The most surprising match at Barceloneta’s stadium
Before social media gave us the chance to argue with a New York tweeter, the only ones you argued with were your neighbors. In Barceloneta, sparks flew with those from the neighborhood next door, El Born . Just as the advertising back then said, “There’s always a reason to use Nivea , ” there was always some reason to fool someone in El Born . And it was always an act of justice, because the fool had already hit someone from the neighborhood. The gangs grew in size, and the most violent ones started singing. The fights, with hammers and knives, are gone.
My “deep throat,” so deep that it never fills with the anchovies in gabardine from Bodega Sergio or with beers, tells me that eight or ten people from El Born had surrounded Sopa and had “snatched” his black leather jacket with fringed sleeves. And as a tip, they’d given him a couple of slaps. They told him to see if the people from La Barceloneta had the nerve to go the next day and get the jacket, as they would be waiting for them at Plaza de les Olles . A dozen of them gathered and, armed with chains, knives, wrenches, and hammers, they went to look for the people from El Born . My friend told me, between anchovies and beer, that it was known that one day there would be a disaster, and this winter afternoon he had all the tickets to the tragedy raffle.
They arrived at Plaza de les Olles , and the Born gang numbered another dozen, and the whirring of switch-blades could be heard as they cut the area. The two groups stood face to face, and the Born gang leader threw Sopa’s jacket to the ground, as if they were going to play the handkerchief game. A young couple who were kissing in the square took off running.
There was a guy from La Barceloneta who came along, one they called Anguila, because he was so sly . He wasn’t one of the troublemakers, but he was a friend of Sopa and had to join in. He walked past and started saying:
“If we start stabbing each other, we’ll be in trouble. We have to fight, but we can settle this another way: on the football field. Whoever wins gets the black jacket . “
There was an altercation, but they must have come to their senses and said yes to each other, but let’s see who was going to be the referee. One suggested a young priest who was an assistant at Santa María del Mar. He immediately accepted, as he was a big soccer fan, and grabbed a whistle, because dressed in black, he was already perfect for refereeing. They all went to the old Barceloneta soccer field, at the end of the Paseo Marítimo. It was already dark when they arrived, and everything was so quiet that only the waves could be heard. Three people had to help the priest jump the fence. The illumination came from the moon, which that night was completely full.
The “chupa negra” of the Sopa was left on the bench and the Born team came out of the middle of the field. As the game was played in the twilight, there was some kicking and some threat of a fight, but the priest prevailed and the game went to the break with 1-0 in favor of those of La Barceloneta, with a header from one who called the Tapia. In the second half , the Born team’s striker equalized . With seven minutes left, a Barceloneta player, whose name is unknown because it was so dark, dribbled past three defenders and the goalkeeper and put the ball into the net. When the capellà blew the final whistle, the Born team started complaining that they hadn’t been awarded a penalty, that they wanted revenge or it wouldn’t count.
Then the police sirens started to sound. All the players ran toward the back fence and fled across the vacant lot that had been the Somorrostro stadium. The police only found the priest praying.
My “deep throat” tells me that soon after he stopped being a priest, got together with a box-office girl from the Novedades movie theater and became a singer, and that in the concerts he gave in the civic centers he always wore a black “chupa” with many bangs.
