A Football World Cup Experience in Argentina

Most sports experts will agree the New York Yankees versus the Boston Red Sox is the greatest rivalry in American sports.

But have you ever seen a pair of red socks or an “NY” painted on the outside of someone’s house?

This is the sort of sports saturation that is unheard of in the United States. But when it comes to soccer, there’s no limit to what the other 96 percent of the global population will do. The average world citizen makes soccer as much a part of life as he does eating and sleeping.

Or living in a house. I was a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Argentina for less than two months before I saw the Club Atlético River Plate’s red and white logo adorning the side of a neighborhood home, shining in the sunlight.

On Friday, this worldwide passion will max out once again as the 18th FIFA World Cup kicks off in South Africa. While the United States pays more attention to possible NCAA realignments or Stephen Strasburg’s debut, the rest of the planet will sway from reverence to rambunctiousness as they pin their hopes and dreams on national heroes.

When I was younger, I viewed soccer with a philosophy I borrowed from my uncle. He explained the sport this way: “Run run run run run run run. Score? 0-0.”

Then I lived in Argentina for two years.

Not only did I live in Córdoba, Argentina, and witness the universal love affair with soccer, I was there during the 2006 World Cup. That World Cup took place more than 7,000 miles away in Germany, but Argentina’s athletic patriotism could not be pacified by mere distance. Even to an American missionary, the excitement was unavoidable.

During the first match against the Ivory Coast, the only people outside were neighborhood children in Arroyito who celebrated, cheered and waved to Elder Bishop and me with Argentina’s sky blue flag. I quickly learned that tracting, street contacts and other missionary activities were a bona fide impossibility whenever Argentina had a World Cup game. Later, when I was transferred to the Roque Sáenz Peña Ward, Elder Gloschat and I struggled to find something to do during the next time Argentina played. We finally scheduled a service project for a family in the ward. He and I cleaned up their backyard while they stayed indoors in the shade and watched Argentina beat Mexico and advance to the quarterfinals.

A year later when I was with the Patricios Ward, I frequently passed a sign marking “México” street that appeared normal enough except for a spray-painted amendment. Now “México” was preceded with “Argentina 2” and followed with “0.” The street sign had been transformed into a reminder of Argentina’s victory for future Córdoba drivers, and would lead to refrains of “¡Vamos vamos, Argentina!” for years to come.

For World Cup games, city buses in Argentina actually stop dead in their routes, thereby allowing drivers and passengers to put their lives on hold and see what the boys in celeste will do next. In downtown Córdoba, a metropolis seven times the size of Salt Lake City, a Times Square-style big screen TV broadcasts the games to an entire mass of people who covered plazas and streets as they share the World Cup together.

And that was just during the World Cup. Different from some sports (like curling) that find a spot in our consciousness only every four years, soccer action is always available.

Soccer was by far the No. 1 request for a P-Day activity. I remember one P-Day in Villa Belgrano when our district ignored rain and thunder and played soccer until we were totally immersed in mud.

One of my areas, Bell Ville, was where the modern soccer ball was invented. The Bell Ville ball was the first to feature an internal valve and an air “chamber.” To this day, Bell Ville residents keep the legend alive with do-it-yourself ball manufacturing. Athletic equipment companies employ local families to sew, assemble and paint soccer balls right in their own homes. As I visited hundreds of Bell Ville families, the pile of foam hexagons, sewing thread and balloon-like “chambers” in the corner of the kitchen was a common sight.

Americans may make football, basketball, baseball or another sport the focal point of their Sunday routines. But for some Argentines, soccer is literally a religion. In 1998, the Iglesia Maradoniana was formed to worship Diego Maradona, the greatest Argentine to ever wear the número diez jersey. Besides a 1986 World Cup trophy, Maradona’s amazing soccer career has also brought him 100,000 disciples in more than 60 countries. The church’s founders have even come up with their own 10 commandments, including one demanding followers to name one of their children after Diego.

The LDS Church in Argentina has not embraced Maradona or soccer quite as completely, but it does make it an active part of Argentine Latter-day Saint culture. Any blueprints for a meetinghouse include plans for basketball hoops, just like any you’ll find in the U.S. But in Argentina, these hoops are only part of a hoop-goal hybrid that makes a basketball court also act as a soccer field. Guess which sport it’s used for the most.

In Deán Funes, my last area, soccer became a tool for missionary work. Every week, Elder Davis, Elder Lower, Elder Pedersen, Elder Araneda and I invited branch members, their friends and whomever we were teaching for a night game at a dusty field surrounded by ancient brick buildings and warehouses. The ensuing brotherhood among soccer lovers provided a warm welcome and camaraderie in a way nothing else could. Our regular soccer game encouraged questions, learning and understanding. It even led to at least one baptism. Who knows how many more will come?

I don’t pretend to fully comprehend soccer. My soccer knowledge is weak and unimpressive. But I do know soccer is undeniably more than just a sport. It has the power to influence lives and societies for good. It has the strength to unite the human race despite walls, streets, neighborhoods and borders. It has the spirit to bring out our best selves and then make us better.

I have only begun to appreciate soccer, but now I have a month to become acquainted with soccer at its very finest.
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SOURCE:
“Viewpoint: Soccer stories from Argentina”
By JJ Despain
Wed, 06/09/2010
Universe.byu.edu
http://universe.byu.edu
http://universe.byu.edu/node/9003