I'm in Costa Rica for a while and was surprised to discover the UCR had a team in the 1a. San Pedro is close to where I am so I was considering watching some games. I was wondering if anyone knew anything about the team. Are they fully professionalized? Are they supported by the student body or by people from the surrounding area? How does that tiny stadium look when they host Saprissa? Thanks for the help.
If I may (with due respect to the mods - just passing by, no trouble-stirring): As a former exchange student at la UCR (Spring Semester '09), I can tell you that the team has almost no presence whatsoever at the university itself, other than the odd youth-team practice on the field to the right of the entrance by the Facultad de Derechos. Among my classmates in the Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, most of them didn't care about the team and probably had Saprissa or Liga as their favorite club. As for their support, it seems that the locals living in and around Sabanilla (you pass by the UCR's sports complex on the only road into Sabanilla) provide most of their small fanbase. And they only play home games in the Estadio Ecologico against fellow small teams; for home games against Saprissa or la Liga, however, they prefer the Estadio "Cuty" Monje in Desamparados, the regular home of Brujas. And for going to watch the games: unless their new coach is planning on implementing a more attractive style of play, please, for the love of all that is good in soccer, don't waste your money. They've been on the knife-edge of relegation for two years now, and the only time they play with any sort of cohesion is when their backs are to the wall. You'll be better off finding some friends and playing ball with them - pretty much the same quality.
I'd suggest you not go to any Costa Rican league games (it would be a waste of money and time). 95% of the games are mediocre and boring (except for Alajuelense vs Saprissa most of the time). This season will be awful to watch since 8 of the 12 teams qualify to the playoffs so most of the teams won't be playing at 100% throughout the season until playoffs start. The only good thing about going to the games is that you see a lot of hot chicks there but you can find them anywhere so i wouldn't waste my money.
Herediano and Cartagines have great fans and put on a good show, also newly promoted Limonense should be interesting, but yeah the rest tend to be crappy.
Our games ain´t that bad, I mean, some of them are really boring, but not like 95% of them like VT said About the UCR... where i graduated a couple of years ago.... no one actually cares about the team, it was on second division for a while, so it basically has no fans, i like them more than most of the teams and i cheer for them, but if they play saprissa, I want them to lose, you know... UCR plays Alajuela, Saprissa, Heredia and Cartago at Cuty Monge stadium (desamparados) and they play the other teams in Estadio Ecologico (really close to my house) UCR is happy if they dont get relegated, they aren't title contenders