there are always enough reasons to smile
River Plate's 1-1 tie yesterday against Belgrano wasn't enough to stay in Primera División, and the team has been relegated to second division for the first time in its 110 years.
The players were devastated, and naturally, so were the fans.
After the game, some fans started tossing parts of the seats at the policemen, who only made things worse by hosing them. Some minutes later, barrabravas and other supporters went to the hall of the club and started smashing windows and breaking things, and this led to a fight against police that ended with more than 65 injured people.
The main target of fans was the current president of the club, Daniel Alberto Passarella. Yes, the same guy who scored 99 goals at River, who was, at the moment, the top scoring defender with 134 goals, who played in Fiorentina and Inter, who was captain of Argentina's NT during '78 World Cup, coached Argentina at WC '98. The only player present at both '78 and '86 World Cups.
This man coached River Plate two times: the first, he won 3 local titles; the second, he made a mess out of the team and resigned when they were knocked out of the Sudamericana Cup against Arsenal in 2007.
He was voted by club members to replace Aguilar, who left the club with a debt of $220 Million after 9 years of presidency. Passarella promised many things. He achieved none.
Arrogant and self-righteous, he never asked for help, he never listened to others' opinions. Never admitted the club was sinking.
A man who admitted being a Boca Juniors fan, who, as a kid, dreamt of destroying River Plate.
That was the one thing he did achieve. He sold us out, turned our passion into business, negotiated with us, cared about nothing but the money he'd win.
The relegation system in Argentina uses the last 3 seasons to count the average of points obtained and determine which teams are relegated. These are River's campaigns:
· Apertura 2008: 14 pts. (out of 57) First time in its history River finished in the last place.
· Clausura 2009: 27 pts.
· Apertura 2009: 21 pts.
· Clausura 2010: 22 pts.
· Apertura 2010: 31 pts.
· Clausura 2011: 26 pts.
Through all these mediocre seasons have passed multiple players, 5 coaches, 7 sponsors. The fans have always stayed the same, and because of them, the only thing in which River has come out first was in the total number of fans that went to every game. Even when River ended up last, more fans went to see the team throughout the season than Boca fans, whose team won the league.
And then suddenly, the only thing River fans could hold on to vanished as some idiots broke into the field to encourage threaten the players, as they destroyed our club. Our answer for everything, pathetic as it may be,
Boca fan: "You're going to be relegated!"
River fan: "At least we're not bailing on our club! Remember when you didn't win and all your fans left in the middle of the game? Remember your black flags?"
is now nothing. We've got nothing left. As a club, as football team, as fans. Nothing.
So who can we blame? Aguilar, for leaving the club broke and running away to never be seen again? Passarella, for taking up more risponsibilities he could ever live up to and hiring people who had also worked for Aguilar? The players, for not putting everything they had in them? The coaches, for not knowing how to put together a decent team?
But then, we have to remember our good times. Because everything River has won won't vanish overnight. As sad and devastating as this moment may be, there are still things left to hold on to.
We've won 33 Primera División titles. Thirty three. That's ten more than the second team on the list, Boca Juniors. We've won 2 Libertadores Cups. 1 Intercontinental. 1 Interamericana. 1 Supercup.
Some of the best players of the world have played at our club, the majority of them were born at our club, and have honoured River Plate in other countries.
Hernán Díaz, Hernán Crespo, Omar Sívori, Marcelo Salas, Pablo Aimar, Oscar Más, Juan Pablo Sorín, Ramón Díaz, "La Máquina" (Muñoz, Moreno, Pedernera, Labruna, Lousteau), Ángel Labruna, Fernando Cavenaghi, Ubaldo Fillol, Javier Saviola, Roberto Ayala, Javier Mascherano, Ariel Ortega, Gonzalo Higuaín, Matías Almeyda, Andrés D'Alessandro, Amadeo Carrizo, Reinaldo Merlo, Enzo Francescoli, Américo Gallego, Bernabé Ferreyra, Leonardo Astrada.
And, despite everything, yes, I'm still proud to say we have the most amazing fans in the entire planet. Leaving aside the idiots who don't feel passion for our club, but who instead try to get money out of it, the real fans, those who truly love the team, have been supportive through it all.
The glory we've achieved over the years is ours already, and nothing will erase it or give it to another team.
For those of you who understand Spanish, I recommend listening to this:
Ramón Díaz, who won 2 titles as a player and 7 as coach at River, has already stated that he'd love coaching River in the B Nacional, and that he doesn't care about getting paid or not. Cavenaghi has already asked his manager to rescind his contract with his current club so that he can return to River Plate, just as Domínguez, Garcé, Fabbiani, and other players.
Let's see the good side of all of this. The club's bad managing for years was bound to end up badly, sooner or later. We've hit rock bottom, let's hope we can't go down any further; let's go from here and return the club to what it used to be. Clean everything up, get rid of all those people who're only here because of themselves, bring back everyone who actually cares about the team.
