“Do you want to become famous for hitting the president”: the story of the footballer who hit Menem hard in a friendly and was left without a roast

At the end of 1991, the presidential term of Carlos Menem had passed the second year. The convertibility of the exchange maintained the equivalence of the peso with the dollar and the horizon for this aspect of justicialism seemed endless. the vice president eduardo duhalde he had resigned as governor of the province of Buenos Aires. Just 10 days after taking on that role, the stubborn he set up a football match to face his former running mate, each in the colors of the club he was famously a fan of.

The place? the lands of the extinct worker’s houseto inaugurate what is now the nerve center of the club Banfield and where it concentrates its professional staff. That December 21, Menem literally landed on one of Luis Guillón’s fields with a helicopter that he piloted himself. About 600 people went to the place to watch the match which should have faced the two leaders who at that time concentrated the greatest political power.

The relevance of the meeting was fundamental. The next day, the newspaper clarion The meeting was not published in a sports supplement, but on page 4. But what stole the centrality of the news was the first case of corruption in the Menem administration. Miguel Angel Vicco, his private secretary, was the main defendant for the State’s purchase of milk unfit for human consumption. When he was consulted, the president told this newspaper that he would support the official until “justice decides,” which happened 11 years later.

But apart from the journalistic request on the agenda at the time, the appointment was with a soccer ball. The T-shirts were unofficial, the Nanque firm – who wore them Drill— had made one with a red band similar to River’s, and Banfield was wearing a design the Southern team had competed in the previous season. None had any ads, other than the clothing logo.

Thus, the president used River’s number 5 jersey and Governor Banfield’s 16. Everyone was surrounded by retired soccer players, specially invited for the party. During the game, a grill took care of the lunch: the best cuts and offal of beef, accompanied by wines from a Mendoza winery. After the showers, the best would come.

The least thought protagonist

“That day the Banfield veterans played against the River veterans. The President of the Nation played on that team: Carlos Saul…”, he evokes Hebert Birriel, iron Uruguayan central midfielder who entered the depths of the Drill fans and who also played for the Huracán in Argentine football. The characteristic of him was to score and never give up a ball. That morning, I played for Duhalde’s team.

Especially during his first term, Menem was encouraged to various disciplines. In addition to soccer, he played basketball, stepped in a ring, drove rally cars, and practiced his golf swing. A central characteristic of all his sporting forays was the little resistance his opponents gave him.. Partly because of the inhibition that the inauguration produced and partly because it was always an informal context in which it was not necessary to create an exceptional performance.

“No one had told me he couldn’t be scored or hit hard. Later I found out there was a meeting with some people before the game where they said the president shouldn’t be scoredso as not to block it. The truth was that I didn’t know it”, clarifies after more than 30 years of that party Birriel and clarifies that the tacit pacts are mere guesses.

“In a first half play, I turned my back on the River goal. They give me the ball, I go and turn around and see someone in red and white coming towards me, I don’t see who, so I swipe the ball to one side and when it’s about to block me, There, I close it with everything and throw it. I threw it… When I realize it was the president, I go and want to raise him and strangers, The security officers started yelling at me, ‘What do you want to become famous for hitting the president?‘” recalls Birriel in conversation with Clarín.

The referee was Ricardo Calabria, but he also cautioned him: evidently it wasn’t a foul. “I squeezed him tightly, but I swear he fell by himself,” remarked the Uruguayan. The party continued.

“When the first half ends I decide to go out, but mWas left outside waiting for the game to end for the food that wasBut They told me no, that to avoid any problems, any friction, it was preferable that I didn’t stay‘, recalls Birriel, who was not even in the news that day reporting ‘Banfield’s 2-1 victory over the ‘River.

For the red band team Rubén Guibaudo, the Bone Rubén Glaría -replaced by the president of the Chamber of Deputies Miguel Ángel Pierri- Armando Dedovich, Pancho Sá and Ediberto Correa; Armando Quinteros, Menem, Victorio Cocco and Abel Da Graca. Above, Jorge Ghiso and Chino Benítez. José Vieto, Chango Cárdenas and Ruso Ribolzi came on for a few minutes. those in the green band, they lined up Conde; Héctor Iglesias, Tito Antonelli, Guenkian and Emilio Castro; Sala, Birriel, replaced by Siciliano and Rubén Schroh, Carlos Landecheverry, Duhalde and the Deputy Governor Rafael Roma.

Among the spectators was the Senator Osvaldo Mercuriothe president of the National Sports Council, Fernando Galmarini (who did not play due to a knee injury), and several mayors of the suburbs, including those of Lomas de Zamora and Esteban Echeverría, Bruno Tavano AND Luis Manuel Obarrio, respectively. Furthermore, the then president of the AFA, Giulio Grondonathe owner of Banfield -and at one time also the home of Argentine football- Valentin Suarez and the secretary of Conmebol, Eduardo Deluca. No national team match has had as much concentrated power as that one.

Menem played the whole game, but Duhalde was replaced by José Sanfilippo, although he returned to the field to take a penalty which Guibaudo deflected. “He needed to score a goal with his head,” the president joked after the match in front of the cameras of América TV and Channel 9.

Lunch was in one of the gymnasiums that still exists on the property, although it is not in use. housed the nearly 600 diners. The memento of the party for the Captains -Menem and Duhalde- was a Banfield pennant framed in double glass and a picture frame, the President of the Nation gave a fiery speech on the importance of the property acquisition to Banfield and received acclaim from the people who are here. Nothing about the “accident” with Birriel.

“No problem, I told them ‘calm down’. I packed my things and left: that same day Banfield Country Club was playing a home game, where I was general manager. I left calm, another anecdote. The good thing is that I wore my club shirt. The bad… there’s nothing wrong with it. I don’t think I missed anything,” he closes the memory.