and females play. The third most popular sport would probably be volleyball, although it is mostly played by men in a 3 on 3 games with a soccer ball instead of a volleyball. All towns have their own soccer field/stadium, basketball courts/gymnasium, and a volleyball court. Although our town is only about 5,000 people, it has a large soccer stadium, a large gymnasium, and various parks with volleyball courts and basketball/soccer combination courts. Other recreational activities that are popular with locals on our island are skateboarding, surfing, body boarding, snorkeling, aerobics, running/jogging, and walking.
As far as popularity, however, soccer is much, much, much, much more popular than anything else. Males and females of all ages wear soccer jerseys, although many more men and boys play soccer than girls. Organized soccer starts young for boys, and you can see them walking the streets in packs after practices/games all dressed up with matching jerseys, shorts and socks, just like the professionals.
Ecuador's professional league has 12 teams and is of a pretty high caliber. The next caliber higher would be the European leagues, which are seen as the best in the world. Similar to baseball in the United States, there are professional "minor leagues" for soccer. Besides the 12 "A" league teams, there is a "B" league and a "C" league. What's different in Ecuador, however, is that a team can get promoted or demoted from one league to another when the season is over. The two worst teams in the "A" league get demoted to the "B" league, and the two best teams in the "B" league get to move up to the "A" league. The same happens with the B and the C leagues. There is even a "South American" cup where all the professional teams from all of the South American leagues play in a tournament to see who is the best.
It is common to see flags, banners, murals and even whole buildings promoting people's favorite professional soccer teams. (see pictures) The closest and most familiar big city to the Galápagos Islands is Guayaquil, which is Ecuador's biggest city. There are also a number of people from the island who have lived or studied in Guayaquil. So, it is no surprise that the two most popular teams on the island are from Guayaquil.
These two teams are "Barcelona" and "EMELEC." I've asked people around here why there is a team named Barcelona in Ecuador, and no one is quite sure. It probably has to do with the fact that it is a very popular team in Spain. "EMELEC" is the Ecuadoran electric company and also has a professional basketball team as well. Barcelona is yellow and EMELEC is blue. They are often the two best teams in Ecuador and they are very fierce rivals. When either team is playing, nearly everyone in town has the TV on. Restaurants, bars, stores and shops all have it on, and many draw large crowds on those nights. One small shop regularly has 30-40 people bunched outside on the sidewalk and street all glued to the TV. You can tell whenever there is a goal because you can hear cheering throughout town.
EMELEC and Barcelona were in the 2 game finals this year, and they were last year as well. EMELEC won last year and as the days led up to this year's finals, more and more banners and jerseys were seen around town. On the days of the finals, lots and lots of people were sporting their team's jersey. The rivalry is so intense that during the tournament the fans from both Guayaquil teams can't even be in the stadium during the same time or else fights will break out. So, the first game of the finals was held at the Barcelona stadium, and only Barcelona fans were allowed in. The EMELEC stadium, however was also full of EMELEC fans watching the game on the big screen. The second game was at the EMELEC stadium and only EMELEC fans were allowed in, and the Barcelona fans watched on the big screen TVs in their stadium. I asked my host brother Pablo how they keep the opposing team's fans from entering the stadium. He said that to be allowed entry into the stadium, you have to be wearing that team's jersey. No fans from the other team would want to be seen in the other team's jersey.
The first game of the finals was in the Barcelona stadium, and it ended as a 1-1 tie. EMELEC actually was leading most of the game, and Barcelona scored late in the game. Because EMELEC had no fans at the game, it was actually seen as a victory to tie Barcelona on their home field and it gave them an advantage heading into the game at the EMELEC stadium. Although I didn't watch much of the other games, I didn't want to miss the final game on Sunday, December 20. I camped out with Pablo in the living room to watch the game, both clad in EMELEC blue. I decided to root for EMELEC for several very important reasons: 1) I like the color blue much more than the color yellow, and 2) I like to root for the team that has the smaller fan base.
There were two brothers in the starting line-up, one that played for EMELEC and one that played for Barcelona, and they actually had to guard each other in the game. Within the first minutes, the Barcelona brother fouled the EMELEC brother and received a yellow (warning) card. Then, still early in the first half, the Barcelona brother fouled his brother again. This time it was much harder and the EMELEC brother had to be carried off the field in a stretcher. This resulted in a red card, which meant that he was not only ejected from the game, but Barcelona had to play the rest of the game with 10 players instead of 11. The police had to surround and escort the Barcelona brother off the field so as to protect him from the EMELEC fans.
Between the home field advantage and having one more player on the field, it is not surprising that EMELEC won the game pretty soundly, 3-0. They now have the bragging rights of being the best team in the country. Although I did not go out on the town to see the celebrations, I could hear the shouting and the honking from our house. Pablo and his daughter Ashanti were jumping for joy and shouting as well when the game was done. He took various pictures of the TV screen showing the score and the celebrations and immediately posted them on Facebook for all to see EMELEC, Ecuador's 2014 professional soccer champions.
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