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I’ve cheered at local football matches around the world, but nothing compares with my experience at a Boca Juniors game in Argentina.
If you’re planning a trip to South America and want to attend a football match in Buenos Aires yourself — here are some tips for doing it, and perhaps more importantly, what not to do!
We were able to arrange the match tickets through our hotel concierge. The booking included the services of a local guide, who would accompany us to the game and back to the hotel. I suppose that is what happened, but there was so much more to it than that!
Our guide arrived and directed us to his small, rather battered old sedan. As the drive got underway we chatted about the upcoming game, learning that Boca Juniors were playing their arch rivals Racing Club. Boca had lost the previous 13 games and desperately needed a win. The battle was likely to be fierce!
It was some way into the trip before he handed us our tickets, and at that point we realised that our ‘guide’ was not actually coming with us. Apparently another paying customer — an Argentinian from outside of Buenos Aires who spoke no English and had just hopped into the car — would be our companion. It dawned on us that we had likely bought the tickets from a scalper!
As we approached the stadium, the excitement began to build. Fans streamed towards the ground. All wore the blue and white of Racing. No Boca supporters were to be seen. Our guide pulled up to a policeman who was directing traffic. In a low voice so as not to be heard by the Racing fans, he asked for directions to the Boca entrance. Our anxiety started to rise. The supporters of the two teams were being kept apart!
The three of us were dropped off at the Boca gate, and instructions for where to meet after the game were provided to our companion in Spanish. We had no idea where we were and no means of communicating with our chaperone. We hurried after him, concerned about getting lost in the throng.
You expect security at a stadium, but nothing like this. First we were patted down. Not once, but three times. Then we walked past a row of mounted and armed riot police before climbing the concrete stairs to our seats. There were none of the usual comforts of a stadium in Australia. No fast food outlets or colourful advertising. Just a bland concrete building and concrete bench seating.
As supporters of the away team, we were seated in a cage, fenced on either side by razor wire. Armed riot police lined the fence. Between us and the field was a floor to ceiling net and a deep moat filled with water!
On our left was another area set aside for Boca fans, who were crowding into the space far too small for their number. Not to worry — they just scaled the fence separating the two areas! They poured in until the capacity of our section more than doubled. Shoulder to shoulder, we had to stand if we wanted to see anything. And as soon as we stood up, someone stood on our seats!
Throughout the game the crowd sang and chanted, jumping up and down and holding onto the shoulders of the people in front of them while punching the air with their right arms. So there I was, a middle aged woman in a sea of highly charged Argentinian men, jumping and punching my arm in the air while a stranger leaned on my shoulders and did the exact same thing. The whole stadium seemed to rock!
You’ll be pleased to hear that Boca won the game; I certainly was. I don’t know if we would have got out in one piece if they’d lost!
For more travel inspiration, visit www.argentina.travel.
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Additional images: Bigstock
About the writer
Joanne Karcz is a Sydney-based travel writer, and has explored much of her home country, Europe, South America, and Southern Africa. She published a blog while walking the Camino de Santiago some years ago and has been writing about her adventures ever since. Joanne is also an aspiring photographer and takes her camera wherever she goes. She loves discovering new things to see and do in her own Sydney backyard, and blogs regularly about the city’s suburbs.
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