For me three reasons automatically spring to mind …….Diego Armando Maradona......
If Maradona is still not reason enough to watch football matches in Argentina, then what about the fact that there are more football stadiums in Buenos Aires than any other city in the world?. Within a train , taxi or bus ride of your hostel/hotel in central Buenos Aires you have a choice of watching a match at twelve of Argentina's major football clubs: Argentinos Juniors , Arsenal , Banfield , Boca Juniors , Huracan , Independiente , Lanus , Racing Club , River Plate , San Lorenzo , Tigre and Velez Sarsfield.
Did you know that the television and football bodies in Argentina have conspired to assist football tourists wanting to attend as many matches in Buenos Aires as possible?. With Argentinian league fixtures spread out over the Friday , Saturday and Sunday, you have the opportunity of not only attending 2 to 3 football matches over a typical weekend, but with staggered kick -off times between 5-9pm, it is possible to attend two football matches in one day!. If live football on Friday , Saturday and Sunday is not enough for you, you can always check to see if any of the twelve clubs are playing any Copa Libertadores fixtures (South American Champions League!) between Tuesday to Thursday.
The Argentinian Primera Division continues to showcase the latest batch of young players who have both the technical skill and natural flair to follow the likes of Carlos Tevez (Manchester United), Fernando Gago (Real Madrid) , Leo Messi (Barcelona) and Ezequiel Lavezzi (Napoli) to the promised land of European club football.
Have you ever been to the English Premier League's showpiece stadiums like the Emirates or Old Trafford and come away disappointed with the atmosphere?. Then rediscover how football should be supported, by leaving your valuables at the hostel/hotel and diving (not literally) into a packed argentinian football terrace on matchdays. Any matches between the so-called 'big five' of Boca, Independiente , Racing , River and San Lorenzo can be classed as classicos. Also, keep an eye out for San Lorenzo v Huracan and Lanus v Banfield elsewhere in Buenos Aires and Newells Old Boys v Racing Central in Rosario (the best derby in the provinces). These fixtures apparently guarantee fire works on and off the pitch. Tickets to most of these matches begin at the distinctly un-english premiership price of £6-10. The cheap prices continue outside the stadium, where a post match steak dinner, away from tourist areas will set you back about £6-10. Try and match that in a European capital city!
Getting There British Airways (www.ba.com) fly from London Heathrow to Buenos Aires via Sao Paulo, Brazil. Regional airports around UK are options for going via Paris , Amsterdam and Frankfurt on Air France (www.airfrance.com) , KLM (www.klm.com) and Lutfhansa (www.lufthansa.com) respectively. The cheapest/most convenient route for us was Heathrow via Madrid on Iberia (www.iberia.com).
When to Go Argentina has two football leagues at national level. The Primera Division has 20 football clubs who each play 38 fixtures, split over two seasons.
The Clausura (closing) tournament runs from mid-February until June, fixtures come out around January.
The Apertura (opening) tournament runs from August to mid-December, fixtures come out around July.
As with the league format in neighbouring Uruguay, the Argentinan Primera Division is frankly a baffling system where relegation and promotion are decided by average points over a three year period. Locals who coincidently supported the clubs outside the 'big five' of Boca, Independiente , Racing , River and San Lorenzo claimed the system ensures those 'big five' will never be relegated. The highest placed clubs from the previous season play in the Copa Libertadores. The lowest placed clubs are relegated to play in second tier, Prima B Nacional.
Between the Apertura and Clausura seasons there is the Torneo de Verano (Summer Tournament). Played during December and January in resort cities like Mar del Plata , Mendoza and Salta, clubs use this tournament to play their youth/second string players. For the football tourist it is an ideal opportunity to sample classico match atmospheres how they used to be, with support in the stadiums split half and half. I have been told by seasoned Argentinian football watchers that Boca/River classicos today in the Primera Division are not the matches they used to be in terms of atmosphere, primarily because away teams are only given 3,000 odd tickets.
