Melting in the Chocolate Box
Day 211
They say that Argentines are amongst the most passionate people and that there is no better place to experience that passion than in tango or football. Well since I’m not going anywhere near the tango floor I’ll have to settle with football (soccer). Finally the day had to experience a football match in Argentina and the biggest club in the country, Boca Juniors. If you didn’t know already, Argentines are crazy about football. Its an addiction, a way of life, some might say a religious experience. Carlos, the Argentinian we met last week in Puerto Madryn summed it up well as his beloved River Plate fell 1-0 to arch rival Boca Jr. As Jordana and I watched the match with him we were laughing with each other about something. “You laugh but I am dying inside today.” The idea of that passion and love for a team multiplied by 50,000 today had me pretty pumped to get to back to the chocolate box in Boca.
No camera, no jewlery, only $20 and our tickets hidden in my money belt and the clothes on my back. Yep, ready to go. I was warned by several people yesterday about brining a camera or anything else into the stadium, let’s just say its not always the friendliest atmosphere in there. Jordana and I repeated yesterdays trip and met Eli and Bronwen at the train station, then cabed it to Boca. Today, over 2 hours before game time the area was busy and most streets were blocked off by police. We managed to walk through the streets amongst the riot police and entered the Bombonera at gate 6. We climbed to the second deck where our seats were. “Wow its already packed, maybe if we go to the end we can fight our way down”, I said as we entered the seating. People sat everywhere and blocked the aisles. The only place that was empty was the front few rows, this is so because the are not covered by the upper deck seats. Meaning that if and when people decide to toss things down they will land on you. I was most afraid of the bags of urine that I heard get tossed sometimes. We found a spot just under the end of overhang, hopefully we were safe. I looked around at the impressive stadium. To the left corner from us at the top of the seating area was the spot for the away supporters. The Rosario Central fans had already filled the area, they were separated from the rest of the stadium by a huge fence topped by barb wire. Only 1 hour to game time as the field slowly filled.
The stadium was filled, the chanting was slowly beginning and we were al eager to get this game going. We were all cooking in the scorching sun. Stuffed in here it sure felt like a chocolate box. We watched huge Energizer blow ups come out on the field and men who wore Energizer battery suits walk around holding hands with some ladies. Then some giant banner at midfield for Claro the mobile company here. This sure didn’t look like the club of the working class. Finally the visiting Rosario Central players entered the pitch to the loud whistling and hissing. Then it was Boca’s turn. As the first player entered the stadium erupted. Paper and Confetti flew and most of the stadium began jumping up and down singing a song for the club. It gave me shivers. Opposite to us behind the other goal a giant Boca banner was unravelled. It was an unbelievable setting.
As the match began the drums and singing was non-stop. Only 8 minutes in and Boca had their first goal of the match. Once again the stadium went into a frenzy. While Boca dominated play they couldn’t find the back of the net and the half ended 1-0 in Boca’s favour. Since nobody has assigned seats and the stadium is so full not many people move at halftime. We tried to cool off by buying as many strawberry popsicles as possible. Definitely no beer sales here.
The second half began and the non-stop chanting continued, they never let a second go by without singing a song. Oh and its not just a drum that is played, no its an entire band and they are really good. The play on the field however wasn’t non-stop and slowed considerably. Around the ’50 minute mark last place Rosario had tied up the game. A hush fell over the crowd for all of 15 seconds before they sang louder than ever trying to push their club back into the lead. With time running out, I think there was 2 minutes left in the 3 minutes of added time it looked like Boca would be embarrassed at home with a tie to the bottom club in the league. Then right below us a burst of speed brought the ball the goal and Boca had gone ahead. I think I even jumped in the air when I saw the ball hit the back of the net. I looked to the opposite stands and a huge avalanche of people crushed each other in celebration. The place just went mad. No long after the final whistle was blown and Boca had saved an embarrassing 2nd half effort with a late goal. And the four of us had survived an intense but good natured crowd.
We waited for a good 35 minutes in our section before the doors were open to leave the stadium. The police escort the visiting fans out of the stadium before letting the masses of Boca supporters into the streets. We left the stadium pretty wiped out from the heat of the day, I felt like I had just played 90 minutes! We walked out of Boca to the atmospheric bohemian neighbourhood of San Telmo where we left Eli and Bronwen to catch the subte back to Palermo.
After a quick dinner Jordana and I passed out early watching a movie. It had been quite a day and one of my highlights of Argentina. Watching a match here is the way a football match should be. Filled with passion and filled with real fans. Nobody in that stadium today, except for us real tourists was a tourist. You know what I mean? Whom ever said that to discover the passion of Argentina’s people just look to football was right. Now I just have to find out about that tango passion and hit the dance floor, or maybe not.
Tags: Argentina, Boca Juniors, Buenos Aires, Football, soccer
Michael Coroneos
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