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Football in Argentina
“Watch your step as you cross main roads in Buenos Aires this evening”, read an Argentine news reporter as I was finishing dinner. “Roads are overrun with busses, cars and bikes racing home for Argentina’s final and decisive World cup qualifier against Uruguay. Be careful”.
The Scot Bill Shankly once said, “Football is not just a matter of life and death. It is much more important than that” . There are few countries in the world where this holds as true as in Argentina. This may be a vast country of borders and divisions, classes and cultures; but on match day there is just one Argentina and it is dressed in Blue and White. But, football here also spreads well beyond la cancha (the pitch). From taxis to bars, and everywhere in between, transfers are debated, scores predicted and performances analysed. As a tourist here the second question you will receive, after where are you from, is “de que cuarto sos?” – “who do you support?”. Be warned, “I don’t follow football”, is not regarded as an acceptable response.
This is the only country in the world where you will regularly be told, “I really want to visit England, it is my dream to visit Manchester”. Such is the emotional attachment to football that just standing next to Old Trafford, the stadium of Manchester United, would be the highlight of any trip to Europe. Football is not just a sport in Argentina, or even a culture, it is an intrinsic part of the national identity, past and present.
Never is this more obvious than at the River Plate vs Boca Juniors match, modestly known as “El Superclásico”. In 2004, The Observer placed this highly charged local derby at number one in a list of “50 sporting things you must do before you die”. Watching any game in Argentina is a great experience, but if there is any possible way you can swing your itinerary to be in Buenos Aires when these two teams come together, then do. With Boca famously a working-class club, and River Plate supporters known as Los Milionarios (the millionaires), this is a derby of rich meets poor; 90 minutes of unbridled passion in which anything can happen.
Today, both teams may have hinchas (fans) from all across the social spectrum, this romantic image of the city dividing along social lines still endures. The atmosphere is unequalled, the emotion unrestrained and you cannot but get caught up in it all. It won’t be long before you are standing on your seat, arms waving, crying “puto” at the top of your lungs.
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