Boca futbol – a night to remember at La Bombonera!
Argentina is described as the country of steak, tango and football, and yes, you haven’t had the full Argentine experience until you have attended a football match! We were fortunate to get tickets this late in the season, thanks to Eduardo, a persistent colleague of ours at SADAIC; and lucky at that as we saw the Club Atletico Boca Juniors, simply known as Boca, played in their own stadium, La Bombonera , before its own fans - probably the most partisans of them all in BA – most of them from the local working-class barrio, La Boca. The end of the season is coming, only 2 or 3 games left to play and Boca is ahead by only a few points. Tonight they are playing Racing, an arch-rival from across town. So there you are, 55,000 altogether, in a full stadium, the true-and-true fans at one end of the stadium, chanting at the rhythm of maddening drums and waving dark blue and gold flags, the colors of Boca Juniors. At the other end, confined to the upper stands, Racing’s fans, as demonstrative and noisy in their support but lesser in numbers. We are sitting in the middle section, in between the extremes, a decidedly less rowdy part of the crowd, but no less appreciative!
As people are coming in and ushered to their seats, the pre-game rituals start, both on the field with sponsors parading and lightly-clad majorettes going through their routine, and in the stands where vendors of all kind are pushing their products, from refreshments to Boca memorabilia – we let ourselves tempted by rubber blue and gold bracelets, enslaving ourselves by this simple act to eternal faithfulness to the Boca team! All that amidst the never-ending chanting of the fans. Our immediate neighbours, a quiet couple at the beginning, are gradually taken by the surrounding atmosphere and the growing swell, to find them joining enthusiastically in the singing and the swinging upwards of the left arm, a sign of support for the local team. And the game has yet to start...
Amidst that cacophony of happenings everywhere, suddenly the game is on, players kicking the ball and running back and forth. First goal goes to Boca Juniors, on a penalty kick: hysteria breaks out, people around us, a moment ago perfect strangers, jumping all together and hugging each other! Then disaster strikes: in what seems to me a brilliant play, in a daring attack Racing scores. Pandemonium erupts in the upper stands; deafening silence everywhere else. End of the first half – the suspense is total. The players return for the second half; the pace quickens, but also the number of infractions given, especially against the Boca team, which bring out indignant and vociferous protests from the fans, the referees being copiously harangued – I wished I had enough Spanish to appreciate the full meaning of the stream of epithets and expletives thrown at them! Impatience and trepidation are growing, when Boca player number 10, Juan Roman Riquelme, in a powerful kick half way into Racing’s zone, breaks the suspense, with his second goal of the night. The stadium explodes. Joy and ecstasy know no bounds! Cynthia and I found ourselves screaming our appreciation –we are simply taken by this all! From then on though, the game takes a defensive turn for Boca Juniors, a strategy the wisdom of which I question, as Racing becomes more and more aggressive and spends more time in Boca’s zone. In the end though, all is well and the final score remains Boca Juniors 2, Racing 1. Everyone is happy and smiling. What an experience!
The long exit out of the stadium starts, in its dark and tortuous inner corridors, amidst the continuing happy chanting of the fans. We were told to stick with the crowd as we walk the streets of Boca, known for having the highest crime rate of BA. No incident – actually we are enjoying this walking “en masse” and feeling quite secure; in no time we are in a taxi on our way back to the hotel where we go to the bar for a bite to eat and a glass of wine “to celebrate” in a way this energizing experience.
To top it off, as we are sitting there, 3 or 4 Boca players walk in under the appreciative gaze of a few patrons – we were told indeed that they usually stay at the Intercontinental. I recognize one player, the bald one. Loosing no time I ask a server to get him to autograph my program – he is actually featured in it. The server says he can’t – against the house policy – but he picks the program anyway and brings in to one of the players’ entourage, who then goes to the players table and secures the coveted signature. Just in time as the players are making a move out. The “associate” – he may be the manager for all I know! – brings me back the program, which is now adorned with the black felt pen markings of Luciano Figueroa!
For more on Boca, see Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boca_Juniors
P.S. at the moment of publishing this, three teams, including Boca, were sharing the lead in the Apertura tournament, with one game to play on Sunday December 14; a grand finale is in the make, with possible playoffs!
