The worst Superclásico in history: the day a River – Boca match was not played because nobody cared

Some say, ultra-convinced, that all past times have been better. They may be right, but not always. It is enough to patiently go through the files and verify it memory is treacherous and that things have happened in the past that today would be impossible to imagine. For example, see possible for a Super classic was he suspended because nobody, almost nobody, went onto the pitch to see him? Do you see it possible that the game ceased to exist when there were already some fans sitting in the stands and with the players on their way to the pitch? It looks like a fiction. But it wasn’t. It happened on May 5, 1985 when Mouth AND River he didn’t show up to play friendly to Jujuy because neither the necessary people nor the promised money came together to pay the cachet to the two biggest clubs in Argentina. unimaginable.

First, before telling the story, the context. Argentina, 1985. It’s not the film that nicked the Oscar, but the place and time this nonsense happened. The country was, unfortunately, as it almost always was. Bad. Inflation that hovered around 30 percent a month and the external debt that was very worrying. To buy a dollar you had to put in almost 700 Argentine pesos. He was just under a month away from Juan Vital Sourrouille, second minister of the economy of the government of Raul Alfonsinset in motion the Southern Plan.

In that context, Boca and River also had their own misadventures. He Millionaire He was adapting after the crisis experienced two years earlier when the professional team went on strike and had to resort to young players for seven appointments. Furthermore, the matrix of that team that won everything in 1986 was being assembled.

Bocca, on the other hand, was still a quagmire and, with the advent of Antonio Alegre to the presidency, he needed to raise money because bankruptcy was around the corner. Sport did not accompany. He hadn’t played for a month – he had been eliminated in the losing group at Nacional – and had just lost 6-0 to Guarani Antonio Franco. All wrong.

Thus, at the beginning of that May of 1985, an entrepreneur saw the vein of opportunity and organized a quadrangular with the presence of Boca and River as partners of the venue Gym and the neighbor of Salta Antonian Youth.

The one who arranged everything was Gustavo Sandoval. According to the chronicle of the magazine The graphics who recounted the details of this truncated Superclásico – “Nobody cares about River and Boca?”, signed by correspondent Walter Abascal -, was an assistant sergeant in the Argentine Army serving in the 5th Artillery Group based in San Salvador de Jujuy . Outside of the force, he had started a business that had brought him good returns. It was called “Sandoval Productions”.

The production sergeant started out with carnival balls, continued with boxing nights and grew to bring First Division sides to his home province. A year ago he had brought River and the deal had gone through. But this time it all went wrong. Absolutely everything.

The initial idea was that the “Star Homer” It will be played on the second weekend of May (10 and 11). However, Jujuy Gymnastics Stadium would not be available on that date because the Provincial Sports Journalist Club had reserved it for their annual bingo. This is why he decided to bring it forward by seven days, with two big and costly omissions. On the one hand, being the first days of the month, it was probable that hardly anyone had received their salaries for April, especially taking into account that there were many civil servants in Jujuy who arrived with late salaries. On the other hand, Sunday 5, precisely, the Argentina national team From Charles Billard he had agreed a friendly match with Brazil in Salvador de Bahía.

The second problem was saved by moving forward that Sunday night’s schedule to 10am. They would thus have plenty of time to play the match for third place and the final, given that the national team would be played at 5 in the afternoon. The other thing, the money in the pockets, was impossible to fix. Despite this dire scenario, Sandoval went ahead with the move. The two giants of Argentine football received their tickets and left on Friday May 3 towards their destinations.

River, who had been promised to pay 5.5 million pesos a game, went nonstop to Jujuy, where they beat Gimnasia 3-0 at the Tacita de Plata on Saturday the 4th. He did it without Oscar Ruggeri or Ricardo Gareca or Nery Pumpido, who had been summoned by Bilardo to go to Brazil, but with Enzo Francescoli -he scored a double-, Rocco Alfaro -scored the remaining goal-, Americo Gallego AND Norberto AlonsoBeto, like the stars.

Boca, on the other hand, passed Salta first. There she drew 2-2 with Antoniana with goals from Carlos Daniel Tapia AND Sergio Jacket. The Xeneize, which he had Ugo Orlando Gatti As a figure he had organized a better cachet: 12 million pesos for the two presentations.

Thus we arrived at Sunday, the day chosen for the home run to be defined. La Tacita de Plata was once again the setting. The Jujeño Wolf and Antoniana opened fire as an appetizer. But the main course, which was supposed to be served at noon, never arrived.

