Lets start with the bad news- Rugby season does not start until the end of next month (March), menos mal, so instead….
Argentinean Tennis Open
On a positive note the first couple of days are free and the city was a blaze of hot golden sunshine (how is the weather in UK/US right now?) but this is to watch the qualifying (so no big name stars), which is probably evident from the lack of people at the event in the photos (mind you they could also be photos of the ‘crowds’ watching England in the cricket world cup….).
I do not have a big interest in the sport (so happily correct me) and as such have little comparison. The tennis club is set within a leafy suburb with quiet streets of quaintly paved blocks, close to a beautiful park in the north of the city which looks into lake (no pedalos- sorry Freddy Flintoff) [see photos].
There are numerous tennis courts in the area, which makes it initially hard to find the event from the metro. On entering the Club, various tents are used to promote items from the sponsors: e.g. soft drinks, kitchens and financial products. Interestingly in three of the courts you stood behind the netted fence and watched the players. One photo includes players who found the conditions tough going (in their favour it was very hot) so removed their tops. This was unlikely to be a pleasing move to their sponsors but seem to attract a large number of female fans….
The stadium is next to (the British built) train tracks, so as the umpire orders silence from the crowd and play is about to start, loud rumblings can be heard from the passing locomotives. I have watched the famous tennis event in UK (Wimbledon) and if a ball goes the wrong side of the line their shouts of ‘OUT’ can usually be heard on the otherside of London. In this case the shouts were more of an apologetic whimper.
Centre Court erupts abruptly from the middle of the event as a concrete monster with little thought of architectural design. One of the games I watched pitched a Brazilian against a local hopeful (all the support seem to be for the Argentine, although the crowd clapped politely for both on occasions). A number of times the Brazilian got angry with the umpires as he felt the ball had gone out… controversially I agreed with him. The Argentine won, I’ll leave you to make you own judgements.
South American Football (soccer)
I’ve been pestering my new mate Erick (as a massive River Plate fan) to get tickets for the match (even joking that otherwise I would get tickets to watch their bitter rivals Boca). So him and Rodolfo duly picked me up from the tennis and drove to the stadium.
The ground is some way from the centre of Buenos Aires in the wealthier suburbs, close to, according to Rodolfo, the widest river mouth in the world, separating Argentina from Uruguay. Erick had not properly sorted out tickets (honestly of no surprise) so we got them off a tout outside the ground. I was expecting some astronomical price… but they were cheaper than the usual tickets ($32/£22 instead of $44/£30). Surprised we followed the tout through to the ground. It then turned out he had a deal with his mate, who simply held open the turnstiles for us….
The ground holds approximately 70,000 and was about 90% fans from the home team (River Plate), 9.99% opposition fans and one Brit (for safety reasons) posing as a South African (I refused to pretend to be French). We sat in the stand directly below the hard core fans (hooligan) stand. River (the only football club in the world with it’s own university[??!]) is considered to be for the wealthier fans while Boca (the other big club) is more associated with the social classes. Erick though informs me, that while Boca fans tend to get drunk and start fights, River fans don’t tend to drink…. but still start a number of fights and as such have the most hooligan like fans in South America. Apparently you are asked not to put flags up that block the views of fans, except in the hooligan stand, lets face it who’d argue with that (or them). While not the main sponsor on the shirt, Coca-Cola have adverts all round the stadium. Meanwhile Pepsi sponsor the bitter rivals Boca, if you go to watch River remember to ask for Coke, NOT a Pepsi to avoid getting lynched! Coke wanted to sponsor the stadium but where told where to go….
The shirts of River are white with a diagonal red stripe across it, while Boca have a dark blue top with a yellow stripe horizontally across the stomach. As such, Erick adviser that any shirt with a diagonal stripe is considered as a River shirt, while a horizontal stripe is Boca. If you ever visit here bring a white shirt with a red stripe across the middle and tell me what reaction you get off the confused locals.
Did I say in the other post that the Argentinean’s weren’t upset with the British (or something like that)? Well check out the flag put up in the hooligan enclosure- the Agentine flag breaking through the Union Jack with the inscription below reading, in English, ‘Fu** You’. Lets face it the first words in any language you learn are the swear words…. especially helpful in Greek where, as a guide, the bus drivers use to swear at me royally. However, Erick and me really braved it to take a photo, as as we were doing so there were some vicious whistles from the crowd. So if the photo is not of a great quality, tough!
You are not permitted to drink any where and at any time within the stadium. There are a number of check points on entering the stadium, where police/security guards stop and frisk you. For info lighters are banned (so don’t bring one).
As my brother says the level of Agentine football has fallen as all their best players play in Europe and while, not being as fanatical as my brother, I have to agree, the standard (considering River has the most trophies in Argentina (36) [their rivals Boca have a mere 24 which Erick proundly told me]) was English first divison at best. But River finally scored first in the second half to an eruption of noise…. Unfortunately 7mins later so did the opposition. Ever wonder what 70 000 people sound like when silent?
Final score: 2-2, great for the neutral but Erick said it was like Sunderland drawing with Manchester United (he did say Southampton at first but I told him to go and wash his mouth out with bleach). Interesting experience, but if you go as a Brit, be almost an other nationality (except Chile [they have the same love for them as Brits and French] or German [as they ‘stole’ the world cup from them in Brazil]).
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