This was a full on day. We arrived at Chicago´s homeground, located in one of Buenos Aires roughest suburbs. After negotiating the long queues and police searches (good on those police, they did a great job confiscating my volatile bottle of water and May Ann´s deadly mini-umbrella) we got into the ground, found ourselves a good vantage point and geared up for what promised to be a passionate game of futbol.
The stakes were high for both sides, if Chicago lost they were to be relegated to the second division, if Tigre won they got promoted to the first division.
Chicago fans (black and green) outnumbered Tigre fans (blue and red) 3 to 1, but that didnt stop Tigre from being heard, the one stand that Tigre occupied was often making more noise than the other 3 Chicago stands put together.
After a brief performance by the cheerleaders, which involved them shaking their bums in short skirts at the crowd (and I mean short, zoom in on the photos if you dont believe me... Thats right Guney and Marshy, the top photo, you big perverts) the game started.
During the game, Ryan and Yas pointed out some Chicago thugs cutting through the cyclone fencing with a pair of pliers (and i thought the police were doing such a good job...)
The players had their moments, but I was somewhat disappointed with the overall quality of the game, Chicago´s gameplan was lacking and Tigre made them pay for it with a 2-1 loss and a relegation.
Needless to say, Chicago´s fans were not very happy about this. Not very happy could possibly be the biggest understatement I have ever made in this blog. Chicago fans burst through multiple holes in the cyclone fencing and started rolling the players for their uniforms (this is apparently traditional in Argentina) and then they started producing arm length iron bars and headed towards the Tigre supporters (who had also invaded the pitch and rolled their team for their uniforms). Total anarchy broke out around the Tigre section of the stadium. I couldn´t help but feel sorry for the Tigre fans who were being hearded around the bleachers by the violent Chicago fans. There was an strange calm in our section, which minus the thugs, was full of elderly Chicago fans who looked on with a sort of nervous boredom.
A volley of rubber bullets from the police sent the angry mob running across the field towards us and, thankfully, out the gate into the street. Minutes later a plume of tear gas rose from the street and leaked into the stadium. The eldery fans covered the mouth and nose with their jumpers in a scarily routine fashion and began to head for the exit. For all those people who dont regularly attend G8 summits or Macedonian soccer matches back home and want to know what a mild dose of tear gas is like try holding your eyes open about 1 cm away from a 100 onions and start chopping them with a chainsaw.
We escaped the stadium shortly after and made our way through the tear gas ridden streets. Along the way we noticed that every single window, whether it be that of a car or a house, was smashed.
Sadly, we heard later on the news, there had been a fatality. Australian news report of soccer riots.
After the riots, we headed into one of the best steak houses I have ever been to. My sirloin steak was great but May Ann´s Patagonian lamb was better.
My fingers are tired now, so ill let the photos do the describing.
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