before i came to south america i remember reading an article about 50 sporting things you must do before you die. number one on the list was watching boca juniors play river plate - one of, if not the biggest local derbys in club football. both teams were due to play each other a week or so before i was in buenos aires but due to unforseen circumstances, namely nestor kirchner passing, it got postponed to the day before i was flying back to the uk. the serendipitous timing convinced me to pay the inflated ticket prices and attend. the superclasico lived up to it's billing. not in terms of quality - as the game was pretty dire and the skill level bordered on embarrasing, but the support... wow. it was unlike any sporting event i've ever been to. most of the crowd weren't watching the pitch, instead they were focused on making as much noise and atmosphere as possible. there was chanting, jumping, flag waving, newspaper throwing and flares aplenty. i took this just after they'd retracted a massive flag/banner that covered the entire tier. you don't get that kind of shit at the emirates.

here's the original

before i came to south america i remember reading an article about 50 sporting things you must do before you die. number one on the list was watching boca juniors play river plate - one of, if not the biggest local derbys in club football. both teams were due to play each other a week or so before i was in buenos aires but due to unforseen circumstances, namely nestor kirchner passing, it got postponed to the day before i was flying back to the uk. the serendipitous timing convinced me to pay the inflated ticket prices and attend. the superclasico lived up to it's billing. not in terms of quality - as the game was pretty dire and the skill level bordered on embarrasing, but the support... wow. it was unlike any sporting event i've ever been to. most of the crowd weren't watching the pitch, instead they were focused on making as much noise and atmosphere as possible. there was chanting, jumping, flag waving, newspaper throwing and flares aplenty. i took this just after they'd retracted a massive flag/banner that covered the entire tier. you don't get that kind of shit at the emirates.

here's the original