I know many football supporters (myself included) are prone to spinning yarns when regaling friends and family with stories from their latest football trip abroad. The local constabulary were 'baton-happy' in Rome. The hostel in Barcelona was so rough I could have been paid for my room by the hour. So when I told my partner I had finally discovered my football utopia, she rolled her eyes, shook her head and sighed "didn't you say that after Istanbul"?. OK maybe I did, but this time I really mean it. I've have just returned from a city......
.......... where twelve, yes that right twelve of this major football country's top football clubs are all located within a train, taxi, or bus ride of my hostel. The football clubs’ close proximities to each other ensures a large number of "local derbies" will be played during any typical weekend fixture
............ where television's influence on football there is a force for good for the visiting football traveller. With the league fixture spread out over the Friday , Saturday and Sunday, you had the opportunity of not only attending 2 to 3 football matches over the weekend, but with staggered kick -off times varying from 5pm to 9pm, it was possible to attend two football matches in one day!. If live football three nights a week is not enough for you, why not check to see if any of these twelve clubs here are playing any Copa Libertadores or Copa Sudamericana fixtures between Tuesday to Thursday?
........... where many of the young players on show in the football league there have both the technical skill and natural flair that will eventually propel them to the promised lands of the Camp Nou, San Siro and errrrrrr Eastlands
...........where you can stand in a packed football terrace participating in some of the world's most passionate match atmosphere and all for the distinctly un-english premiership price starting from £6-10. The cheap prices continue outside the stadium, where a post-match steak dinner, away from tourist areas will set you back about £6.
............where even if you arrive to find its football league fixtures have been suspended due to hooliganism (well I told you they were a lively lot over there!), you have choice of at least two other countries in this part of the world who can boast as many exciting football fixtures and an equally rich football history, great players, famous clubs, iconic stadiums and charmingly lunatic supporters.
Well such a football utopia does exist, although you may know them better as the great South American cities of Buenos Aires (Argentina), Montevideo (Uruguay) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). In Buenos Aires depending on the fixtures you are spoilt for choice in watching a football match at any of Argentinos Juniors , Arsenal , Banfield , Boca Juniors , Huracan , Independiente , Lanus , Racing Club , River Plate , San Lorenzo , Tigre or Velez Sarsfield. Just 3 hours ferry journey across the Rio Plata from Buenos Aires is Montevideo, home to Uruguay's top three football clubs of Danubio , Nacional, Penarol who regularly fill the Estadio Centenario. Finally three hours flight from Argentina is Rio de Janeiro, where everyone you meet supports and has an opinion on any of the local clubs in Botafogo , Flamengo , Fluminense or Vasco da Gama. Like Montevideo, Rio has one iconic stadium although in typical Brazilian fashion, it also happens to be the worlds most famous in the Maracana.
Mirroring the European section of ' www.budgetairlinefootball.co.uk ', I hope this South American Football Traveller’s Club (current membership, 1) will be packed full of handy tips if you are currently planning to watch football matches there on a budget and without the expensive service of local tour operators. I want to start the ball rolling with lessons learnt from a recent ‘football jolly’ to the aforementioned Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Rio de Janeiro. Whilst researching for this trip, I soon noticed the absence of a decent reference website detailing forthcoming fixtures, locations of stadiums and ticket booths, club shops, useful vocabulary, fan culture etc. I thought I had done my homework for the journey, but it would have great to have found a website that advised where I could have a got a taxi or bus back to Buenos Aires city centre after a match at River Plate's Estadio Monumental. Instead, we got separated from the crowds, took a wrong turn and found ourselves walking through the Buenos Aires red-light area. I also wish I could have read somewhere that the Museo del Futbol at the Estadio Centenario, Montevideo did open on the Monday I turned up there and no amount of pesos would persuade the 'Generalisimo' at the museum entrance, to allow me in to glimpse the two Jules Rimet trophies on display. Still, despite these setbacks, me and a mate did manage to squeeze into 12 days the following:
DAY 3 - Buenos Aires Argentina Boca Juniors v Newells Old Boys. Premiera Division match Cost of ticket: £6 in “popular” terrace http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q0yUDTW2Ag
DAY 4 - Montevideo, Uruguay Nacional v Danubio. Uruguay's championship play-off match Cost of ticket £7 for top seats in Tribune America http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw4xjcHzWTE
DAY 6 - Buenos Aires , Argentina Boca Juniors v Cuenca. Copa Libertadores 2009 (South America's champions league) Cost of ticket £26 for platea media seat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_6pFfFMcsU
DAY 8 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Stadium tours to Flamengo and Fluminese . Museum and stadium tour to Maracana
DAY 10 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Flamengo v Resende. Taca Guanabara 2009 (Rio State Championship match) Cost of ticket. £10 for good seat in Maracana http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zotjkp1-Yl4
DAY 11 - Buenos Aires Argentina MATCH 1 Argentinos Juniors v San Martin. Premiera Division Cost of ticket £8 for seats in Platea Norte Alta. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YNzdjJOU0g
DAY 12 - Buenos Aires Argentina Stadium and museum tour around La Bombonera, home to Boca Juniors
Although we saved money by not going with tour operators, I would recommend contacting local football fans through social networking sites. For the price of a match ticket and a few beers, you can really immerse yourself into football culture over there. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Norbert (PSV Eindhoven/Boca Juniors), Juan (Boca Juniors) , Augustin (Liverpool FC Montevideo) and Sergio (Flamengo) for educating this gringo through translating terrace chants, explaining the Barra Brava routines , club histories and player gossip etc..
So can you help with any suggestions, tips or photos on watching matches at the eight other football clubs in Buenos Aires?. Does the Museo del Futbol in Montevideo ever f*cking open?. When does Flamengo and Fluminense next play at the Maracana? Away from Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil what are the best other football fixtures to attend in South and Latin America?. USA? , Mexico?, Columbia?. Then join the South American Football Traveller’s Club and email http://www.budgetairlinefootball.co.uk/207701.html
South America is a football traveller's utopia in terms of the opportunities to watch football and at the risk of upsetting Mr Murdoch at Sky, a refreshing antidote to increasing commercialisation of our game here in Europe . One thing is for sure though, I will be going back to South America, so I hope you can add other stadiums, clubs and countries to this online travel guide and help me (and others) who have been inspired to watch football as it should be played and supported.