Some were waiting in the stands 3,000 spectators that at 12:30 they learned from the loudspeakers that the Superclásico had been suspended and that they had to go to the ticket offices to recover the money for the tickets.

What happened? Sandoval failed to raise the money to pay for the party and the River and Boca players they didn’t even make it to the stadium play the Superclásico which, under penalty of dismissal, has never been played.

Those in blue and gold had already begun to realize that something was wrong when they failed to collect the first part on Saturday in Salta – among the leaders who accompanied the delegation was the current Xeneize president, Jorge Amor Ameal– that belonged to them. There were also moments of tension when the owners of the Huaico de Salta hotel demanded payment for the rooms, an expense that the organization had to bear. The leaders and the referee, Mario Gallina, were held hostage until Sandoval, with a saving call, broke the deadlock.

Finally, a few minutes before the match, the two teams decided not to show up. “The end is already known: the teams didn’t even go to the stadium. Boca had collected a 1,500,000 peso down payment, Martino (president of the River delegation) had checks with deferred dates in his possession but not for the total orders. from Buenos Aires they were precise: ‘Don’t play'”summarizes the chronicle of Abascal.

Between the cachets of the four teams, transportation and living expenses and more, the budget for the home run was around 30 million pesos and between the two games played on Saturday and the frustrated double day on Sunday it didn’t reach 8 million of the coin which in a few days would lose three zeros and would be called austral in one of the many devaluations that have hit the country. Sandoval had about $35,000 left in the red.

While waiting for the plane to take them back, the Boca and River teams returned to the hotel. They had lunch separately because the two delegations did not enter the dining room, but in the end they ended up watching the national team match together at lunch. “There were cross accusations there: ‘These look like Boca’, Alonso launched a sharp criticism of the Bilardo and Di Stéfano teams, to which Tapia retorted: ‘Come on, if you’re worse’. In the end, Beto expressed having no doubts that Argentina would qualify for the World Cup, which they would then win”reconstructs a chronicle published some time ago by Juan Manuel Collazo on the TyC Sports website.

Argentina lost 2-1 that day. Careca and Alemao, who will be Diego Maradona’s teammates in the unforgettable Napoli, scored the verdeamarelos’ goals at the Fonte Nova stadium in front of around 77,000 spectators. Jorge Burruchaga, the latest hero of the Azteca stadium, had scored the transitory equalizer for Bilardo’s team, which ended in ten men due to the expulsion of Pedro Pasculli. And Beto Alonso did not live up to expectations.

As soon as they arrived in Buenos Aires, both Boca and River sued Sandoval. “Over time I canceled everything and I didn’t owe him a single coin. I lost money, years of life. Now I just want to tell the managers of the two clubs to give me another chance. Tell me how much it costs and come to Jujuy. It was the only time I was wrong in my career.”Sandoval recalled in a chat with Andrea Burgo in a note published in Page 12 a handful of years ago.

There, in that interview, Sandoval accepted his mistakes. “I sent myself a witness and it was that, in Jujuy, I had the two schools share accommodation. At dinner on Saturday, Loco Gatti started telling River players “we’ve already loaded up” and a River coach wanted to load up early. It’s true that, according to the contract, I had to pay them on Saturday, but the takings on the first day had been bad. I don’t know what was going on. The previous year, 1984, he had brought River to Jujuy and it had been a huge success. Dinner passed between loads and loads and I told the River people that they would load on Sunday morning”.

In dialogue with Burgo, Sandoval completed: “The money didn’t arrive on Sunday morning and I told the River management that I would pay it after the game. They refused, but I had the two groups leave with the players for the gymnastics camp. They arrived ​​at the previous corner to the stadium, ready to play. Boca really wanted to play even if I didn’t pay them. The managers told me: ‘Bring a team from the Mercado del Abasto and we’ll play anyway’. They needed to money But the problem was River (… ) Bambino Veira wanted to play but there was a manager of River who was infatuated and ordered the team to go back to the hotel so we announced over the loudspeaker that we would give the money back to the fans who were already on the pitch, your money.”

​YES, Strangely, the Superclásico was not played. It is true that those were lean times. But that had never happened, at least not in modern times. In that 1985, in fact, River and Boca played two other friendlies. One was earlier, on February 26, for the extinct Gold Cup that was played every summer in Mar del Plata -it was a 3-2 victory for the millionaire- and the other was at the end of the year, on December 20- for the Copa Diario La Capital, in Rosario – they drew 1-1 and Veira’s team won 4-3 on penalties-. Both matches were played on full pitch. Something that, incredibly, didn’t happen to Jujuy.