El Clásico Rosarino

Newell's Old Boys vs. Club Atlético Rosario Central 
image from minutouno.com

There is a long-standing rivalry in Rosario between the city's two football (soccer) teams: Rosario Central and Newell's Old Boys.  Indeed, part of the reason I came here was to see about making a short doc based on the rather intense and sweeping nature of that rivalry, so I'll save the detailed history for that project, but meanwhile, to give context to recently posted photos, I wanted to share a little description about how I spent my evening last Sunday.

Usually twice a year, there is a match between Newell and Central, known as a 'Clásico Rosarino', which obviously gets everyone rather excited around here.  Since Central dropped down to the 'B' league after a particularly bad season a couple of years ago and hasn't yet re-ascended, these matches don't occur anymore; however, the teams recently decided to play a pair of 'friendlies' (a term used rather inaccurately in this case) to rekindle that missing and wildly popular tradition (or perhaps mostly to make money selling out their stadiums...).  Despite ongoing tensions and security concerns, the first of those two matches - to be played at the Central stadium, with the second game being on Newell's home turf - went ahead yesterday, and so I got a ticket, along with my friend Fabricio, to go and do some 'documentary research'.

When buying a ticket, you have two main choices: the cheaper 'popular' (~10-15$ per person), or the more expensive 'platea' (~30-50$).  The platea is your typical seated area (see photo below, left), whereas the 'popular' is simply a large standing zone (no specifically assigned spots), packed as full as possible of fans yelling, jumping, and singing in impressive unison a whole bunch of lyric-altered songs not only praising their team (naturally), but in this case there were even songs specifically for the 'Clásico' in which Central fans mocked Newell like a massive choir reciting political attack ads.

'platea' seating area on the left, 'popular' standing zone on the right
also, notice that there is literally a moat between the public and the field

Fabricio sides with Central.  In fact, you basically had to be a Central supporter to be allowed to attend the match as it was decided that no 'visitors' supporters would be allowed to either stadium in order to avoid the aggression and violence which tends to occur whenever fans of both teams are present.  So, the place was packed exclusively with Central fans.  And me.

To get to the point of my now (typically) rambling anecdote, we arrived at the stadium to rumours of the game being cancelled due to some shots fired between police and one of the more notorious groups of Newell fans a few hours before the game.  Nothing was confirmed, so they were still letting people in, but after a while chanting at an empty field, as the first period start time came and went, it became obvious that the clásico wasn't going to happen...

So, of course, people started climbing across the moat and eventually took over the field.

This is what is known in Argentina as "un quilombo".

Aftermath

Only one officer was shot and wounded, thankfully not severely.  There have been a few arrests, and obviously the second game is now also cancelled.  Meanwhile, various Rosario and Newell fans, officials, politicians, etc., seem to be finding various ways to blame each other for what happened, and argue about whether or not the game should have been cancelled or whether it should have even been allowed in the first place.

Fabricio showed me his Facebook wall the next day, full of Central fans claiming victory over the 'no-shows', and Newell supporters 'reminding' people that Central is still in the lowly 'B' league, among many other ridiculous disputes...

So, not exactly a great game or an inspiring display of human achievement, but it was, at the very least, a rather colourful experience.

I also put together a short video of the evening...