Perez Zeledon is home to a team in the first division of Costa Rica soccer. Known as Los Guerreros del Sur, the club has been in existence since 1991. As one of the smaller market teams, they are at a general disadvantage compared to the major teams such as Saprissa (San Jose), La Liga (Alajuela), and Heredia. Salaries are much lower, and when a talented player emerges, he will be made a better financial offer by one of the major clubs and depart for the Greater San Jose area.
Los Guerreros play their home games at their stadium in downtown San Isidro del General. It is a cozy facility that seats around 6,000 people. To this day, there is no scoreboard to show time elapsed or even the score of the game. The PA announcer gives the score at the end of each half. As regulation time neared the end of each half, a man on the sidelines held up a digital clock showing the minutes of extra time left to be played.
Back in the 1990s, I was a socio (partner) in the club. For 1,500 colones monthly– about 5 USD at the time– I had a free pass to all home games. (The monthly cost for a socio now is 7,500 colones). The club typically finished in the middle of the standings, competitive but with little chance of winning the title. Across the street was the Stadium Bar, which filled before and after the games, especially on weekends. It was torn down years ago, and a bank now stands where fans once drank their sorrows away.
It had been years since I attended a game, so when I saw that La Liga was coming to town, I bought a ticket in advance. I went in expecting to pay 3000 colones as that was the price I had seen listed for their previous game versus San Carlos. But the cheapest seat for this game was 8000 colones. This ticket was labeled as Sol, though as it was a night game, Luna would have been appropriate. La Liga is the second most successful club in CR league history with 31 titles. Perez Zeledon, by comparison, has one title, won in the opening half of a split season, in 2017.
Entering the stadium, I was patted down by a young security agent. There was heavy security on that side of the stadium, due to the presence of various barras supporting La Liga. Composed mostly of younger men, the barras travel from various areas of the country to loudly support their team, and have a reputation for rowdy, sometimes violent behavior. The side I was on was filled with fans of La Liga, wearing the red and black colors of their club. Banners announced the various locations the barras had traveled from: Grecia, Naranjo, Tres Rios, Rio Segundo, Quepos, Desamparados.
The game was competitive if sloppily played at times. Costa Rican soccer is at a low ebb at the moment and this game did little to showcase a promising future. While La Liga had more talent overall– including World Cup and Spanish football veteran Celso Borges– the overall quality of play left much to be desired.
And the barra surrounding me agreed. I heard the word ‘hijueputa’ shouted a few hundred times, both at the referee and the play of their own team. The final score was 1-all, sort of a moral victory for the outmanned home team. Outside the stadium was a heavy police presence, but there was no violence. The barras packed up and returned to their respective towns, until the next La Liga match.
Read more of Don Mateo’s writing from his newly published ebook.
