River Plate facing Boca Juniors in the Copa Libertadores final is the sort of rivalry game that should be almost impossible. The climax of South America’s premier club soccer tournament provides the biggest matchup conceivable between the two Buenos Aires teams, the most super of Superclásicos. It’s like the White Sox playing the Cubs in the World Series, a cross city rivalry played out at the very highest level of sports. Or England playing Germany in a World Cup Final hosted by either of those two historical enemies.
Except the White Sox did play the Cubs in the World Series, winning 4-2 in 1906, and 1966 World Cup hosts England did play Germany in the final, also winning 4-2. The Copa Libertadores was founded way back in 1960, but though Boca has won the title six times and River’s three, Argentina’s biggest two soccer clubs, both based in Buenos Aires, have never contested the two-legged final against each other. And perhaps they never will.
On Nov. 11, Boca hosted River at La Bombonera in the first leg of the 2018 final. The teams tied 2-2. The second leg was scheduled for Nov. 24 at River’s El Monumental. Then a small group of River Plate fans attacked the Boca Juniors team bus. Several players were treated for injuries from broken glass. Others had inhaled teargas.
The game was initially postponed until the following day, and then by two weeks to Dec. 9. But the match wasn’t rescheduled to be played in Buenos Aires. Instead, it will be played 6,200 miles away in Madrid, Spain, in Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu stadium.
Or maybe not. First, Boca Juniors submitted a request to have River Plate disqualified, and Boca crowned champion. Then, this past weekend, River Plate issued a statement refusing to accept the game being moved to Spain. “It’s incomprehensible,” read the announcement from the club, “that the biggest rivalry game in Argentinian soccer cannot take place in the same country that days before hosted the G20.” So far, CONMEBOL, the governing body for soccer in South America, has ignored both clubs’ requests.
In response to CONMEBOL’s decision, Argentinian soccer hero, and former Boca player, Diego Maradona angrily called the governing body “the scourge of football.” Paris Saint-Germain’s Brazilian star Dani Alves, who played eight years in Spain for Barça, called the relocation “the most shameful thing I have seen or will ever see as a football player, as a South American.”
Soccer’s struggle with violence is, of course, not a new thing. Perhaps more than any other sport, the beautiful game has been tarnished by brutality. I grew up in a country where attempts to break the cycle of violence have fundamentally reshaped fandom. I still find sitting beside opposing fans at U.S. sports events a novel experience. In England, home and away supporters are separated by heavy metal barriers or police cordons. Disruptive fans can be banned from stadiums for life. Very occasionally, games are played inside empty arenas.
But this is supposed to be 2018. River Plate would seem to be correct. If Argentina’s authorities can find a way to protect the most powerful 20 people on earth at the G20, CONMEBOL can surely find a way to ensure the safety of a similar number of Boca Juniors players.
Moving games, and disenfranchising the 99.9 percent of fans who are unaffiliated with the violence, shouldn’t be the answer anymore. Technology bedazzles us with the extreme accessibility of being able to stream games from anywhere, with the deep understanding and insight that can come from data extracted by wearable devices, and with the immersive engagement of virtual reality. But perhaps the real challenges, and the positively disruptive solutions, lie in less exciting topics like building design and transportation, or, in this case, safety and security.
Rather than giving the supporters of River Plate and Boca Juniors the illusory feeling of being part of a game that has been uprooted, dislocated to a foreign land, game-changing technology could instead ensure that the most important match in the history of Argentinian soccer takes place in Buenos Aires, where the real fans are.