Scissors Kick

“Crowds thronging Saint Peter’s Square on Wednesday to welcome the new Pope knew that, quite apart from the fact his predecessor is still alive, they were witnessing an historic event. Francisco I (as he’s known on his home continent) is the first Latin American to become leader of the world’s Catholics, and also the first Jesuit. Of course, everyone who had their Papal fact-checking priorities right had only one question on their minds; which football team does this Argentine Pope support?” ESPN

“Gonzalo Ludueña started it and now there’s no stopping it. Gonzalo was fourteen at the time. He played in the youth team at River Plate in Argentina and shared a dormitory with a handful of other players at the club’s residency. One day one of them scored twice in a game against Huracán and was awarded the Man of the Match Award, sponsored by the petrol company Esso whose adverts famously involved a prowling Tiger and whose slogan ran: Put a Tiger in Your Tank.” SI

“‘There are two stories,’ a leader of the Rat Stabbers told me. We were filing through police lines toward the cylinder, the stadium of a powerful Buenos Aires soccer team called Racing. Inside, about 60,000 enemy fans waited to crucify us. His name was Jorge Celestre—Georgie Blueskies—but he was explaining the name of his fan club, the Rat Stabbers. They were the diehard supporters of Estudiantes, a pro soccer team southeast of Buenos Aires. The first story was about some medical students—owing to their lab work, ‘rat stabbers’—who founded Estudiantes more than a century ago. It was a nice story about a studious, successful Argentina, a country that started the 20th century with futuristic dreams and progressive ambitions.” Outside Online

The barra bravas: the violent Argentinian gangs controlling football
Saturday 20 August 2011: “Like many of those living in Villa Fiorito, one of Argentina’s most dangerous slums, Jose Mendez takes his shots at glory when he can – like the day five years ago when he slung the shirt of a rival football club over his shoulder and paraded through the streets of his neighbourhood like a returning warrior. Cigarette clamped between his teeth and basketball shirt hanging off his skinny frame, Mendez recounts the fight he waged to win his trophy: the crowded streets after a big match; the other fan putting up a struggle; Mendez, pumped up on chemicals and cheap beer, knocking him down into the street, smashing his face and kicking him until he could get the shirt off his back.” Guardian

Boca Juniors players got off their bus just to fight Tigre fans
April 12 2012: “Tigre beat Boca Juniors 2-1 with the help of an 88th-minute own goal from Boca’s Rolando Schiavi. After the match, when Boca got on their team bus to head home, Tigre fans decided to give them a taunting send-off because that’s what horrible people do. The Boca Juniors players didn’t appreciate this, but instead of telling their driver to peel out and disregard anyone in the way, they made the poor decision to get off the bus and start fighting the Tigre fans. Looking like a swarm of bumblebees, the Boca players attacked while police tried to break up the two sides. Rubber bullets were fired in the air and the players were eventually shoved back into the bus, but there were no winners here. Especially among the side fighting in matching outfits.” Dirty Tackle

“Julio Falcioni was furious; his team disconsolate. The coach scanned his depleted dressing room, and found the one he was looking for: ‘You,’ he bellowed. ‘You’re not the coach, I am!’ His victim was shocked. Juan Roman Riquelme is a man defined by ambiguity, his face hard to read at the best of times, but Boca Juniors’ enigmatic and mercurial talisman was quite clearly stunned – and then just bloody angry.” In Bed With Maradina

“It was a great weekend for football headlines in South America’s southern cone. In particular in Argentina, which we’ll get to in just a moment, but no piece about the weekend just gone would be complete without at least a passing mention of Salvador Cabanas, who turned out for his boyhood club in Paraguay’s third division on Saturday to make his return to professional football 26 months after he was shot in the head in a Mexico City nightclub. An amazing comeback.” ESPN

“Bill’s Sports Maps returns to Pitch Invasion, with all the details you could possibly want on Argentina’s Primera División for the 2012 Clausura. Bill was assisted by our old friend Sam Kelly of Hasta El Gol Siempre, so you know the details should be spot-on. Click on the map for the full-size version!” Pitch Invasion