Dale Dale Dale La Boca
This has to be on the most crazy experiences I had during my trip, I went to see another football game in Buenos Aires, this time to the Boca Stadium, the previous time I went to the River stadium, to see River Plate, a team associated with middle class people, Boca Juniors on the other hand is associated with the poor people of the Boca neighborhood. We took the bus from Palermo to Boca, at the some point on the way a big group of young Boca supporters boarded the buss, and did not stop singing all the way, their love and passion for the club very evident, the one song that stuck in my head was "Dale Dale Dale La Boca" . It was the game before last of the season, and Boca was second place, one point behind Gimnasia, and still competing for the title, the game was against Independiente who were third in the table, three points behind Boca, and still in the title race as well, and it was the last league game for Boca in their home stadium, all factors added up made this a big game, and naturally the game was sold out, and we had to get our tickets on the street, we paid 45 Pesos for the tickets which cost 14 at the box office.
I decided that I am going to be a Boca fan for the day, so I bought a Boca shirt from one of the stands on the way to the stadium, besides, I found those blue and yellow colors of Boca irresistible. Going into the stadium was a more complicated task than I thought, when we got to the stadium we found out we were at the wrong side of the stadium, and we could not just go around to the other side, because of the police blockades intended to segregate the fans of the two teams, we had the blue and yellow shirts of Boca, and were turned around at several corners to prevent us from mixing up with the red shirts of Independiente, we had to walk about fifteen blocks, making a big U turn in order to get to the other side of the stadium, we get there very frustrated and very angry.
Entering the stadium we were welcomed by a smell of pee and the view of a man urinating in a corner, a sign of what to come. Our stand was a standing one, and we stood their between many Boca fan, in the stand above us were the Independiente fans, later we were going to realize that was not a good situation to be in at all. A flag that covered a complete stand was spread and then folded, the local team then entered, and the crowd burst with cheers and singing, and paper clips rained down from the stands like snow, then when the away team went in, a deafening sound of bowing and whistling erupted in the stadium. The first half started, the field seemed quite small to me, the play was kind of balanced, but then Boca started to take over things, that meant that the action was mostly on the other half of the field, no goals were scored in the first half. The real trouble started during the half time break, slurs were being exchanged all the time between the Boca fans and the Indpendiente fans in the stand above, and we were continuously being spit on, but now they started throwing fire crackers, smokers, water and other heavy objects on us, people moved to the sides and to the back to take cover, anger grew towards the police because they were not doing anything to stop the barrage of objects being thrown, the break seemed to take twice as long as it should be, maybe because I was waiting for it to end, hoping that as the games resumes, the Independiente fans would turn their focus back on the game and away from us.
The second half started and thing seemed to cool down in the stands, the Boca players on the other hand came from the break with more determination, and attacked the Independiente goal with vigor, this time we were right next to the action on the field, and eventually Boca got the goal they wanted, it was a scrappy goal but well deserved never the less, I was totally unprepared for the scenes of chaos after the goal, I was jumped on and hugged, as the crowd erupted in joy. An Independiente player was then sent off, for a second yellow card, it all happened fast and I was not sure he deserved it, but anyway Boca was dominating the game at this point, and just before the end Boca managed to get the second goal, after a great individual effort by Palacio (who's shirt I bought), who set up a team mate for an easy tap in, and then there was another irruption in the crowds, the referee whistled for the end of the match, then a few minutes later there was another irruption of joy and chaos, this time as the news that Gimnasia failed to win their game arrived, meaning Boca was now first place, one point ahead of Gimnasia, with only one game to go.
Maradona was somewhere in the vip stands, I could not see him, but I know he was there because I seen it on TV several times, and because I heard the crowds cheer his name at some point, as someone with leaned out of the vip stands. It took a while until we were allowed to leave the stadium, as the crowd exit is controlled by the police to avoid fan trouble, the away fans are usually the first to be allowed to leave, then the home fans. Eventually we were allowed out, I was hungry and tired, but I will be able to say that I was there when Boca probably won the title. "Dale Dale Dale La Boca" , the song still resounds in my head.
I decided that I am going to be a Boca fan for the day, so I bought a Boca shirt from one of the stands on the way to the stadium, besides, I found those blue and yellow colors of Boca irresistible. Going into the stadium was a more complicated task than I thought, when we got to the stadium we found out we were at the wrong side of the stadium, and we could not just go around to the other side, because of the police blockades intended to segregate the fans of the two teams, we had the blue and yellow shirts of Boca, and were turned around at several corners to prevent us from mixing up with the red shirts of Independiente, we had to walk about fifteen blocks, making a big U turn in order to get to the other side of the stadium, we get there very frustrated and very angry.
Entering the stadium we were welcomed by a smell of pee and the view of a man urinating in a corner, a sign of what to come. Our stand was a standing one, and we stood their between many Boca fan, in the stand above us were the Independiente fans, later we were going to realize that was not a good situation to be in at all. A flag that covered a complete stand was spread and then folded, the local team then entered, and the crowd burst with cheers and singing, and paper clips rained down from the stands like snow, then when the away team went in, a deafening sound of bowing and whistling erupted in the stadium. The first half started, the field seemed quite small to me, the play was kind of balanced, but then Boca started to take over things, that meant that the action was mostly on the other half of the field, no goals were scored in the first half. The real trouble started during the half time break, slurs were being exchanged all the time between the Boca fans and the Indpendiente fans in the stand above, and we were continuously being spit on, but now they started throwing fire crackers, smokers, water and other heavy objects on us, people moved to the sides and to the back to take cover, anger grew towards the police because they were not doing anything to stop the barrage of objects being thrown, the break seemed to take twice as long as it should be, maybe because I was waiting for it to end, hoping that as the games resumes, the Independiente fans would turn their focus back on the game and away from us.
The second half started and thing seemed to cool down in the stands, the Boca players on the other hand came from the break with more determination, and attacked the Independiente goal with vigor, this time we were right next to the action on the field, and eventually Boca got the goal they wanted, it was a scrappy goal but well deserved never the less, I was totally unprepared for the scenes of chaos after the goal, I was jumped on and hugged, as the crowd erupted in joy. An Independiente player was then sent off, for a second yellow card, it all happened fast and I was not sure he deserved it, but anyway Boca was dominating the game at this point, and just before the end Boca managed to get the second goal, after a great individual effort by Palacio (who's shirt I bought), who set up a team mate for an easy tap in, and then there was another irruption in the crowds, the referee whistled for the end of the match, then a few minutes later there was another irruption of joy and chaos, this time as the news that Gimnasia failed to win their game arrived, meaning Boca was now first place, one point ahead of Gimnasia, with only one game to go.
Maradona was somewhere in the vip stands, I could not see him, but I know he was there because I seen it on TV several times, and because I heard the crowds cheer his name at some point, as someone with leaned out of the vip stands. It took a while until we were allowed to leave the stadium, as the crowd exit is controlled by the police to avoid fan trouble, the away fans are usually the first to be allowed to leave, then the home fans. Eventually we were allowed out, I was hungry and tired, but I will be able to say that I was there when Boca probably won the title. "Dale Dale Dale La Boca" , the song still resounds in my head.
posted by DiagonalMind at
11:31 AM
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