Traducción: Malena Dispaldro
Football knows no barriers and English-native Ryan O’Keefe’s story is a vivid demonstration of what this sport can lead to. When this football fan sing up to receive mystery jerseys he unknowingly got the All Boys’ kit and became a supporter of this team from Floresta. He knows time and place every time they play, watches every game through links that other fans share in Twitter y celebrates with a glass of wine every time the ‘Alba’ wins.
Ryan lives in Coventry City, England and is a devotee of the local team. His father took him for the first time to the stadium at the age of five, from that day on he fell in love with football and his team. He got to see his team play in the Premier League as well as other lower leagues. He had to suffer throughout his team moving to Birmingham City but today he enjoys dreaming about being in the Championship. «Cross our fingers that one day we are back in the Premier League», Ryan said.
There is a new All Boys fan in Floresta although he is actually eleven thousand kilometres away. An Englishmen with an amazing story only football could have made it come true.
Vermouth Deportivo: How did the story of the All Boys jersey come about?
Ryan O´Keefe: One of pure fate…. The All Boys jersey came to me via a surprise box. A local lad, studying business at college started a business called Surprise Shirts Ltd, where you pay a fee and receive a football shirt from anywhere around the world. Home or Away jersey, long sleeve, short sleeve, Goalkeeper or outfield. Any Shirt. Now where this gets interesting and why i believe it was fate, was i was never meant to get this box. I have a subscription, the start of every month I will receive a new shirt. However THIS shirt was something I ordered by chance. Call it fate, coincidence or something else. But I am very pleased it was an All Boys shirt and I will study up on the history of the team and continue to follow results from over here.
VD: Did I know the club before receiving the shirt?
RO: Whilst I knew the name Club Atletico All Boys and I recognised the badge, my overall knowledge was limited. One of the books i had when i was younger was a map of football teams with the badge that represented the club and in what area, district, City it was from. There were a lot from around Buenos Aires. I also remembered the name All Boys as I know a lot of the overseas teams originally took a English name, or nickname. You can see it in Newell Old boys, Boca Juniors too.
VD: What did you learn from the All Boys Story? What do you know about the current All Boys Team?
RO: So far I have read about the beginnings, 1914 and how they were promoted in ’22. I understand that they have played the majority of their football in the second tier with a brief spell in the top flight. I had a couple of tweets telling me that a young Carlos Tevez played for All Boys too. I have looked into their rivalries and know they have the better hand over Nuevo Chicago, which is good. Also a couple of other teams i have seen mentioned, Argentinos Juniors being a close neighbour. As for the current All Boys Team, I know Super Axel Rodriguez is the number 9 and scored a couple of goals. I was very impressed with the passing, especially leading to the first and second goal.I will definitely look to learn more on the current team and the Manager as the weeks progress.
VD: How do you follow the results of All Boys? Do you study the days and times of the matches in advance?
RO: I have a Football App called Live Score which gives me all the football fixtures and results so i can keep up to date with when All Boys play next. As for watching the game, a couple of All Boys fans sent me links on Twitter and I managed to get to view some of the game. I will be keeping up this habit throughout the season.
VD: Did you expect so many responses on Twitter from the All Boys Fans?
RO: No, no way. But i have to say, i am not surprised. As i have mentioned the Argentine fans seem to be some of the best in the world, passionate, knowledgeable and open. I never expected the responses and replies i recieved. I feel very lucky to have received the All Boys shirt, I am certain it is the start of an incredible journey following them. I will look to learn more of the team, history, area and fans and also, will try to make sure i have some spanish phrases so i can shout and cheer when i watch the Albo next.
VD: What does an English football fan think of an Argentine with the background of that World Cup in Mexico and the Malvinas War? .
RO: I have only ever met wonderful people from Argentina and never judge them on our nation’s conflict in sport or war. The same with the German people I have met and worked with. I have only ever met great Argentines, I backpacked in my early 20’s and met a few Argentines whilst i was in Australia and a couple when i was in Fiji. We only ever spoke about football and I swapped books with a guy in Fiji. He gave me El Diego and I gave him a book about The FA Cup. I was always brought up to appreciate Football, my father was born in Cork in Ireland in the late 30’s so he didn’t mind seeing England lose! I was only 4 years of age in ’86 so I can’t remember much about the World Cup, however seeing the films following and rewatching that game many times, I can’t help but smile at how good Maradona was. He’s second goal, ‘The goal of the century’ was breathtaking, only Messi can come near that.
HIS FATHER AND THE SECOND GOAL OF DIEGO ARMANDO MARADONA
He was very knowledgeable and told me many stories of the greats that had gone before. A certain Diego Maradona being one of his all time greats, i believe my Dad (Who was Irish) was maybe one of the few in England who cheered the famous ‘Hand of God’ goal on that fateful day in June ’86. He was definitely one of many who applauded the second of Maradona’s goals that day too!
