2023-11-12 07:36:21
The response was massive and in dominoes. The presidential candidate of La Libertad Avanza, Javier Milei, made explicit his privatization idea for Argentine football and caused a chain reaction from the clubs and some leaders, who did not hesitate to question him and release formal support – tangential or concrete – to the Union por la Patria candidate, Sergio Massa.
Everyone knew what Milei thought regarding the format of the clubs and football in general, but hearing it a few days before the presidential runoff ignited the general anger of a sector in which he hardly gathers support. “I like the English model, they are not doing badly. The question is how it is financed. Public limited companies, in fact, have clubs that are listed on the stock market and everything,” the libertarian told journalist Alejandro Fantino, who openly asked him if he would endorse the possibility of Arab capital acquiring Boca or River. “Who the hell cares who the owner is if you beat River five to zero and you are world champion? Or do you prefer to continue in this misery that we have with increasingly worse quality football? “How do we do every time we go outside Argentina?” Milei added.
The first to mark the line of responses was the powerful treasurer of the AFA, Pablo Toviggino: “It is time to publicly show support for Massa. Let each of the Argentine soccer clubs demonstrate in defense of their institutions. NO TO SAD! No to the privatization of football. Come on Sergio dear, strength mate. A country needs you,” he wrote on his X account (ex Twitter).
For years now, Toviggino has been one of Massa’s alter egos at Viamonte 1366. His influence and his plea to take a stand on the momentous November 19 runoff took effect in a few hours. It helped, of course, that Milei attacked a cause that united almost everyone during Mauricio Macri’s four years in the Casa Rosada.
Presidents, clubs and even spaces that bring together entire divisions such as the Federal Football Council came out to reject the intentions of the libertarian in football. From the League Cup, the first two to speak out – late on Friday – were Argentinos Juniors and Colón de Santa Fe. Argentinos added its president, Cristian Malaspina, who never denies his status as a Peronist and wrote: “No to the SAD in our clubs. Just remember the presence our clubs had helping our society during the pandemic. “A boy in a club is one less boy on the street.” Minutes later, several clubs from Ascenso and from different provinces joined in.
Yesterday the most massive wave arrived because it involved the big guys. The first was San Lorenzo and the last River, but they all agreed in rejecting the intention of sending private capital to Argentine soccer clubs. “No one has to explain to us what SADs mean in a football club. Our partners and fans, who recovered democracy for Racing, know it well,” La Academia published on its networks, alluding to the management of Blanquiceleste between 2001 and 2008.
Independiente – whose president Néstor Grindetti is one of the few in the leadership orbit who will vote for Milei, following the alliance sealed by the libertarian candidate and JxC – did not hesitate regarding what the advance of the SAD implies: “Independiente will not give up its identity ”. Gonzalo Belloso, president of Central and former director of Conmebol, also showed his letters: “I understand that clubs, whatever their size, are the last refuge for girls and boys. I bet on increasingly professional clubs, but 100% owned by their members. I express my gratitude to Sergio Massa in this first year of management.” Milei may not have realized it, but he just needed to explain his ideas so that football – with the amplifying effect it has – would come out once morest him.
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