Our First Cup Final

Angi and I just got back from our first ever Cup Final.

It was the final match of the Mapinduzi Cup held here in Zanzibar. As you know (right?) Mapinduzi is the Swahili word for Revolution and refers to the Revolution that freed Zanzibar from outside control in 1964. So January 12th here is a little bit like 4th of July in America.

Anyways, the Mapinduzi Cup is the main soccer cup (tournament) played on the island and we were able to go to the championship match this evening.

Also, as you of course know, the game was between Simba (red and black uniforms and horrible font for numbers of the jerseys) vs Azam (blue uniforms).

There are no pictures – for a very good reason.

We went to the game with our good friend Archibold (yes, that is how he spells it), who is a Tanzanian. We parked the car somewhere safe and walked across the street to the stadium. We had VIP tickets (the highest quality seats we could buy – each ticket set us back 10.000 Tanzania Shillings – the equivalent of $4.60). When we got to the stadium, there was a long line for the VIP entrance. Archibold told us to follow him and we went straight to the front of the line. He spoke to a police officer and asked that we be allowed to cut the line. And the officer agreed.

The reason? (and the reason that I did not take any cameras) We skipped the line to ensure that we were safe and that no “funny business” happened. We felt completely safe, but for some reason we stand out in a group of a couple of thousand Tanzanians. I think it may be my shoes.

We sat on seats with no backs, right near midfield, about 5 rows up. And the President of Zanzibar walked right by us – if not for the dozens of police and guards with BIG weapons, I could easily have risked my life and tried to give him a high five. (He didn’t even look at us, so maybe we do not stand out as much as I thought.)

And I could tell you about the game, but I know that you all watched it live on television – but in case you forgot, I will remind you that Azam (the team I was cheering for) beat Simba (the team Angi was cheering for) 1-0.