This afternoon, in Mendoza, the supporters of La Banda will again demonstrate what River Plate is during bad times. Still carrying the sadness and anger of this current situation, they will not allow restrictions on away fans or colors to separate them from their passion.
Mendoza is getting ready to have a festive Saturday, during which passion will defeat political bureaucracy. It will beat out those that pander to Grondona. Those that always make decisions about what happens in the stands but always – always – watched football from behind a desk. Those that don’t understand that football would not be football without its people. Without ‘the’ people.
They are the River fans that for many years now have led every ranking of attendances and ticket revenue while on the field the team compiled its worst campaigns. A support that adopted the motto “During the worst times even more” as a way to cope with this obsession for River. That has been demonstrated since Friday when the River supporters in
Mendoza, despite the freezing temperatures, accompanied the team from the moment they arrived .
This afternoon will not be different, when fans from Buenos Aires, Cordoba, San Juan and hundreds of other nearby towns come together. They will come together at the Malvinas Argentinas to say “Present” much to the dismay of the authorities or AFA.
Those that thought that since they had won the fight against Rosario Central, they would do the same with the fans of the club from Núñez. But they didn’t take into account that “The country is River”, as that historic banner that used to hang in the old Alimrante Brown read. Wherever River plays, no matter how remote, there will always be River fans accompanying the red and white shirt.
Yes, today even if Parque San Martin will not be dressed in red and white, River will have the support of 10,000 rabid fans, because passion can’t be camouflaged. With colors, or without, the fans will again take over another of Argentine football’s stadiums and show what River Plate is during the tough times.