We're not done. We are River Plate.
The players were devastated, and naturally, so were the fans.
Click to viewAfter the game, some fans started tossing parts of the seats at the policemen, who only made things worse by hosing them. Some minutes later, barrabravas and other supporters went to the hall of the club and started smashing windows and breaking things, and this led to a fight against police that ended with more than 65 injured people.
The main target of fans was the current president of the club, Daniel Alberto Passarella. Yes, the same guy who scored 99 goals at River, who was, at the moment, the top scoring defender with 134 goals, who played in Fiorentina and Inter, who was captain of Argentina's NT during '78 World Cup, coached Argentina at WC '98. The only player present at both '78 and '86 World Cups.
This man coached River Plate two times: the first, he won 3 local titles; the second, he made a mess out of the team and resigned when they were knocked out of the Sudamericana Cup against Arsenal in 2007.
He was voted by club members to replace Aguilar, who left the club with a debt of $220 Million after 9 years of presidency. Passarella promised many things. He achieved none.
Arrogant and self-righteous, he never asked for help, he never listened to others' opinions. Never admitted the club was sinking.
A man who admitted being a Boca Juniors fan, who, as a kid, dreamt of destroying River Plate.
That was the one thing he did achieve. He sold us out, turned our passion into business, negotiated with us, cared about nothing but the money he'd win.
The relegation system in Argentina uses the last 3 seasons to count the average of points obtained and determine which teams are relegated. These are River's campaigns:
· Apertura 2008: 14 pts. (out of 57) First time in its history River finished in the last place.
· Clausura 2009: 27 pts.
· Apertura 2009: 21 pts.
· Clausura 2010: 22 pts.
· Apertura 2010: 31 pts.
· Clausura 2011: 26 pts.
Through all these mediocre seasons have passed multiple players, 5 coaches, 7 sponsors. The fans have always stayed the same, and because of them, the only thing in which River has come out first was in the total number of fans that went to every game. Even when River ended up last, more fans went to see the team throughout the season than Boca fans, whose team won the league.
And then suddenly, the only thing River fans could hold on to vanished as some idiots broke into the field to encourage threaten the players, as they destroyed our club. Our answer for everything, pathetic as it may be,
Boca fan: "You're going to be relegated!"
River fan: "At least we're not bailing on our club! Remember when you didn't win and all your fans left in the middle of the game? Remember your black flags?"
is now nothing. We've got nothing left. As a club, as football team, as fans. Nothing.
So who can we blame? Aguilar, for leaving the club broke and running away to never be seen again? Passarella, for taking up more risponsibilities he could ever live up to and hiring people who had also worked for Aguilar? The players, for not putting everything they had in them? The coaches, for not knowing how to put together a decent team?
But then, we have to remember our good times. Because everything River has won won't vanish overnight. As sad and devastating as this moment may be, there are still things left to hold on to.
We've won 33 Primera División titles. Thirty three. That's ten more than the second team on the list, Boca Juniors. We've won 2 Libertadores Cups. 1 Intercontinental. 1 Interamericana. 1 Supercup.
Some of the best players of the world have played at our club, the majority of them were born at our club, and have honoured River Plate in other countries.
Hernán Díaz, Hernán Crespo, Omar Sívori, Marcelo Salas, Pablo Aimar, Oscar Más, Juan Pablo Sorín, Ramón Díaz, "La Máquina" (Muñoz, Moreno, Pedernera, Labruna, Lousteau), Ángel Labruna, Fernando Cavenaghi, Ubaldo Fillol, Javier Saviola, Roberto Ayala, Javier Mascherano, Ariel Ortega, Gonzalo Higuaín, Matías Almeyda, Andrés D'Alessandro, Amadeo Carrizo, Reinaldo Merlo, Enzo Francescoli, Américo Gallego, Bernabé Ferreyra, Leonardo Astrada.
And, despite everything, yes, I'm still proud to say we have the most amazing fans in the entire planet. Leaving aside the idiots who don't feel passion for our club, but who instead try to get money out of it, the real fans, those who truly love the team, have been supportive through it all.
The glory we've achieved over the years is ours already, and nothing will erase it or give it to another team.
For those of you who understand Spanish, I recommend listening to this:
Ramón Díaz, who won 2 titles as a player and 7 as coach at River, has already stated that he'd love coaching River in the B Nacional, and that he doesn't care about getting paid or not. Cavenaghi has already asked his manager to rescind his contract with his current club so that he can return to River Plate, just as Domínguez, Garcé, Fabbiani, and other players.
Let's see the good side of all of this. The club's bad managing for years was bound to end up badly, sooner or later. We've hit rock bottom, let's hope we can't go down any further; let's go from here and return the club to what it used to be. Clean everything up, get rid of all those people who're only here because of themselves, bring back everyone who actually cares about the team.
We're not done. We are River Plate.