Argentina has around 400 football clubs that play under the Argentinean Football Association.  The top league in the AFA is the Premier Division, which is composed of 20 teams but two of those teams tower above the rest due to their fan size, history and of coarse rivalry.  Since the league was created 80 years ago, River Plate and the Boca Juniors have dominate having won a combined 56 championships.

It's a rivalry largely based on class and money.  Largely due to their locations, Rivers fans tend to be from the upper-middle class and Boca's fans tend be from the working class or migrant community. River Plate holds the honor of having the most league championships, 33, which is 10 more then Boca. 



Attending a game has been on our short-list of things to do while in Argentina, but we hadn't until this past weekend made it to a game. It's not like we haven't make the attempt.  As you may recall, we first attempted to go to a Boca Juniors game back in March with our roommates but while he was purchasing some scalped tickets outside the stadium (at $30/ea instead of $100 tourist tickets) he was robbed at gun point of his wallet, cell phone, jersey and the 3 tickets he had already managed to purchase.


This weekend we went and watched River Plate play Lanus in their final home game of the season.  Unlike Boca games, tickets for River games are much easier to come by because they have the largest and most modern stadium in Argentina (seats 70,000).  A few days before the game they announced that tickets were on sell and we picked up two upper deck (Platea Alta) tickets for $37/each from the ticket window at the stadium.  

The game we ended up going to was interesting because of its implications for River Plate.  To insure that the Premier Division is the most competitive, Argentina has a tiered system were clubs can win their way into a higher division.  To do this they demote the league's worst teams, which is done by a calculations of each teams 3 years average. The bottom 2 teams automatically drop to the lower division and inversely the 2 top teams from the "B" league are promoted up.  In addition to those 4 teams, there is a playoff between the 3rd/4th worst teams of the upper division and the 3rd/4th best teams from the lower division, with the winner to play in the top division the next year.

The game we attended was the last game of the season and the implications of the game for each team playing couldn't be any more different.  Lanus had already statistically won 2nd place in the division so a win/lost didn't really matter much.  Since the last time River had won their last championship (in 2008), the have had two terrible finishes and mediocre finish this year.  Because of this low average, a lose for River meant a possibility of having to play a playoff match to hang on to their position in the Premier League.  This is like the New York Yankee's having a 3 year slump and being sent down to the minor leagues.  To them, this situation is completely embarrassing, they have been in the Premier League for 80 years and have never previously had to play one of these demotion playoffs.

We arrived early to be sure to get a good seat, because we were they weren't assigned.  After waiting in a line a thousand deep to enter our gate, the ticket machine didn't like Elizabeth's ticket and said it was damaged.  The policeman their quickly told her to advance but then my ticket did the same thing.  Did the ticket counter sell us fake tickets??? I guess it happens often because the officer had me go through as well. We found our section and scoped out a pair of seats.



Twenty minutes before game time, the crowd was singing a continuous loop of chants and songs lead by the fan club at the far end of the stadium (known as "the drunks of the terrace").  People were distributing old newspapers and boxes of used computer paper to the crowd which was shredding it in their seats.  Just as the River team took the field, the crowd screamed and tossed all the confetti they had been so busily making. It was a very fun atmosphere.




As the game started the visitors section, which is surrounded by barbed wire, was practically empty but it grew to about 1000 about 10 minutes into the game.  This didn't really make much sense to us at the time but after the game was over.  After Lanus won the game in the final minute and half, the police escorted them out of the stadium while the remaining 60,000 people watched.  To prevent mass riots (not just at this game, but all of them) the people take about 30 minutes to escort the opposing team out of the stadium and they won't release the home fans until they have been dispersed.


Because of this lose and a win by another team, River will be playing in their very first relegation playoff this Wednsday, June 22nd to remain in the top division.