By World Football
March 27 2006

Yet another Boca V River, known as one of the world’s most important matches. Venue: the notorious La Bombonera, known for being one of the worst places to play as a visitor. A match always apart from the rest, never mind the tournament, nothing less than honor and glory is at stake. And that stands not only for the players, but for the fans as well, who never stop waiting the opportunity of meeting the rivals again and not only enjoy a win, but also prove themselves better as if it was a religious war. There are not many words to describe such a clash, especially if it is in La Bombonera, where the atmosphere is a lot more intense, unique. But whoever has had the luck to witness such show knows he’ll never forget it.

Well, I’m lucky enough to be the holder of a season ticket for one of the best seats available (first row, 2 yards away from the throw in line, exactly above the visitor’s bench, and I often get shown on telly), and I’ve seen many matches like this. But I will never get tired of them, and this time there was no waste at all, even if we didn’t win, or the match was not good.

An hour before the match starts, the stadium is already full, but people will continue to come in until the very last minute. The reserves are playing, but the atmosphere is already there, with shouting and singing from both sides, 90% in blue and yellow, 10% white and red, and the all-times war was just beginning.

The people then salutes the best of all times, Diego Armando Maradona, as he takes his seat and leans over to let be seen, massive cheer follows. Though his presence is always nice, he behaves like a normal fan, his years wearing this shirt have marked him, the fans won his heart, there must be a reason for it, maybe he can explain better what La Bombonera is like.

Before the match started, a River flag was left hanging above the Boca fans, of which one didn’t hesitate to make his biggest effort in trying to get it down and make a war trophy out of it, a fashion from way long back in time, when fans would clash in the streets and fight each other, true hatred. He gained the crowd’s cheer when he finally got it down.

Then the teams come out. When River pops out, you can’t hear nothing but loud and high pitched whistling by 60,000 souls, which let them know they are not just visitors, they are also not welcome. In fact, someone brought corn that was tossed at the subs and coach as the approached the bench, in allusion to River’s condition of being ‘chickens’. Boca comes out shortly after, the stadium goes mad, rolls and little pieces of papers flying everywhere, smoke coming out of flares, everybody singing at the top of their lungs. The two hooligans groups are already up there with their drums shouting as if they just found out they have throats.

The match starts after a minute of silence, that none of the hooligans respected by keeping on singing, and then it’s 90 minutes in which your heart will have to make a big effort to keep on pumping.

While the two hooligan groups, Los Borrachos del Tablón (the Stands Drunkards) for River and La 12 (short for Player #12) for Boca, never stop singing no matter what happens, the rest is carefully following the match with their throats like tied up.

The match is incredibly tense, just like every Boca V River, but it’s not well played. Before the first half is over, River scores, a feeling of despair and catastrophe invades most of the stadium, nobody should ever feel such thing, it’s awful, while the visitors reach heaven, perhaps physical torture is nicer.

The second half was a mess, there were 3 red cards, Boca was all out attack, with them the fans life, and River waited for the counter attack. Everyone in the stadium shouted more and more, singing louder, then stopping to have a good look at the next attack, and back to shouting, which is what’s unique about this people and this stadium.

In the last minute, Boca’s idol Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who came in as a sub, got inside the area between three defenders and forced a penalty which was turned into a goal. I think I have never shouted a goal from a penalty that much. In the end, my throat hurt after that much shouting, which I usually do, but today was a different story.

I re-state that there are hardly any words to explain what a Boca V River is like, and people who have been to one know it is much more than a game, show or any football match. To view a match in La Bombonera is an underrated privilege in Europe, and it should be a must for anyone with the chance of doing it. But a match against River only happens twice a year, and being part of one is something that stays in memory forever.