Зелёное поле
Поём о футболе,
О редкостном поле
Мечтает фанат,
Когда атакует, когда атакует, когда атакует команда Кайрат!
Когда атакует, когда атакует, когда атакует команда Кайрат!
A green field
We sing about soccer
A fan dreams
Of a rare field
When the Kairat team attacks, when it attacks, when it attacks!
When the Kairat team attacks, when it attacks, when it attacks!
This is the first verse of the hymn for Almaty’s soccer team FC Kairat, or ФК Қайрат in Kazakh. A few Sundays ago, I was able to see that rare, green field laying underneath the snow-capped mountains and the Almaty skyline in probably the most beautiful open-air stadium I will ever be fortunate enough to watch a game in.
At the very top of my Kazakhstan bucket list was going to a soccer game. I had done some research into the Kazakhstan Premier League (the country’s highest division of soccer teams) and found Almaty’s Kairat, currently sitting at number five in the league of fourteen.
Founded in 1954 as the Dinamo and changed to Kairat in 1956, Almaty’s soccer team has had a long successful history throughout the time of the Soviet Union and into present-day Kazakhstan. In 1960, because it was the best soccer club in Kazakhstan at the time, Kairat became the first Kazakh club to earn a spot in the Soviet Class A–the USSR’s highest soccer division. That legacy has carried into today as Kairat currently sits at number five at the top of the Kazakhstan Premier League.
During the Soviet Era, Kairat’s defense earned the nickname the “Kairat concrete” because of how hard it was to crack. I know not everyone is as big a soccer fan as I am, so I’ll try not to bore you with the details of Kairat’s defensive line back in the day. However, I felt like I saw that concrete when I watched Kairat play Aktobe a few weeks ago, in a match that ended with Kairat winning 2-1.
Although they let one goal slip in at the beginning of the second half, Kairat’s defense was exciting to watch. The team’s gameplay seemed to focus more on a defensive strategy. Although their offense did score two goals, the first came from a quick charge through the centerfield and a wicked curve into the goal, and the second occurred on a breakaway where the Kairat player got tangled up with two defensemen and the goalie, and the ball sort of just rolled right into the goal.
So while the offense did have its moments, the majority of the possession ended up with Aktobe. This led to a gripping defensive game. Shots were blocked, yellow cards were handed out, and Kairat’s goalie seemed unstoppable. During an Aktobe corner kick in the final minutes of the game, their goalie even came up the field to give his team an extra player in their (failed) efforts to tie the game.
I was really lucky to have my first soccer game here end in a win for the home team. Fans left the arena energized and cheering, and I felt like I had found a new community here in Almaty. Even if someone is not a big fan of sports, there is something about being in a stadium and listening to the crowd that can turn what may be a boring experience into something fun.
I even got to practice my listening and speaking skills in that crowd through the chants. Trying to decipher what thousands of people are shouting was a bit tricky at first, but soon I joined in and yelled as loud as the rest of them. There was a simple chant where people clapped and then cried “Kairat.” Some of my favorites were “Almaty is the capital of the world” (Алма-ата столица мира), simply “Aktobe is going home” (Актобе домой), and the response chant where someone would shout “Who is rooting for Kairat” (“Кто болеет за Кайрат?”) and the crowd would yell back “I’m rooting for Kairat!” (“Я болею за Кайрат!”). These chants don’t sound the best in English, but when there were thousands of hyped-up fans screaming the words in Russian, they had a great rhythm that really energized the crowd.
Even when I was walking to my bus stop, a car drove down the street honking the rhythm to one of the chants, with someone waving a large, yellow Kairat flag out the window. Through this experience, I found a way to engage with Almaty and part of its culture beyond the city’s typical tourist attractions. I know that when I think back on this experience, just as Kairat’s song says, I will dream of that rare field sitting under the mountains and the team in yellow bringing home a victory.