Primera Division matches throughout Argentina are normally played over Friday (2 matches), Saturday (4 matches) and Sunday (4 matches), with matches provisionally arranged on the Wednesday of the week before. This will give you about 9-10 days notice to start planning your match itinery for the weekend you are visiting. Although everyone wants to play on the traditional Sunday meeting, only the countries two biggest clubs Boca Juniors and River Plate are guaranteed Sunday fixtures. To check out the locations of football stadiums, the following sites were useful:
Matches are normally finalised about a week before, with confirmation of which matches will kick off at 5pm, 7pm or 9pm. To check out fixtures for forthcoming matches your first stop will be the excellent site:
Try and time your arrival in Buenos Aires when football matches are being played in neighbouring Montevideo, capital city of Uruguay. You may find a more appealing match on Saturday/Sunday over in Montevideo and its close proximity to Buenos Aires (a 3 hour ferry across the River Plate) ensures you can get back for your next Argentinian match. With some shameless plugging, please check out our trip to Montevideo to watch Nacional v Danubio:
....Tour Operators If you have not watched a football match in Buenos Aires before, you might want to use the services of tour operators that are advertised on the web and of course at the hostel/hotel.
Tour operators like Tangol http://www.tangol.com/eng/football_matches.aspx can guarantee security of transfer from your hostel/hotel and guaranteed entry into the stadium, but at premium prices. Tour operator trips are such big business now in Buenos Aires, that football clubs are now getting in on the act. Boca Juniors now flog packages at prices frankly too expensive for me (www.bocaexperience.com )
I can understand why you may want to use the tour operators, given the ongoing football-related violence in Argentina. Before we went, the only articles we read in british publications about argentinian football were the negative aspects of supporter violence by the barra bravas (hooligan groups). I am not underplaying the problems, but would say that violence around Argentina football tends to be between rival barra bravas and/or the police. You would be very unlucky to get caught up in any fights and I personally never felt anymore at threat at any of the stadiums in Buenos Aires then watching derby matches in Rome and Istanbul. On arrival at our hostel in Buenos Aires we were also told by hostel staff that matches we were planning to attend were sold out, so a tour operator would be the only option open to us. As we were not attending classico matches like Boca/River or Inependiente/Racing, we took a chance and still went to the matches, got tickets on spec and found stadiums to have plenty of spare seats. As well as the excessive prices being asked by tour operators, we did not fancy being herded around and not knowing where our seats would be in stadium. Our mind was finally made up when some kind folks answered our questions posted on websites like the lonelyplanet thorntree.
Their sound advice gave us the confidence and information to watch the 5 matches in Buenos Aires without the help of tour operators.
.....Local Supporters and 'Barra Tours'
One option we would highly recommend is to contact local Spanish speaking football supporters resident in Buenos Aires on social networking websites like www.facebook.com and www.couchsurfing.org . Offer to buy them their ticket and some beers, in exchange they educate some "english gringos" in the joys of watching argentinian football matches. We met up with a couple of Boca supporters (thanks again Juan and Norbert!!) for the Boca v Newells match who translated the football chants , rituals, players etc and made that match a more enjoyable experience for it .
We had read about "Barra Tours" where you could tag along with a Barra Brava to a match at Boca Juniors or River Plate (am not sure if it can be done at smaller clubs!). Check out the articles below :
We were put off this mainly by the fact that being in the middle of the barra bravas prevents you marvelling (and photographing!) the choreography from a neighbouring stand. Still you will not be trumped for bragging rights down the pub if you do it this way!!
.....Football Clubs
Where possible we tried to buy our match tickets in advance. Tickets tend to go on sale the Thursday before the weekend fixtures. We were advised if wanting to attend a Boca or River match, it would be possible to buy tickets through Ticketek Argentina (www.ticketek.com.ar ) either online, or at their office in Ave Florida (Buenos Aries equivalent of Oxford street, in London). It might also be worth asking if they could deliver the tickets to your hostel/hotel for a small fee. Otherwise check out individual club websites to find out where you want to sit in stadium and track down the ticket booths that are outside every football stadium. Please see club details elsewhere for ticket booth locations. As with matches in England, when teams are doing better or playing one of the 'big 5', expect ticket prices to go up accordingly.
Be warned, that due to increasing football violence at Argentinian matches, the authorities are finally taking steps to eradicate the influence of the barras. Authorities plan to introduce an Identification Scheme, where by supporters have to register before they can buy match tickets. Although this will be good news for curtailing the trouble, the bad news for football tourists is extra hassle in getting cheaper tickets independently. The problem for me and you, is that you will be expected to buy the more expensive tickets through club/tour packages. Trials are due to start at San Lorenzo this year, before the operation is spread nationwide in 2010. The only optimistic note, is that very few think it will actually get going, so my advice. Get over to Buenos Aires whilst you can!!!!
