by Rod Hughes

Last Sunday’s classic soccer game proved costly to the Saprissa soccer club. The bearers of the purple colors were hit by four separate fines totalling 204,000 colones for being unable to control the fans in Tibas’s Ricardo Saprissa Stadium. (Figure the colon at about 500 to the dollar.)

Either out of boredom (it was not one of the most exciting games of the traditional Alajuela-Saprissa rivalry) or overenthusiasm, fans threw trash on the field. Then at minute 20 and again 88 they did it again. That was three infractions noted by referee Randall Poveda and he added fans invading the field to his complaint. Every litter bit hurts.

Well, they, at least had fans in the stands. The Carmelita club has a worse problem. Even though they are the season’s surprise this year with 18 points so far and are second in the overall standings, there is hardly a stampede flocking to the stadium.

Last Saturday, they played before a cheering throng of exactly 38 fans. “That isn’t even enough ticket receipts to pay the referee,” grumbled club president Carlos “the Cannon” Gonzalez.