"Derby day in Buenos Aires makes the Old Firm game look like a primary school kick-about."
This was taken from English newspaper The Observer in April 2004, where the Superclásico was ranked top of their list of "50 Sporting Things You Must Do Before You Die."
El Superclásico is a derby between the two most supported and successful teams in the football crazy country of Argentina, Boca Juniors and River Plate.
It is considered one of, if not the most important, and violent, derby in the world. According to statistics, 70 percent of all Argentinian football fans support one of the two clubs.
Background
Both clubs have origins in La Boca, the working class district of Buenos Aires, with River Plate being founded in 1901, and Boca Juniors in 1905.
However, River moved north to the more affluent area of the city, Núñez, in 1925, and since then, Boca Juniors has been known as a working class club, with many Boca fans coming from the local Italian immigrant community.
By contrast, River became known as having a more upper class support-base, becoming known as Los Millonarios (The Millionaires). Nowadays however, both clubs have supporters from all social classes.
The Fans
El Superclásico is noted for the passion of both clubs' fans. In a documentary about Argentina, the BBC described El Superclásico as:
"A sea of colourful flowing banners, screams and roars, chanting, dancing and never-ending fireworks."
At almost every match, the supporters of both sides sing some very passionate chants aimed at their rivals, and quite often their based on the tunes of popular Argentinian rock bands.
Quite often these derby matches are known to end with fights, with the 'Barras Bravas' (football hooligans) of both sides known to fight each other, or the police.
Boca fans refer to their River Plate counterparts as gallinas (chickens), claiming they are upper class and so afraid of everything.
In return, Boca fans are known by River supporters as los puercos (pigs), because their stadium is located in the supposedly poorer area of Boca, and because according to River fans it doesn't smell nice either.
The Players
Such is the nature of these massive derbies that even the players can be significantly affected by the rivalry.
Oscar Ruggeri, who transfered from Boca to River in 1985 said: "It's not easy I can tell you. One side looks on you as a traitor and the other doesn't really trust you. You need time to adapt and a lot of character to win people over."
Other players, including the all-time great Diego Maradona, have gone as far as to say they would never play for the other club.
In his playing career, while at Argentinos Juniors, Maradona said he would never even contemplate moving to River Plate, saying that the sole purpose in his playing career was to play for Boca Juniors.
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