Match Practise As soon as you travel to your central Buenos Aires hostel from the airport, you quickly a get sense of how important football is there. Your taxi driver will have football pennants/mascots hanging off the car dashboard. Look outside and you'll see football graffiti sprayed across motorway, factory and residential walls. Locals walk past sporting fake replica football shirts and kids are kicking balls around on every patch of ground available. When you check in at the hostel, staff will ask which football team you support back in Europe. The hostel foyer has flyers and posters advertising tour trips to forthcoming matches at River or Boca. You finally get up to the hostel room, crash out on the bed and switch on the television to find TyC Sports channel showing Argentinian football matches non stop. Later than evening, you leave the hostel for a steal dinner out at a local restaurant and are attracted to the one whose walls are covered with football memorabilia. You then move onto the bar recommended by the hostel for a few Quilmes beers and watch yet more football on the television behind the bar. If you are fluent in Spanish, those copies of Ole sports newspaper and El Grafico football magazine piled up nearby are required reading. Against this backdrop, match day could not arrive fast enough for us.
When going to football matches in Argentina as anywhere else really, use you common sense and you'll not get any problems. Don’t flaunt your bling jewellery or your shit hot state of the art digital movie camera, or you are asking to be mugged. We took enough money for day, the digital camera was the size of a fag packet, which was easy to hide away especially when watching matches from the popular terrace.
Racing club was reached by train. When using public transport, be it bus or train, stick with the main body of supporters. After matches, taxis were no where to be seen, so be prepared to wait at traffic junctions and pile onto buses unfortunate enough to stop at red lights. Jumping on buses on major avenues, mean you will get back to the centre... well eventually.For River Plate and Argentinos Junior matches, we took a taxi. We normally got to stadium about an hour before kick off, if we had match tickets in advance.
Find a bar far enough from stadium for a few beers. Bars close to stadium tend to be packed and allow regular in only. For the two Boca matches, we walked to La Bombonera through San Telmo district that was packed full of bars.
Outside each stadium, I purchased a beanie hat (Stone Roses/summer fishing or what ever you want to call it styled hat) with the home club colours which helped me blend in a bit better. Plus the hat could be stuffed inside pocket, once out of sight of stadium on trip back to hostel. It seemed merchandising business seemed more prominent outside the stadiums with the street vendors doing brisk trade with fake replica shirts, than official club vendors inside. The attraction of buying fake replica shirts is understandable considering a typical monthly in Buenos Aires is only about £300 per month. Another more permanent show of support for your club, is the club emblem tattoo on prominent display. We saw many supporters, most notably at Racing Club who had club emblems tattooed on their chest, shoulders or back.
Football clubs in Argentina have not been so fortunate as their english counterparts, with a lucrative television contract. The TyC television contract not only forced the Argentinian League to stage matches over Friday , Saturday and Sunday, but the clubs get very little television income. San Lorenzo, for example, make more from socio membership fees that television income. Joel Richards elaborated on the difference between season tickets in England and becoming a socio in Argentina:
"In the UK you have football club memberships, where you are entitled to discounted tickets, and the traditional season ticket holders. Here in Argentina, you do not really have any difference between the two. By becoming a socio, you get to use the clubs facilities, you can vote in the club's presidential elections, you get priority on tickets to away matches and you can go to home matches for free (only in the standing area or not so good seated areas). At Huracan, for example, this is around 35 pesos ( approximately £6) and this is fairly normal rate for a smaller club. At bigger clubs like River Plate, its still about 50 pesos (approximately £10). It works out cheaper than buying individual match tickets, even for the popular terraces, so just about everybody does it"
Whereas television money has been instrumental in the reconstruction of stadium in England, there appears to have been no major stadium development in Argentina, since they hosted the World cup in 1978. The only stadium construction project on whilst we were in town, was Independiente's Estadio Libertadores de América . Financial problems have hit this well supported club when late payments, resulted in stadium builders downing tools and walking offsite.
With a shit television deal in place for the foreseeable future, many clubs can only thrive on the production line of young local talent that will ply their trade in Argentina, before being exported to Europe. Speaking to locals about the fact that the majority of their top stars play abroad, many are resigned to this economic state of affairs. Until football authorities can get a better deal for what is a vastly superior product, club will continue rely on selling their best young players to rebuild their aging stadiums and swell club coffers.
Every match we attended, there were plenty of empty seats or terracing. Even though it felt like there were more hinchas supporters than any other country we visited (apart from Turkey), all five matches we attended had plenty of empty seats or terracing. This maybe due to opposition that particular day; moving matches away from traditional sunday afternoon kick-off or more likely in recent seasons an underlying threat of supporter violence bought by Argentina's hooligans, the barra barras. The negative influences of the barra bravas are well documented and Joel Richards has produced some excellent articles on this subject for the guardian newspaper.
