Football.. an Argentinian Experience

Hello,

Yesterday we slept in, had a late brunch back at our Mozzarella and Dulce de leche bar; La Salamandra.  The food is darn good there.  Sara has developed a bit of a head cold and didn't feel like working to hard prior the football game.  So while Tyson and Sara had a short stroll around Palamero Soho for a bit, Marilyn, Peter, and Ian headed downtown to the outdoor market in San Telmo.  So while Tyson and Sara rested, napped, and watched some television, the others enjoyed a quiet subway ride downtown.  I am led to believe, however there are no pictures to prove it, that there was numerous street performers out, and that they were good.  The highlight we were told was a mime who was caught in a wind storm.  They did some shopping and returned back to the hotel with time to rest up prior to the game. 

The game started at 8:30pm, but we were told to be there at least an hour prior to the game starting, so we left the hotel at 6:30pm, as the stadium was on the other side of town.  The taxis dropped us off a couple of blocks from the stadium entrance, and we were immediately greeted by the sound of cheering fans driving by on a bus.  After trying the wrong entrance at first we eventually got into the grounds.  The stadium entrances are by where you are seated, so if you are seated in say section 17 like we where, you have to enter by gate 17 because only those seats accessible through that gate.  We were patted down by police in full riot gear, with mounted police patrolling the grounds.  Section 17 we entered through a one way turnstyle that went from floor to ceiling. 

When we arrived in the stadium, it was mostly empty, but still loud.  The junior team was on the pitch and it was alright football.  They finished up around an hour before the real game was to start.  There was a group of guys hanging banners all over the stadium.  Even within the stadium the sections are completely separated, with riot police with shields and 20 foot high fences topped with barbed wire separating the sections.  In addition to a fence there was a moat that separated the playing field from the stands.  The visitor fans were segregated into a small section of the stands and had even more fences and more riot police then the other sections.  The visitor fans would sing there songs which would be drowned out by home town supporters. 

By the time the game started, the lower bowl was 80% full with the standing sections at either end of the stadium 100% packed.  These sections would jump, sing, and throw there hands in the air as if they were a single organism.  It was crazy the noise they could make.  Whenever they thought the ref made a bad call they would whistle.  On one particularly bad call the volume in the stadium had to be over 100 decibels. 

The game itself was entertaining with the home team Racing controlling probably 60% of the play but both teams had good chances to score.  Racing scored twice, but both time they were deemed to be offside, the fans only agreed with one of those calls.  Unfortunately the game ended as a 0-0 tie.  We were hoping to see a goal, especially a home team goal, but it never came.

As soon as the game was over we rushed out of the stadium hoping to get ahead of the crowds.  However the gates outside the stadium that let you onto the street were closed and guarded by riot police.  If someone is familiar with Argentinian football, maybe they can explain this to us, as it baffled us.  So we stood in front of the gates for probably 30 minutes until it seemed that the entire stadium was empty.  There was no pushing or anything while the gates were closed,  but once opened all those people surged forward.  We moved with the crowd almost lost our shoes and after a few squished moments were out on the street.  We quickly moved to the far side of the road, got our shoes back around our heels and made our way to the taxi driver who had dropped us off.  For an increased fare he had waited for us and not accepted other fares, which was nice as the road was busy and cabs were not easy to come by. 

We made it back to the hotel exhilarated by the experience.  Sporting events in North America, including the NFL or NHL do not come close to the atmosphere in a Argentinian football match.

We are a little behind on our posts as we have already travelled through Mendoza to Bariloche, but we will catch up over the next day or so.

Tyson and Sara