Argentinians Love Their Fútbol

I went to my first Argentinian football match and it was a little bit crazy. It was Belgrano from Alberdi, Córdoba(the neighborhood in which I am living) verses Lanús from Buenos Aires and the fans were wild. My two new house-mates Dan and Marvin convinced me to go with them… and it was worth it.

¡Ole Ole Ole!

The chants of Belgrano fans echoed down the streets as buses, cars, mopeds, and taxis all sped together towards the match. Hundreds of people were walking into the immense stadium as we arrived. The smell of fresh cooked meat, cigarettes and beer accompanied by the sounds of whistles, songs and yelling consumed us. It was a spectacle.

Once the game began everyone went loco. The most dedicated section was behind the net and had the most intense fans I’ve ever seen. An entire band was there playing throughout the whole game and the people never stopped chanting and jumping. The blue and white sea of people threw handfuls of ripped up newspaper as confetti and set off noise crackers when Belgrano scored. However, when Lanús scored the crowd turned into a swarm of cicadas that let out a powerful high pitched whistle. There were no “boos” just harsh whitstling. The first half was extremely exciting where Belgrano scored 2 and Lanús 1. It was also very entertaining to listen to the die-hard fans behind me curse their heads off in spanish. No one cared about the profanity even around the vast amount of young children. It’s just part of the fútbol culture.

They start out at age 3 and are fans until they die.

The excitement never died down and the energy persisted in the crowd until the very last second. Even though the end score was 2-2 the fans were still proud and made that very clear as everyone emptied the stadium and flooded the streets. The large masses of people flowed freely inbetween cars and buses as if they had the right of way in the middle of the street. That was also another quite amazing sight.

The warm summer breeze swept down upon us as we searched for a taxi and Marvin, who is a football fanatic, had a grin painted on his face so large it stretched from ear to ear. As we drove off into the night the wonderful songs lingered behind us and our newly acquired love for Belgrano lingered in our hearts.

¡Al fin van a decir que el pirata es lo más grande que hay!