One positive aspect of barra brava culture for me though, was the dramatic entrances onto their terrace as the match was about to start. Before kick-off, huge great open spaces in the popular terrace signalled the club barra bravas had not yet made their entrance into the stadium. Joel Richards pointed out that "the barra (as they are known collectively) tend to meet up a few blocks away from the stadium and enter en masse at the beginning of the match" Dont forget that there is nothing that really identifies the barra from the other supporters, the only thing that differentiates them is the activity. Nothing happens outside stadiums without the barras approval. Buy a ticket from a tout, buy a fake replica shirt from a street vendor, park your car at the stadium. All these activities are run by the barras"
I noticed the Boca and River barra at their home matches tended to enter the terrace at kick off, whilst the Huracan and San Martin barra entered their away section about 10-20 minutes into match. I suspect this may have been due to the numerous security checks you face when entering any Argentinian football stadium. Whichever fixture we watched, the arrival of a particular's clubs barra was one of the most spectacular pieces of supporter choreography and worth the entrance fee alone. At both Boca and River, you could hear the barra before you could see them. The beating of the drums from deep within the bowls of the popular terrace echoed around the stadium . The chanting from the supporters waiting for them grew in intensity. I have heard about "pressure-cooker" atmosphere at football matches, but this was the first time I had experienced it properly. In Argentina, they were consummate professionals in putting on a supporter choreography. Out of a side entrance the barras appeared like a marching army onto the terrace. At the front, the drummers led the way, followed closely by the huge club coloured banners that would be tied between the fences and stadium tiers. Next was a large number of smaller flags and umbrellas again in club colours. As the barras filled the gaps in the terrace, the chanting got louder and louder. At a given signal, balloons were released (Racing), flares belched out blue and yellow smoke (Boca) and clouds of ticker tape, synonymous with argentinian football, cascaded down the terraces (Boca, River and Argentinos Juniors). F#cking hell, the match had not even started and I was enthralled. The photos below were taken at some of the matches
San Martin at Argentinos Junior match
River Plate barras at El Monumental,
Throughout the matches, the chanting was continuous from the popular terraces. As with the ultras of Italy, Argentina hinchas are conducted by the barra leaders who with their back to the pitch, rarely seem to be actually watching the match. I imagine they have not paid to get in like the rest of us though, so why should he? To him, the priority is ensuring the home support is louder and better than the opposition in the stadium. They certainly succeeded in my opinion at Racing Club, who were a noisy bunch.
As with Brazil and Uruguay, players enter the pitch through those inflatable tunnels that seem to be de rigour in South America.
The football in Argentina was technically superior to Uruguay and on a par with Brazil. I also noticed there were less fouls than I expected. Particularly impressive were Huracan, who played some exquisite football in there 1-4 demolition of Racing Club. Check out the youtube clip below of match highlights to see well they played.
At the end of the match, home supporters will be kept in the stadium until the police have spirited all the away fans out of the area. I can see logic for doing this as home supporters will not be waiting outside to confront the away supporters. The locals did not seem to mind being held back. This was fine for us, apart from the Libertadores match between Boca and Cuenca at La Bombonera. As the match did not finish until after midnight, it meant walking back to the hostel through La boca district which the guidebooks tell you to be careful in the daytime!!!!......eeerrrrmmm whats spanish for buttock clenching?. Anyway got back no problem in the end.
Half-time Food As well as the usual food/drinks on sale at sites dotted inside the stadium, manic vendors with polystrene boxes full of coke and ice creams constantly zipped through the crowds and climbing security fences (still carrying those full boxes!) between stands. On street corners around the stadiums you can find huge home barbeques called asados , that sell huge chunks of beef in bread rolls. Although food hygiene appeared to be low priority, the large queues were testament to the value for your pesos.
Television When you book your hostel/hotel in Buenos Aires, you must stipulate the television in your room has TyC sports channel , the best television channel showing football I have ever seen on my travels. Not only does the coverage include live Primera Division and Libertadores matches, but they also air 'classic' matches of fixtures that are playing that particular weekend. Basically we’re talking argentinian football matches, goals and punditry chats. Evidence of this excellent coverage can be seen in the fact that for the first time ever we did not undertake our traditional 'search-for-the-porn-channel-on-the-hotel-television'. If you are homesick for european football, ESPN channel does the Champions League , Spanish , Italian and German football. Fox channel has the English Premiership .I suppose it gives the locals the chance to keep an eye on their star players currently plying their trade in Europe
Newspaper, magazines and books Ole . Daily sports newspaper that has excellent football coverage. If internet not at hand, use Ole to check the venue and dates as matches can change. Keep an eye out in the newspaper kiosks dotted around Buenos Aires for the special issues (see photo) that cover Clausaura and Apertura seasons, forthcoming fixtures, players , etc..
