The coward, infamous, violent attack to the Boca Juniors bus on its way to the Monumental stadium to play the second and final game of the most important Copa Libertadores final in history resulted in a scandalous series of events about which South American soccer, and especially Argentinians like myself, can feel nothing but despair and embarrassment.
Sometimes, 30 uncivilized guys can ruin the party of millions. That’s what happened here.
Argentina has a passion for this sport that is borderline unreal. For those who love soccer, it is just mind blowing; it gives you the goosebumps, and I wouldn’t ever say it should be any different. The problem arises when passion leads to the type of fanaticism that conceives that the means justify the end, that everything is allowed in the name of passion.
Both in soccer and in life, this misconception leads (and has led) to a lot of bad things.
That, at times, seems to be what happened in Argentina.
The name of passion has been misused, and the fanaticism, the radicalism in which it has derived, has consumed everything, even the game Argentina plays best and enjoys the most, even the social expressions that created part of the country’s folklore and identity.
Violence has taken the game out of the family’s hands, now scared to go to the stadium. Violence has taken visitors away from matches, allowing only locals to attend. Violence now has even taken one of the most important matches in the history of the sport away from the country that’s the protagonist and supposed to host it, now announced that it will be played on Dec. 9 in Madrid (assuming the teams acquiesce).
Can you imagine if a Barcelona vs. Real Madrid clasico had to be played in, let’s say, Brazil?
What else is violence in Argentinian soccer going to destroy? Who stops this craziness?
I really hope the authorities, the people that have the power to stop this debacle, do something. When you love soccer, it really hurts to see something so beautiful crumble.
Now, you have seen all over the news the horrible events that happened Nov. 24, so I will not repost them; what for?
As we say in Argentina: Let's not stick our fingers in the wound, and mostly let’s not fall into the mistakes of generalizing. Thirty guys throwing stones to a bus are not the reflection of the whole.
As Diego Maradona said in his retirement match, at a completely packed Bombonera crying for the idol leaving, “Soccer is the healthiest, most beautiful sport in the world. … I made mistakes and I paid for them, but the ball doesn’t stain.” What we do is not soccer’s fault. What 30 guys do is not the reflection of us all.
The ball doesn’t stain.
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