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Football in Argentina - MADNESS!!!

Decided to go to a football match today... Newells Old Boys (nowt to do with Mike Newell) were playing River Plate.

I thought it was the equivalent of Bolton v Arsenal. Apparently not. Over 40000 people in a stadium built for maybe 20000 at a push. And no safety whatsoever, apart from a 10m deep trough around the pitch.

Riot police, dogs the size of horses and horses the size of elephants lined the streets, along with fireworks in the crowd, flags bigger than I{d ever thought possible and around 100 drums. So a pretty amazing atmosphere. Before the match we decided to go drinking at a bar across from the stadium. Turned out to be the hoolgan bar for River fans. Gt speaking to one particular eejit River fan, who asked me where I was from. Stupidly, I said England.

Cue Maradona is a God and talks about the Falklands etc. Note to self. When youre in the company of Argentinian nutters, dont say youre from England. I asked him i I{d be wearing an England shirt, what would happen. He said, at best, a beating. At worse, certain death. Which is nice.

The stadium was a concrete shell, soon filled with 40000 or so people. When they were jumping up and down, the whole place swayed about a foot. Enough to knock you off your feet, though with as many people packed in, there was nowhere to fall. 100 degrees of baking hot sunshine, and no shade, and feeling nauseous from the constant swaying, we left at half time. Next time, I{ll pay 8 quid instead of 3 quid, for a bit of safety!!!

Finally, for a bit of fun, I bought a Newell{s Old Boys cap. It says, quite simply... "NOB" So now I have a Wanka shirt and a Nob cap. (Teehee)

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