This English article is the translation of my Japanese article dated July 29, 2020.
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Currently, football fixtures vary due to the influence of the Coronavirus.
Thinking of what I was doing around this time last year (2019), I remembered having gone to watch the opening game of the 2. Bundesliga.
It was VfB Stuttgart against Hannover 96, in which a Japanese player called Genki Haraguchi was one of the line-ups. The match took place at Mercedes-Benz Arena, VfB Stuttgart’s home stadium.
Although the kick-off was at 20:30, we arrived at the stadium dripping with sweat because we were in the middle of a heatwave. Our seats were just behind the goal near the pitch with a very spectacular view. Usually, the spectators are not allowed to enter the stadium with pet bottles, but because of the extreme heat, we were allowed to bring some cartons of water.
The stadium, with a capacity of 60,000, was full, and I was getting very excited as I was feeling the atmosphere of the opening match.
Due to the extreme heat, there was a cooling break for the players to rehydrate.
It was 2 -1 at half-time.
Then suddenly, it started raining heavily.
However, we felt relieved because the rain couldn’t reach where we were sitting. The heavy rain with a strong wind was falling into the seats near the pitch at both side stands.
We thought our place behind the goal was safe, watching how the rain was pouring down.
Then, the direction of the wind instantly changed, and I thought that I felt a drop of rain on top of my head, so I tried to look up at the sky. At that moment, I was already all soaked up.
A downpour with strong wind started pouring into our seats finally.
We decided to go inside not to get wet any more, but the passage was packed with the spectators, who were also trying to avoid the rain just like us. Suddenly noticing how soaked I was, I could not but laugh. We walked “step by step” and got to where rain didn’t reach.
The rain got in from my T-shirt to my pair of shoes. I felt that my T-shirt was a little heavy, so I squeezed the front part. Quite a lot of water came out.
It didn’t look like the rain was going to stop. Many spectators were watching the match from where they escaped from the rain.
Meanwhile, the second half had already begun.
We didn’t have any courage to go back to our puddle-like seats, so we moved to a place where we could watch the rest of the match standing without bothering other people.
When we go to watch the matches, we check the weather forecast beforehand and prepare for it. On that day, the chance of rain was meagre with sunny weather and there was no sign of rain at all, so we went to the stadium without worrying about it.
The only thing we were missing was the fact that we were in the middle of the “heatwave”, in which a sudden rain could pour.
Come to think of it, when we went to watch one of the 1. Bundesliga matches a few years ago in a heatwave, we got soaked “ in a moment” during the match.
At Mercedes-Benz Arena, the score remained 2-1, and VfB Stuttgart started the new season (2019/20) with a victory.
About one year later, in June 2020, VfB Stuttgart was promoted back to the 1. Bundesliga.
