As I write one ear is listening to the Europa League Final. Chelsea play Benfica in Amsterdam.
So far there is no scoring, about twenty minutes in. The commentator has noted that Eusebio is in the crowd watching the game. Watching Eusebio play on an old grainy Black & White television as a child was the start of my fondness for Benfica. Eusebio was a super player, clearly world class and a man who could have played in any team in the world.
Benfica was the team he played with for almost his entire career. He was and remains a fan of the people's club.
Benfica (or Sport Lisboa Benfica to give it its real name) is the working class team in Lisbon. Sporting is the club for the middle classes. Benfica, owned by its fans is the team of the workers.
Formed in 1904 the club has always been owned by its fans. Members or "Socios" of the club have owned it since the start. Tempted by higher wages some players left in 1906 to join Sporting Clube de Portugal and began the great rivalry which exists in the City of Lisbon.
As well as Sporting, Benfica have a particular rivalry with Porto.
Returning to Eusebio, I'm trying to remember all these years back watching Eusebio and Benfica with my Father. He was the top goalscorer in the 1966 World Cup, where the Portuguese national side came third in the tournament.
Eusebio da Silva Ferreira was born in 1942 in Mozambique, at the time a Portuguese colony. After first signing for Sporting Lourenco Marques in Mozambique for two seasons, he joined Benfica in 1960. In three hundred and one appearances for the club between 1960 and 1975 Eusebio scored three hundred and seventeen goals. More than one per match.
Eusebio also scored forty one goals for the Portugal national side in sixty four appearances. A wonderful player and goal scorer by any standards and in any time. Listening to the commentary (it is now half-time) Benfica sound like they could do with Eusebio right now.
After many years following Benfica as my Portuguese team, I went on a date with a young woman from Lisbon. One of the first questions I asked was "Sporting or Benfica?"
To my utter delight I found out that she used to play for Benfica's women's team. She had shaken the hand of Eusebio!!!
That was the start of a very wonderful relationship, which remains a firm friendship. I will always think fondly of her.
Chelsea on the other hand I have always had a difficult relationship with. Their association with Glasgow Rangers fans never endeared them to me. Their current status as a millionaire's plaything is in stark contrast to the tradition of fan ownership at Benfica.
It is always interesting to consider how teams can generate a passion for fans with no apparent connection, geographical or otherwise. Like myself with Benfica it can be a particular player they admire, in other instances it can be identification with the fans (like my affection for the left wing fans of Hamburg's St Pauli), or their political persuasions.
Other considerations will come into play and will many times be simply un-knowable and arbitrary by the very nature of such things.
Clearly there must be explanations. Why in Turkey do I support Besiktas? Why do I support PAOK of Thessaloniki as my Greek side?
Why Barcelona and not Real Madrid? That's a clearly political decision. Barcelona are the Catalan side and Real Madrid were supported by Franco. If one MUST support a Madrid side it should be Athletico.
Partizani Tirana, (despite their relegation to the second rank in the 2010/11 season) will always be my Albanian team.
Chelsea have just scored entirely against the run of play. A lucky goal from Fernando Torres.
In Scotland I used to follow Celtic. Indeed I lived in Stamford Street briefly, right next door to Celtic Park. At that time more than thirty years ago, you got in at half time for nothing if you were unemployed, and I almost always was.
I became disillusioned with the direction of Celtic and the way it went from being the club of the dispossessed and the downtrodden to yet another big business owned by wealthy people.
The final straw was the appointment of "Lord" John Reid to the Celtic Board. The noble lord was doing his PhD at Stirling University when I was an undergraduate. He was a shite then and he turned out to be a New Labour war criminal shite at the end of the day.
Benfica have just equalised from a penalty. Cardozo finally puts the ball in the back of the net. If you don't know the final score I won't spoil it for you.
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