Argentine Football

In one of the earlier postings I mentioned that the initial motivation for travelling to Argentina was to see football. That is not to say the other natural wonders did not stimulate and amaze but it was football that drew me there.

My first exposure to the seemingly extraordinary nature of Argentine football was from my sitting room as a child watching the 1978 World Cup hosted and won by Argentina. I loved Mario Kempes and his flamboyant playing style

Mural of Diego Maradona

If you are a visitor to Argentina and would like to see a game read the blog carefully as I guide you through the a few pitfalls. Going to a match in Argentina is not like visiting your local game in Europe or the USA.

First a little background. Our trip was in the Argentine spring or northern hemisphere autumn (fall.) Reading up on the Argentine league I learned that the authorities had decided to move the league to run in parallel to the major European leagues, i.e. during the Argentine summer. 

Information on the start of the new season was in short supply. Nothing was appearing on the website of AFA (Argentine Football Association) or in any of the Argentine sports media pages. Happily though I came across the excellent English language podcast on Argentine football, Hand of Pod https://handofpod.wordpress.com/ . It is run by amiable Englishman Sam Kelly and a quick email from him assured me the league would get underway as planned and football would definately go ahead during my visit. 

His prediction was accurate except that the league began precisely one week later than it should have done for reasons I will not detail here but no fault of Sam's.

River Plate at El Monumental

The one ground I desired see a game was the Monumental, the home of giants River Plate. The Monumental was the ground where that World Cup final of '78 was held. River are one of the two dominant teams of Argentine football along with Boca Juniors. I emailed them in Spanish to find out how to get tickets. No reply. Almost all the places are sold to Socios or members and no tickets for River (or Boca) games go on general sale. It looked ominous but with the help once more from Sam Kelly and some independent research I was pointed in the direction of LandingPadBA http://landingpadba.com/ . They provide tours to all the leading clubs including River Plate. They pick you up, take you to a funky bar for a pre-match meal and then provide an English speaking guide for the match, ours was enthusiastic and knowledgeable Andres. It costs about £95 or $125. It is a bit of a mark up on the face value of the ticket but our party felt we got value for our money. If I was to go back to watch River or Boca I would have no hesitation in booking with them again.

There is one aspect of Argentine football you need to be aware of. Although teams know who their opponents will be from week to week, they do not know the kick off time or date. This is determined by AFA on the Tuesday before the weekend of the game in question. To European football fans this must seem bonkers. Matches can take place at any point over the weekend; there is no standard kick-off time.

A less expensive way to enjoy Argentinian football is to visit one of the smaller clubs. Before leaving I had been reading a history of Argentine football by Jonathan Wilson called Angels with Dirty faces. https://www.amazon.co.uk It is excellent. In it Jonathan talks about one club, Huracan, who play in a 49,000 capacity stadium before an average of 15,000 supporters. Surely, I thought, I must be able to obtain a ticket here. 

The striking tower at Huracan

On the Tuesday before leaving for Argentina I waited for the fixtures to be announced and Huracan were allocated a game against Sarmiento for Saturday evening. With the help of a Spanish speaking relative I established it was possible to but a non-socios or non-members ticket for AR$500 or £25 in sterling about $30. I had to purchase this ticket directly from the Socios office on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. No tickets were sold on match day. https://cahuracan.com/Clubs in Argentina make this arrangement to discourage visiting fans as this has caused flash points in the recent past. 

There was no obvious address for the Socios office so I headed for the stadium. It is a wonder with a magnificent art deco tower on one side. It is clear this was once an outstanding venue but, a little like the area in which it sits, the stadium is a little run down. It does though contain bags of character. There was no sign of the ticket office though. I rang a bell and soon after the groundsman answered. In my limited Spanish I asked directions to the ticket office and he pointed back the way we had come. Re-tracing my steps and asking at strategic points for directions I came upon the ticket office and club shop. It is located almost directly opposite the Parque Patricios SUBTE (underground) stop on Line H. 

Sportswear in the Huracan shop

There I was less than 24 hours after arriving in Argentina purchasing tickets for what would be my first game of football in Argentina (the River game was the following weekend.) Huracán incidentally is the the club which sold Ossie Ardiles to Tottenham Hotspur in 1978.

The first thing you notice as you approach an Argentine stadium on matchday is the ring of steel erected by security forces. Tickets are checked and spectators are searched. Items to avoid taking into games include cigarette lighters, lipsticks, bottles of water in fact anything that can become a missile. You may also be asked for identification. One one occasion (I went to three matches during my stay) I was finger printed as a foreign visitor. This amused me greatly. A record of my prints will sit for ever more unlooked at by a dysfunctional police force. It was suggested to me that there are elements in the police who actively encourage hooliganism because it "keeps them in business." In truth I saw no bad behaviour amongst fans just many thousands of people watching and encouraging their team. I joined in to help El Globo, Huracán's nickname, but to no avail, It ended 0-0.

The standard of football was good if not quite as excellent as the top European leagues. The reason for this is the present 30 team Primera Division. This will be reduced over the coming seasons which should mean quality instead of quantity.

I have mentioned some of the pit falls to attending a match in Argentina but please do not let put you off. It is an exhilarating experience for one of the most important nations in world football.

The author by the monument of the Buenos Aires cricket club

Away from match day I was able to locate an important monument in the history of Argentinian football. It is the site of the old Buenos Aires cricket club and I am grateful to Jonathan Wilson for noting it in his book. It is an unprepossessing lump of concrete in the grounds of the city's planetarium. It is inscribed in Spanish with details of the cricket club. What we know however is that it is also the site of the first football match in country. Jonathan writes eloquently and in much more detail than myself. In short had Argentina not adopted football and spread it throughout Latin American it could well be played in pockets of the former British Empire like rugby union and cricket is today. Oddly though Argentina adopted rugby union too but somehow it did not travel through Uruguay and Brazil as Association Football did.

This has been a longer entry into the blog than is usual for me but seeing football in Argentina was a dream I was always planning to achieve and it simply did not disappoint.