An English Lanus Fan! All the way from Manchester arrives this atypical story from a man with his conditions (such as not revealing his name) and a tale of passion against distance. Devoted to the City and an unconditional «Granate» supporter, this man discovered Lanús thanks to a videogame, listened to a podcast about Argentinian football and became a fan of this team. He made a choice with Lanús and followed through with it.
He created an account with information about the institution in southern Buenos Aires in English (@LanusENG), he travelled twice to the Fortaleza and even witnessed the classic match up against Banfield. Just in case all that was not enough, the brit got a membership and pays for it every month! There is no doubt that we are in front of someone truly passionate about Lanús who displayed it in this talk with Vermouth Deportivo.
Vermouth Deportivo: How did you become a fan of Lanús?
NN: I discovered Lanús in about 2011 when I was playing Football Manager (as City, not Lanús) but it was just a name to me at the time. A little while later, I discovered a podcast called Hand of Pod (@HandOfPod) which covers Argentine football in English, and became a regular listener – this was about the time River were in the B. There was a lot of interesting things and funny shit happening (River in the B, Caruso Lombardi fighting in the streets etc) so I started to listen regularly and get into it. Eventually I decided I was interested enough to watch some games, I had the time and I was sleeping badly, so staying up late to watch football seemed like a great idea! After a little while of watching random games, I decided to focus on a team but I wasn’t sure who, someone I could learn about and follow. I wasn’t interested in watching one of the big, successful teams like Boca or River because that’s too easy, it’s a cliché. Of the grandes only Racing tempted me because they reminded me of City – the colours, the fans, the bad luck – but then I thought about Lanús. I had some affection for them and I knew a little about them so why not. So I started watching online on betting sites and illegal streams, and I kept watching.
VD: How did you come up with the @lanusENG twitter account?
NN: At the end of 2012,i got the idea for Lanús in English. I knew one other British Lanús fan, but nobody covered Lanus in English and I thought why not? It might interest other people and it would help me focus when I was tired during late games. I’ve been doing that for almost 9 years now. I don’t know when I realised I was definitely a Lanús fan, but it happened slowly. After a while I just knew I was.
VD: Did you travel to Argentina to see Lanús?
NN: I have, only twice so far. My first visit was in 2017 for the Libertadores final in La Fortaleza, my friend Agus and her family gave me a place to stay and bought my ticket, I was only in the country for 6 days but it was the trip of a life time. Seeing the stadium for the first time was so special. A few days after the final, I met up with some friends for asado at the Club. While I was there they arranged for me to go on the pitch, and by chance I got a photo with Jorge Almirón and a few of the players and had a translated chat with Laucha Acosta! He’s very friendly. At the end of that day, I became a socio, I’ve kept paying my cuota ever since. My second visit was in 2019 for the Clásico del Sur, we lost that game but it was an incredible experience, and I was in the stadium to see us beat Boca and Huracán. I was hoping to return next year to celebrate the 10th anniversary of @LanusEng but with Covid, I doubt it will happen now.
VD: How many t-shirts did you buy on your travels?
NN: I got one shirt on my visit, but I should have got more – it’s very hard to buy from Argentine shops as a foreigner. Everywhere needs mercado pago and a DNI – so the next time I bought every shirt I could (one white, one granate). Since then I’ve been lucky to have found some people who I can actually get money to, for them to send over Lanús shirts to me.
VD: How do you feel about the rivalry with Banfield?
NN: I’ve been watching Lanús long enough now to have developed my own grudges against certain teams (Independiente and Estudiantes especially) at first I didn’t like Banfield because they were the local rivals and that’s what you do, right? Over time as I watched more clasicos I started to genuinely hate them, but over the last few years I have mellowed a bit. I still desperately want to win the clasico but I don’t _hate_ Banfield the same way. I respect them as a proper local club, they’re in our shadow but they’re worthy of respect. We really need to start winning the clasico again though, it’s not been a good run recently. Similarly, I don’t hate Estudiantes any more. It’s hard not to admire any club in Argentina that has such a clear identity and such an impressive project. The new stadium looks incredible. I still hate Independiente, though.
VD: Which es yout favorite player?
NN: It’s impossible to pick one, I _might_ be able to pick a favourite XI. I’ve watched Lanús during probably it’s greatest ever period, I was too late for some of the greats, but I’ve still been blessed to watch Laucha Acosta and Pepe Sand every week. I watched San Marchesín for years before he left, maybe Lanús’ best goalkeeper, Maxi Velázquez at left-back was incredible for years and a true captain, Gustavo Gómez was a wall. Guido Pizarro did everything in midfield, Ivan Marcone and Miguel Almirón won the league and made it look easy. Mario Regueiro! I could go on and on, but I could never pick just one player.
