Boca Juniors Club Match

Jordi | March 8, 2024, 2:30 a.m. | Argentina

During our time in Argentina, we were very fortunate to get to go to a Boca Juniors futbol game. The owner of the apartment we were staying in, Dani, is a member of the Club Atlético Boca Juniors. And the way this football club works is that only card carrying (literally) members of the club can attend games. And in October, there was a home game against Club Atletico Union from Santa Fe, and a couple of Dani's friends who sit in his section weren't going to make it. So Dani offered that we could take their seats. We were thrilled at the opportunity! 

My dad is from Argentina, and although I've been to Argentina before with him and to visit family, we've never been to a futbol game. But I always remember my dad speaking fondly of the Boca Juniors and what a great futbol club they are, and the strong relationship the club has to the national team. The team seems to have a special place in the heart of Argnetines and BA residents. It was a wonderful opportunity to experience something that was a connection to my dad. And it was also a good reason to check out a neighborhood we hadn't explored much yet.

The Boca Juniors are named for the neighborhood where the club is located, La Boca, which literally means mouth, as it's located on the mouth of a river. It's also the city's historic port district, which means it's well known for being a melting pot of immigration and a home to hard working, no nonsense people, often overlooked by the rest of the city and the government. The neighborhood to this day has a very particular colorful and hodgepodge aesthetic. The explanation I've heard for this motif is that the original inhabitants, who worked on the docks and shipyards, built their homes out of spare building materials from the docks and ships - primarily, wood, corrugated sheet metal, and colorful maritime ship paints. 

Because La Boca neighborhood was historically overlooked by city services and was an unplanned hodge podge of community style housing made mostly of wood, La Boca was at big risk of fire without much in the way of support from the city. The result is that La Boca is home to the country's first volunteer firefighter organization, and they are well remembered and loved to this day. 

Reasons to visit the neighborhood today include the art you can find around every corner. In particular, we remember fondly when visiting the Boca Juniors stadium, finding an alleyway along some old train tracks that is full of street art. It's a great way to get between the historic stadium and the more historical, beautiful, and touristy areas of La Boca. 
 

As you can tell, we really enjoyed the art. But on to the main event. The game we went to was a night game, and when we arrived, La Boca was a blocks long street party in preparation for the game. Thousands of people out in the Boca Juniors colors (blue and yellow), people selling merch, food, and drinks, and buildings decked out in flags, signs, and streamers. We finally got to the stadium itself, this massive monolith towering over the surrounding housing and decked out in blue and yellow. The stadium is affectionately called La Bombonera, or chocolate box, because people kept saying it looks like a chocolate box. I'm not sure I see it, but I think it's a fun name! Right outside one of the main gates is a sandwich shop called La Glorieta de Quique. It's absolutely decked out in Boca Juniors memorabilia and Dani said it's tradition to get a sandwich and a soda before game. So we stopped in and got a milanesa sandwich and sodas before heading through the gates.

Going through the gates into the stadium, everyone has to present their membership to the club. And it seems like membership comes with assigned seats. So we made our way up to our section and took our seats while we waited for the game to start. As soon as we entered the stands, I was struck by the noise and atmosphere of the stadium. I've read the La Bombonera is known for it's acoustics, and I can certainly believe, although I could just as easily believe that the fans of the Boca Juniors are just THAT intense. And that was before the game even started. In the build up to the teams taking the field, we got to enjoy some fireworks and pyrotechnics, and tried to follow along a myriad of different songs and chants that every single person in the stadium (except us) seemed to know by instinct.

Once the game started, I really came to appreciate the scale of the spectacle. For an entire 90 minutes plus half time, there was not a single break in the chanting, singing, and cheering from seemingly the entire stadium, but in particular from the section above to the left of the stadium that had the giant Boca flag and streamers. I tried to take a video to capture the experience, and while it doesn't totally do it justice, it still gives a taste of what it's like.