Friday, April 29, 2011

El Monumental, River Plate Stadium, Buenos Aires

I love going to soccer games around the world. Whether its Guatemala, Scotland, Brazil or Argentina, I always enjoy the chance to catch a game. So when I happened to be wandering by the River Plate stadium on a Sunday afternoon with two friends, I jumped at the chance to go.


Outside of the stadium, we soaked up the pre-game atmosphere; males dressed in red and white drinking bottles of cheap beer by the liter, the smell of choripan roasting on the parrilla and the crackling sound of gunfire thanks to the nearby shooting range. Ahhh, Argentine fรบtbol. We began our search for tickets. There are basically two types of seats, popular and platea. The former is where the hard core fans sit, nicknamed 'Los Borrachos del Tablon’ (roughly translated – Drunkards of the Stands). After haggling with a man sporting double denim and an Argentine mullet, we splurged for platea, 100 pesos, ticket price 70 pesos.

There are no assigned seats but we carefully select seats away from the visiting team fans in order to avoid being hit by projectiles. For everyone's protection, the visiting team is surrounded by a high fence and security, but they can still manage to huck trash on the fans below.

Soon enough it’s game time and the festivities begin. The stadium begins to thunder with fans yelling, jumping and singing in an elaborate show of flags, songs and drumming. Handmade flags and banners are an essential part of expressing one's never-ending loyalty to the team and the stadium is covered in red and white banners with neighborhood names and fan love.



About 35 minutes into the game, River Plate scores on a penalty kick and the stadium erupts in song and fireworks. GOOAAAAALLLLLL!!!!

But the visiting team quickly fires back in the second half, and their fans rattle their chain link enclosure like little kids playing Where the Wild Things Are. In the end, River lost 2 -1. But no sooner was the game over did the River fans begin to sing about their devotion... aunque ganes aunque pierdas, te llevo en el corazon!