30/11
2011

Game Sixteen: v Banfield

Golden Arrows  1  Orlando Pirates  3

What’s he talking about? This guy has gone mad! He’s overdosed on prime Argentine beef, yerba mate and dulce de leche. Surely he means Banfield 2 Argentinos Juniors 2?

Bizarrely, I find myself in Durban, South Africa, where I’m working on the big United Nations sponsored climate change conference. And it’s big, really big. The future of our planet depends to a large extent on what is, or is not agreed at this huge talking shop.

Politicians from more than 190 nations, pressure groups  — from those who believe veganism will save the world to those who believe our future rests on greater production of rattan furniture – a Hindu priest who spent twenty years living in a cave, more scientists than you could shake a test tube at and girl guides…yes, girl guides!…are in Durban to discuss our future. Then we await the arrival of certain notables like Leonardo di Caprio, Angelina Jolie, Richard Branson and Arnold Schwarzenegger. If they can’t sort out the many and complex issues that need resolving before the world can agree on and then implement binding solutions, then nobody can. Can I suggest that you start hoarding goodies in your underground bunker in Patagonia right now.

The Moses Mabhida Stadium

But that’s just the future of our planet. If you land in Durban and the Golden Arrows are playing the Orlando Pirates at the Moses Mabhida stadium in the semi finals of the cup, then that’s where you go. Obviously!

Never mind that you’ve just flown the nine hours from Buenos Aires to Johannesburg then on to Durban with a five hour time difference. You check into your hotel and then you pay your 50 rand for a seat in a fine stadium, used during the 2010 World Cup.

The football was great in patches with some lovely slick passing moves from both sides. At other times in was technically poor, with abstract passing and geometrically confused control. Former West Ham space filler, Benni McCarthy, now pulls an Orlando Pirates jersey tightly over a growing belly.

I thought I was sat in the away end, among the Pirates fans, until the Arrows scored in the first half and sporadically positioned locals leapt out of their seats. There was no attempt to segregate the fans, there was no need. There was no aggression or rancour. Segregation is perhaps a dirty concept in post apartheid South Africa. There were no fences and yet beer was being swilled in vast quantities from plastic cups as the fans sat in their seats in this architecturally divine stadium.

Passionate Pirates

I shouldn’t be surprised. But if you watch your football, as I do in Argentina, caged behind barbed wire topped fences, kept behind for half an hour after the game to allow the away fans home first to they don’t get torn limb from limb, then this is a surprise and a very pleasant one.

Many fans danced throughout the match. The Pirates fans sported workman’s hard hats, cut and carved to produce intricate pop-out designs on the front. One had a football boot moulded onto it.

Orlando Pirates were the better team and soon got the equalizer they deserved. They went two up in the second half and topped it off with a penalty. Despite being the away side, based in Johannesburg, their support is drawn predominantly from the Zulu community which occupies the east of South Africa.

Football is a game supported mostly by South Africa’s black population while rugby is a mostly white-supported game. But that wasn’t an issue here. It was simply fun. Fun football with relaxed fans mingling freely with one another, white, black, Indian, families, men and women.

The police presence was minimal. On the pitch there was none of the pouting arrogance of the likes of Ashley Cole or Carlos Tevez and off it no corrupt Arab sheikhs, Russian oligarchs or East End porn kings. I’m sure South African football has its problems but they didn’t seem to impinge on the enjoyment of the fans or the players at this match.

C’mon Orlando Pirates. Up the Bucs!

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06/11
2011

Game Fourteen: v Racing Club

Racing Club  1  Argentinos Juniors  0

With just five games to go and Boca Juniors running away with the Argentine championship,  there’s only really one story filling the sports pages. OK,  maybe two,  if you count the resurgence of River Plate bursting back to the top flight after suffering the first relegation in their history a few months ago.

No,  the really big story is the imminent clash between the former head of the Boca Juniors barra brava,  or hooligan element,  Rafa Di Zeo,  and the man who stood in for him while he was serving time in prison but now refuses to stand down,  Mauro Martin.

Di Zeo last week attended a Boca home game accompanied by hundreds of supporters and filled one end of the ground. Martin and his entourage filled the other end. Both made threatening gestures to one another,  all captured by the media.

Both men were banned from the Boca game this weekend away to Velez Sarsfield but most believe that this has merely delayed the inevitable clash for control of the Boca barra brava, La Doce.

Martin and Di Zeo - Not Friends.

With elections for club president due at the beginning of December,  the authorities are tip-toeing around the issue like it’s a dispute over which kind of cup cakes to serve at the village fete.

The newspapers openly discuss the links the two thugs have with the candidates in the same way they reported on the national elections last month. And in some cases they’re talking about the same people. The former president of Boca Juniors and current mayor ofBuenos Aires,  Mauricio Macri,  is a possible runner in the next national elections in 2015.

His links with Di Zeo while he presided over a very successful stint running the club are well documented. Di Zeo has just emerged from a long stretch in prison for violent behaviour. The Boca authorities welcomed him with open arms. The politicians are scared and when politicians are scared of criminals like Di Zeo and Martin it ends in the kind of tragedy being lived every day of her life by people like Liliana Suarez de Garcia.

Her son Daniel was killed by barra brava at a game between Argentina and Uruguay in the Americas Cup back in 1995. I met her at the office of a pressure group called Salvemos al Futbol – Let’s Save Football which campaigns against football violence and is made up largely by families of the victims.

She knows the names of her son’s killers. She knows where they live and where they work. But although sixteen years have passed since Daniel was stabbed to death outside the ground,  the killers continue to move around freely,  any possible legal proceedings bogged down in bureaucracy,  ineptitude and a lack of political will.

Daniel Garcia was a Boca fan who traveled toUruguayfor the international game. He was traveling with Platense supporters,  a Buenos Aires club now languishing in the third division. They’d been involved in some spat with followers of Tigre and Moron– a petty,  convoluted dispute about perceived rivalries and insults that reminded me of something being garbled by Matt Lucas’s Little Britain character,  Vicky Pollard.  That team called me a slag but I’m friends with a different team which used to be friends with my best mate’s team, at least he was my best mate until I caught him snogging behind the bikeshed with Tracy. These are grown men, don’t forget.

Those battling for control of the Boca barra brava treat their conflict like a game. Similar disputes are being played out at clubs all overArgentina. The end result is often  innocent fans like Daniel Garcia bleeding to death outside the ground.

Liliana heard about her son’s murder on the radio. She and her husband drove to Uruguayand arrived in time to see a botched investigation which was followed by prevarication and indifference from both the Uruguayan and the Argentine authorities.

“Our fight will continue because all we’ve got left is his memory and the wish for justice,”  she said. “The fight is not easy because it’s very uneven. We’re alone. We can’t count on the support of the state. They’ve got their interests…I shall not rest a minute of my life until those responsible,  whose names I know,  are exposed,  are repudiated by society. That’s what I’m going to do…make sure that everyone knows who they are and what they did.”

Homage to Daniel Garcia

Liliana was dignified and determined. She’s just one of many fighting to change a system that rarely brings those responsible for the violence in Argentine football to justice. Because there’s too much money and too many vested interests entwined in the game for anyone to act.

Graciela Muniz,  who works with Liliana,  said:  “What we’re seeing now is general violence supported by the sporting authorities and the politicians in which the judges are looking the other way. And we say to the authorities,  to the government,  please take the necessary measures to prevent this happening. That they send a message condemning violence in football.”

I wish them luck but I don’t hold out much hope that we’re going to see any radical changes any time soon.

Meanwhile, back on the field,  Atletico Rafaela lost another chance to chase Boca with a 0-0 draw at home to Belgrano. Tigre beat Colon 2-1 and Godoy Cruz thumped bottom club Estudiantes 3-1. All Boys and Independiente drew 2-2 and Olimpo and San Lorenzo 1-1.

My boys,  Argentinos Juniors,  after that rare victory last week,  went down 1-0 at Racing who came off the back of five consecutive draws and claimed second spot. Lanus beat Banfield 2-1 inthe derby of the south of Buenos Aires hinterland while Boca and Velez only managed a disappointing 0-0.

River Plate went back on top of the B division with a 4-1 win in the far north-west of Argentina at Gimnasia de Jujuy…all four goals coming from Fernando Cavenaghi.

 

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26/10
2011

Game Twelve: v Atletico de Rafaela

Atletico de Rafaela  3  Argentinos Juniors  1 

The front page headline read:  ‘A Machine That Can’t Stop Winning.’ It was referring to Boca Juniors after a 2-0 win at Colon that leaves them six points clear at the top of the table and unbeaten this season.

But it could just have easily have applied to the president,  Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner,  who on Sunday romped to an overwhelming victory in elections to secure a second four year term in office.

