Several students sit around a television in the Union to watch an international
soccer match. The area across from the information desk has become popular among students to watch soccer games.
A large crowd of students gathers around a large flat screen TV just past the University Store in the Wyoming Union on specific Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons every year.
The noise is noticeable, both from the TV and the crowd of soccer fans itself. The play-by-play announcers bellowing their interpretations of the action, the chants from the crowd on the TV, the students yelling expletives at the players they disdain from each team often cause passersby to stop for a minute.
The spot has no official name. By all accounts it looks like a standard waiting room. It has a few couches and chairs, and tall counter with stools. But on these afternoons, the furniture comes together to create a miniature amphitheater, with the TV as the focal point.
Sammy Ihunwaeze, a third-year pharmacy student originally from Nigeria, has spent a good deal of his time at UW enjoying the matches.
“I have been watching games here for three years,” Ihunwaeze said. “I could watch the games at my home, but [we] have school, and it is best to watch the games here.”
Because of classes and the fact that games are always around mid-day, students most commonly join the crowd for a few minutes to see the score and then leave, allowing someone else to fill their void. People are constantly coming and going, but the crowd is always at maximum capacity.
“It is mostly the same people, but faces change every year,” Ihunwaeze said. “People may graduate but there are always people here.”
Jackson Miller, a senior in English education, described the area as “a central meeting place” for friends to gain a little respite from the grind of school. And with soccer widely accepted as the world’s game, international cultures are interacting on a regular basis.
“The atmosphere is pretty fun,” Miller said, who has watched almost 20 games a year in the Union since he started going to the university. “You get one team’s fans on one side and the others team’s fans on the other side and they always clash.”
Besides the obvious perks of watching live soccer games with peers who appreciate the sport, Miller pointed out another reason to watch the games at the same place over and over again.
“It’s either here or at a bar, and here is free!”
The majority of the games shown are from the UEFA Champions League, with Major League Soccer and Europa League games aired occasionally. But whatever the footballing occasion, UW students will be in that same place enjoying the game.
