The University’s Mills International Center is joining the World Cup fever.
As a mouthpiece for the University’s international student body, Mills has been airing a handful of games since the tournament began, and continues to support the matches as part of its appreciation of international experiences and the importance it places on interaction between local and international students.
The center saw a small yet eager turnout last Wednesday as a handful of die-hard soccer fans, unaffiliated observers and Mills staff members spread out on couches and easy chairs to watch Germany play Ghana in the final Group D match in the FIFA World Cup tournament. The center was filled with red, yellow and black supporters, signifying that most, if not all, of the audience members were there to cheer for Germany. This fact became even more clear when Germany would miss a goal or be penalized by the referees because, though their numbers were small, the fans in the room would erupt with shrill shouts of dissent.
“What a liar; he didn’t even touch him!” One passionate fan shouted, sporting a buzz cut and the colors of the German flag on his T-shirt, as German forward Thomas Müller received a yellow card for slide tackling after his Ghanaian target complained to the referee.
Though the attendance of the Germany and Ghana game at Mills was less than normal, Feruza Ashirova, one of the center’s resource consultants, said the turnouts for some of the Center’s other aired games have been much more impressive.
“We showed one game, Uruguay vs. France, with (an) attendance of 22 people,” Ashirova said, referring to the center’s first-aired game on June 11. “Since many students have left already (for) the summer, it is really hard to predict how many people might show up.”
Mills received praise from University students, as well as from the community at large, for creating such a comfortable viewing environment. A Eugene man stopped by the center two weeks ago and said, in Ashirova’s words, that it was “good that [Mills] is showing some of the games here, because he appreciates an environment where he can watch an international game with international people and where beer won’t be served.”
Awab Alrawe, a Mills staff member and a self-described hard-core “football” fan, was the founder of the center’s idea for live match coverage and saw it as a great opportunity for members of the multicultural campus community to interact and be a part of the most widely viewed sporting event in the world.
Vania Situmeang, one of the center’s special assistants, said the center collaborated with Soccer is the Real Football, a student group that aims to organize events where students can watch international soccer matches.
Even with so many opportunities to whip up soccer fever, this town’s reaction to the World Cup, according to Alrawe, is much more mellow when compared to similar sporting communities across the globe.
“There are many football (soccer) fans here in Eugene, but the atmosphere is not as crazy as in some other places that I have been to,” Alrawe explained. “When you are in Iraq, Turkey or Syria, you always have big crowds watching games at neighbors’ houses or cafes, or even in the street with a big screen.”
Since the beginning of the tournament, it has not been uncommon for Alrawe to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to watch the games, and then go play soccer promptly afterwards. After watching matches in more soccer-oriented countries, he said, “some of those who can play football (soccer) get together in a field and play a match. I still do that, but not after each match because not so many people come to the field at the University.”
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