Boca barra brava set up sightseeing service
Saturday 09 May 2009 12:00
Now that’s service...
Usually, service in the Argentine capital can be a little brusque. Steaks, stunning though they are, are usually dumped before you by a 130-year-old waiter in a dirty tux, and wine swamped in ice (you know the wine is bad when they don’t even ask if you want ice).
But it appears things are on the up in the most unlikely place of Buenos Aires... La 12.
That’s right, Boca Juniors' hooligan group are unofficially offering services to tourists, taking them into the stadium and keeping an eye on them.
And then the next day… following up with a courtesy call to make sure they had a good time.
A recent story from a German tourist reveals how effective the tour is.
"Thank you, please come again..."
Approaching La Bombonera on the morning of the Superclasico a couple of weeks back, the said tourist and a friend were sold ‘entrance’ to the game.
For AR$300 – about £50 and substantially lower than the usual ‘there’s a tourist, lets fleece him with a fake ticket rate’ - a member of the barra brava invited the German to enter with La 12.
Barra bravas in Argentina don’t pay an entrance fee (in fact they are usually given tickets to sell on around the stadium), they just barge past helpless police carrying streams of banners, fireworks and wine in a box (ice essential) to their usual position in the ground.
The tourists were invited to help carry the flag – a hallowed position in the strictly hierarchal barra brava – and taken into the centre position, before watching the game surrounded (and protected) by the hardest guys in BA.
And the next day? The phone call comes: "Can’t wait to see you next week."
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