La Nacion. Broadsheet newspaper with quality football section
El Grafico. Quality football magazine in Argentina.
Athough there seems to be a travelogue book waiting to be written about watching football in South America and Argentina in particular, the ones I would read on the 12 hour flight over from Europe would be nay of the following:
Football Against the Enemy, Simon Kuper. Excellent football travelogue with chapter on Argentina.
The Beautiful Game; A Journey through Latin American Football, Chris Taylor.
Passion on the People?. Football in South America, Tony Mason
Sightlines: A stadium odyssey, Simon Inglis. Groundspotters journey to stadiums around the world. Understandably, Inglis dedicated FOUR chapters to Buenos Aires
El Diego, Diego Maradona. Legend!
Hand of God; The Life of Diego Maradona , Jimmy Burns. Still a bloody legend
Internet
www.thehandofgods.blogspot.com/ Freelance journalist/photographer based in Buenos Aires (lucky fellah!), who has well as churning out a great blog, has also written excellent pieces in guardian:
http://casa34.wordpress.com/2009/02/15/maradona-tour/ Excellent tour operated by Dutch expat resident in Buenos Aires, who does guided Maradona tours. Value for money , informative and a guide who is passionate about Maradona (and PSV Eindhoven). A must for all football tourists going to Buenos Aires. Photo report of this tour to follow!.
www.argentinasoccer.com With stats, match reports, links to goals on youtube, forthcoming fixtures. This is should be the first port of call for all footie tourists who want to see what all the fuss is about.
Vocabulary Hello. Hola Goodbye. Adios/Chau Thanks/Thankyou. Gracias/muchas gracias Two beers (Quilmes), please. Dos quilmes por favor Please can we go to La Bombonera/Monumental Stadium? Vamos hasta la Bombonera/ al Monumental, por favor. Ninety Noventa .(When you get on a bus, just say this to driver as you get on and drop your coins into machine behind driver’s seat. This is worth knowing in advance as buses could your only option to get back to centre after match!) Two seats in the 'Platea Media' please. Dos plateas por favor Two tickets for terraced 'Popular' please Dos paras la popular por favor Which team do you support?. De que equipo sos? I am not English, I am from New Zealand. No soy ingles, soy de Nueva Zelanda I would like to buy La bombonera Lego set, please (see photo on Boca section). Estoy buscando la bombonera en lego (miming or pointing to model maybe necessary)
RACING CLUB ClubBasics Racing Club Address: Av.Mitre 934 , Avellaneda, Buenos Aires Web: www.racing club.com.ar Supporter website: www.racingclub.com.ar Email: atencionalsocio@racingclub.com Members (Socios) : 25,000
Did you know that the television and football bodies in Argentina have conspired to assist football tourists wanting to attend as many matches in Buenos Aires as possible?. With Argentinian league fixtures spread out over the Friday , Saturday and Sunday, you have the opportunity of not only attending 2 to 3 football matches over a typical weekend, but with staggered kick -off times between 5-9pm, it is possible to attend two football matches in one day!. If live football on Friday , Saturday and Sunday is not enough for you, you can always check to see if any of the twelve clubs are playing any Copa Libertadores fixtures (South American Champions League!) between Tuesday to Thursday.
The Argentinian Primera Division continues to showcase the latest batch of young players who have both the technical skill and natural flair to follow the likes of Carlos Tevez (Manchester United), Fernando Gago (Real Madrid) , Leo Messi (Barcelona) and Ezequiel Lavezzi (Napoli) to the promised land of European club football.
Throughout the matches, the chanting was continuous from the popular terraces. As with the ultras of Italy, Argentina hinchas are conducted by the barra leaders who with their back to the pitch, rarely seem to be actually watching the match. I imagine they have not paid to get in like the rest of us though, so why should he? To him, the priority is ensuring the home support is louder and better than the opposition in the stadium. They certainly succeeded in my opinion at Racing Club, who were a noisy bunch.
Athough there seems to be a travelogue book waiting to be written about watching football in South America and Argentina in particular, the ones I would read on the 12 hour flight over from Europe would be nay of the following: