Last night we went to see a football match between Independiente and Tigre. Normally the hostels and language schools set up tours go to the soccer matches because 1) they´re in rough neighborhoods, 2) getting tickets and getting into the stadium is really confusing and forces you to really experience said neighborhoods, and 3) the crowds are passionate [read: maniacal]. But the tours don´t go to the best games with the best fans in the worst neighborhoods, so of course we decided to do it on our own. The stadium was surrounded by police in riot gear. Streets were blocked off. Have you ever heard 20,000 shirtless people chanting and beating drums for 3 hours? You could feel the power of the crowd 2 blocks away from the stadium. That´s why they have a moat around the field! They make the fans from different teams enter from different entrances, and they won´t let the home team leave until all the visiting team´s fans have left. There was a helicopter with a spotlight after the game, just in case things got out of control. Oh yeah, and I did I mention the firecrackers, roman candles, and smoke bombs people brought in? I don´t know how they got them in past security. I got frisked twice.
Lessons learned: 1) don´t wear flip-flops to the game, in case you have to run, and 2) don´t throw your garbage into the concessionaire´s trash can - he´s using it as a cooler.
2 comments:
i hope you took photos of the match. it sounds insanely awesome!
Thanks for the photos, this brings back memories, i've seen a stadium in Florence, full of about 15,000 people rival the noise and intensity of 70,000 at Lane Stadium, Virginia Tech. They do get to have drums though, and fireworks, and weapons, and better more coordinated cheers/songs. To think, we were banned from using the 'stick it in' cheer, and they are fucking brawling throughout the game. Oh well, such is life in the EVIL EMPIRE! lol
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