Now,  if you’re standing up while reading this I suggest you take a seat. Since I’m going to attempt a delicate feat and compare events in Argentine football with what’s happening in its politics. It’ll be like one of those tricks where I juggle four eggs while removing all my clothing and re-dressing in my wife’s undergarments without dropping a single item. Or maybe not!

The Bombonera -- needs a lick of paint.

President Kirchner took over from her husband,  Nestor,  in 2007. He was supposed to resume the reins in these elections but rather inconsiderately died of a heart attack a year ago. I’m sure there’s something in the Argentine constitution about the deceased not being able to stand for elected office although,  even in his current state,  he’d have stood a good chance since the opposition was so abysmally poor.

The economy is doing OK on the back of shiploads of soya sold to China to fatten their livestock which in turn is feeding an ever more affluent and meat-hungry population.

Boca Juniors is also doing OK after a few lean seasons when they probably weren’t eating enough soya. They also face weak opposition. Their old rivals,  River Plate,  are battling to climb out of the second division after relegation last season for the first time in their history. One fan put it to me that they went down on purpose since the second division championship was the only silverware they’d not won and there was a space in their trophy cabinet.

There’s an even bigger space in the first division where the superclasico,  the twice yearly clash between Boca and River,  used to take place. Meanwhile,  few of the other big clubs have taken advantage of River’s absence,  most of them languishing in the lower half of the table. San Lorenzo,  Independiente and Estudiantes — where are you? Languishing in the lower half of the table,  like I just said.

With 54percent of the vote,  President Kirchner’s win was outstanding. However,  the 46percent of the electorate who don’t much like her split their vote between a sickly-looking socialist,  the grinning idiot son of a former president,  a reptilian former president and a former beauty queen with a decidedly dusty tiara,  among others.

President Cristina -- four more years.

Both winning parties are much softer and gooier on the inside than they appear on the outside. Boca’s iconic Bombonera stadium could do with a lick or two of blue and gold paint,  as could its squad. They can’t keep relying on the fading genius of the most miserable man in football,  Juan Roman Riquelme. The scorer of their two goals against Colon was Nico Blandi,  who last year turned out on loan at Argentinos Juniors and was universally disliked and disparaged.

The club authorities have done nothing to deal with the gangrenous wound that is gnawing at its innards – the barra brava or hard core fans. One former hooligan leader,   Rafa Di Zeo,  was handed his membership card back just days after emerging from prison where he’d served time for violent behaviour on the terraces.

The new government must tackle rampant inflation,  massive capital flight and the fact that its national side, with Messi,  Higuain and Di Maria in its ranks,  lost to Venezuela for the first time ever in a World Cup qualifier. National crises don’t come much bigger.

With Brazil on the up and up,  Argentina doesn’t have the regional clout it once did. It was front page news when it was announced that the president will be granted some brief face time with Barack Obama when their paths cross in Cannes next week. Possibly outside the cloakroom while he’s on his way to take a leak after a long session with President Medvedev and before a serious head to head with Mrs Merkel.

But both the government and Boca Juniors are euphoric for now and who are we to deny them the delight of those champagne bubbles tickling the underside of their noses?

That 3-1 defeat at second-placed Atletico de Rafaela and Banfield’s 3-0 win over Independiente means that Argentinos Juniors are now rooted firmly to the bottom of the table. That’s 20th out of twenty. Our own champagne tickling time as champions less than a year and a half ago is but a distant memory.

Velez beat Estudiantes 1-0 while Arsenal won with the same score at home to San Lorenzo.  Union clinched their own 1-0 victory,  away at Olimpo while All Boys and Newell’s Old Boys drew 1-1. They would share the spoils,  wouldn’t they? The Old Boys network and all that. Or is it the All Boys network?

Belgrano beat Tigre at their place while Godoy Cruz and San Martin shared the spoils 2-2. Racing and Lanus also drew,  one apiece.

 See! I didn’t drop a single egg. And I rather like the silky feel of these stockings. Hey! Whad’ya think you’re looking at?

 

 

 

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03/10
2011

Game Ten: v Belgrano

Belgrano  1  Argentinos Juniors  2

They took their time but finally – a victory for Argentinos Juniors. It was the tenth game of the season which is more than half way through a very short,  nineteen game campaign.

As well as being a thoroughly well-deserved win that lifts the team just a tad clearer of the foul-smelling,  fetid bottom of the league,  it also puts a stop to my whingeing and moaning. This was a team performance built on the back of a fine game played last week against Boca Juniors.

