Gimnasia: A taste of traditional football in La Plata

Words: Dom Tancock

Images: Dom Tancock

An hour by coach from Buenos Aires, I arrive at La Plata, the provincial capital of Buenos Aires province.

As we walk through the picturesque Lago del Bosque, people are enjoying the sunshine and the boats on the lake, but it is the modern looking stadium of Estudiantes catches the eye - historically the bigger club of La Plata and the graffiti surrounding it tells the story of the club.

However a few hundred metres more and I’m in the beating heart of the pre match for Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata.

This feels real, the energy and the intensity - the smell of the street food and the chanting of the fans.

Moments later, the Juan Carmelo Zerillo Stadium appears - a wonderful ground with a wooden structure terrace behind the goal and two vastly different but atmospheric stands.

For me, this captures everything about football here, a team for the people, it feels like, a stadium of individuality and beauty, a club striving against the odds, against the richer and bigger opponent across the park.

Diego Maradona managed this team, one of his last connections to football and his presence as well as the willingness of the supporters to succeed rings out loud.

The clubs face each other for a Torneo Clausura semi-final and it might be a La Plata club that gains the applause when the curtain closes.