Sunday 12 August 2007
Well, I can finally say that I have lived in Buenos Aires - I have now been to a soccer game. After months and months of wanting to go (and not really knowing how to buy tickets or figure out the schedules and all) we finally shelled out the dough for a tourist futbol outing. And man, oh man, was it ever an experience.
First of all, the game we were scheduled to go to was suspended due to violence, because of the shooting of a hooligan last week. (It was the second soccer-related death recently, so I guess they weren't taking any chances.) But our guide found a different game, and off we went.
We were searched twice on our way in - I had to go through a separate woman's entrance - and walk past all the police in full riot gear. We sat in the "popular section," which is basically the cheap, rowdy seats. It actually wasn't too rowdy, no fights or drunks or anything, but there was an awful lot of swearing! I learned a lot of colorful Spanish today, that's for sure! People were shouting mostly at Boca's (the other team) fans, and mostly phrases somehow incorporating the word "puta." (I won't translate that.) Fathers were teaching their children the best ways to insult the players.
The most surprising thing, however, was the racism. Many of the insults compared the Boca fans to Bolivians, Paraguayans, or Peruvians. In fact, to yell out "You guys are Bolivians!" was a curse in and of itself. Now, it is pretty clear here that the lighter your skin the better, and European roots are a matter of national pride - but still, I was amazed at how blatantly they threw around racial slurs.
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