The Bichos started well with a headed goal after four minutes from an attacker I’ve been very critical of,  JJ Morales. In the second half the visitors doubled the score with a sublime chip over the advancing goalkeeper’s head by the stocky Uruguayan,  Roberto Brum.

Belgrano,  urged on by a 40,000-strong home crowd,  pulled one back which added to a tense and gripping final twenty minutes or so.

We’ve got a week-long break as the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign gets underway  – Argentina kicking off against Chile. No Brazil to contend with since they qualify automatically as hosts.

That’s it! With nothing to complain about, I’ve got nothing left to say. I’m done. Life is sweet.

Oh no it’s not! There’s always plenty I’m not happy about and I find my complaints are usually better focussed when mixing with the large and eclectic foreign community that lives in Buenos Aires.

For our experience as foreigners living in a foreign land is a shared experience that binds us. Much of our complaining is done at 11 on a weekday morning while sipping coffee at a pavement cafe in the sunshine while some of the world’s most beautiful people saunter past. Then we’ll realise that we really have no right to complain before launching headlong into another anti-Argie diatribe.

The locals have grown up with the things us foreigners whinge about — the dog shit on the streets,  heavy bureaucracy,  bad driving,  unreliable policemen and no Marmite. They know no better.

When my American friend,  Charles,  mentioned the poor selection of breakfast cereals on display in Argentine supermarkets I immediately sympathised with his plight.

“If we see Honey Grahams,” he said. “We buy eight boxes.” So now I know where they’ve all gone. The locals start the day with,  to my mind,  inadequate milky coffee and a sticky croissant or media luna.

Another way us gringos,  the men anyway,  cope with distance from our homelands is by obsessing about our sports teams. Americans meeting in a Buenos Aires coffee bar will jump on the subject of baseball like two hungry dogs on a bone.

Who do you support?

I’ve got one English West Ham supporting friend in Buenos Aires who has just returned from London. I’m going to see him tomorrow and the first thing I’ll ask is whether he breathed in the air around Upton Park and what it was like.

I noticed the other day that I wear a West Ham t-shirt,  have West Ham slippers,  beer mat,  baseball cap,  towel,  tankard,  alarm clock,  two mugs and a sweat shirt.

I’m like a sad,  balding forty-nine year old teenager. I wasn’t that obsessed when I was a teenager.

What being part of an ex-pat community brings home is how alike we are. In the United States I’m a visitor talking with a cute accent while in Britain Americans are tourists wearing shorts at inappropriate times of the year while we guffaw at their pronunciation of our place names.

But on neutral ground the only difference is in accent and the spelling of a few words. Which raises the question: how did that come about?

Did those early Americans get so upset when the Brits killed Mel Gibson’s son that they called a meeting to discuss how to retaliate.

“I know how we gonna teach those darned Limeys a lesson.”

Mel Gibson - True patriot.

“How’s that Hank?”

“We’re gonna take the ‘u’ outta colour.”

“You sure Hank? Aint that just a step too far. Them Limeys gonna be real pissed.”

“I don’t care no more. You know what else we gonna do? We gonna misspell grey and instead of calling a spanner a spanner, we gonna call it a wrench.”

“Now hold on Hank. A revolution is one thing but all they done is tax our tea and I ain’t even sure Mel Gibson is a real American.”

I can forgive them the theft of Stan Laurel,  Charlie Chaplin and Hugh Laurie but why oh why did they replace the ‘y’ in tyre. I just don’t get that.

Contrary to popular belief in the UK, many Americans have embraced football, proper football with a round ball, with a passion….especially those living in football-mad places like Argentina. They can kick the ball in a straight line and follow the local league as avidly as the locals. I mean, how could you not?

Talking of the local league….Is it all done and dusted with nine games still to play? Boca are five points clear at the top after a 1-0 win over Tigre. Atletico de Rafaela are still behind them after a 2-1 victory over Lanus. Racing slipped back with a 1-1 draw at home to local rivals Independiente in the only real derby left in the top division.

Velez beat San Martin 1-0,  Olimpo won 2-1 at All Boys while Colon and Estudiantes drew 1-1. Banfield lifted themselves off the bottom for the first time this season with a 2-0 win over Newell’s, Arsenal beat Union de Santa Fe 2-1 and San Lorenzo’s problems continue after they were beaten 2-0 at Godoy Cruz.

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