“May you be in heaven a full half-hour before the devil knows you're dead”.
- Grace Burgess
For 120 minutes, the true aficionados of the Beautiful Game were allowed to bear witness to one of the most beautifully played finals in Mexican soccer history. The final match of the 2004 Clausura tournament between Pumas and Chivas was wonderfully played and orchestrated. The Universitarios led by Hugo Sanchez had finished subleaders of the competition while Hans Westerhoff’s Rebaño had qualified third overall.
The game had been spiced up way before the initial whistle. 2004 was the season that incumbent Club Deportivo Guadalajara owner, Jorge Vergara (RIP), decided to have his press team to stoke the fire in la Liga Mexican’s boiler room. Like most of things he did when dealing with Chivas, Vergara Senior decided to take things to the next level. He was the new guy on the block and he wanted to shake things up. After Guadalajara’s victory over Pumas during regular season the irony filled comment “Nos parecio ver un lindo gatito” spread like wild fire through social media sparking a rivalry which would grow enormously in the sixteen years since then.
Much has changed since that final. Both teams have their ups and downs. Both have had a hard time finding the right people to help guide their institutions on the path through the topsy-turvy world of professional soccer. People of true grit.
Sporting institutions and businesses alike (they are the same really) need people who not only identify with the sporting aspect of the business but who are also willing to represent and defend the values which represent said institutions. Players who look at their profession as just a job don’t see the big picture. They might not even realize that they aren’t just playing futbol. They have become part of a social phenomenon.
UNAM and Club Deportivo Guadalajara, Pumas and Chivas are more than just soccer teams. They are social institutions. They represent us more than we know.
Sport acquires its identity from its intervention in a social world that absorbs it and provides it with certain spaces. Its formative character spreads a cultural identity from the richness of the social relations that are developed within it.
In that sense UNAM represents a Mexican Social Institution, la Maxima Casa de Estudio. Even if you have never walked its hallowed halls you must recognize its importance in the development of our country. UNAM represents the future and the hopes and dreams we have for the younger generations of Mexicanos and Mexicanas.
Similarly, you may not be a fan of Club Deportivo Guadalajara, but you have to recognize that Chivas represents the rich culture and traditions which permeate this beautiful country. It is an anchor which links our past and present. The glue which holds our society together.
When Chivas and Pumas face off it isn’t only a soccer match we are witnessing. It is the fusion of ideals and values which represent each and every person who identifies with all that is Mexican.
