Argentines carry their fervent passion for football in their blood.
And that is easily perceived wherever they go, from anywhere in the world.
This is what happened on the field of Waiheke United – the team from Waiheke Island, located in the north of
New Zealand
– made up, for the most part, of young Argentinians who decided to emigrate and managed to fulfill their dream of playing in the first team.
“This is a family more than a team,” proudly says
Miguel Yacar
(32), one of the Argentines on the squad, originally from Ramos Mejía.
It's not just about playing ball, something that fascinates them, but also about
replicating a way of life
that they led in their native country and that clearly identifies them: they celebrate, they meet daily, they share with friends, they travel, They have fun, they accompany each other.
That in Waiheke there is a soccer team and that it is made up of Latinos, in addition to
Kiwis
(what they call those who reside in the New Zealand country), is something known by those who have just arrived on the island.
And what better than practicing the sport that they are so passionate about in what is now their new home.
This is what happened to
Emiliano Candía
.
He is 38 years old and is from Concordia.
He works as a psychologist and, in turn, maintains pools in Waiheke.
He always liked football.
In fact, one of his greatest dreams was to be able to play professionally.
When he arrived in 2013, he settled in Auckland, New Zealand's most important city, forty minutes by ferry from the island.
Four years later, she joined the team and began traveling twice a week to train.
"I follow you everywhere": the South American passion of the fans of New Zealand's Waiheke United.
“I heard stories that there was a Latin team on the island, I saw videos on YouTube and the idea of playing there began to tempt me,” says the person who is still a member of Waiheke United with great pride and enthusiasm.
And he continues: “Thousands of stories happened.
At the beginning, we were in the third division and we finished second, we had a good tournament with a very good team and we were promoted.
That year, after the incredible experience, I decided to move to the island in March 2018.”
Shortly after being part, Emiliano was able to notice that the Argentine soccer essence knows no limits or barriers: it remains intact.
According to him,
the fans he encourages at every game make him feel “at home
. ”
“There are a lot of people shouting, cheering and singing without stopping for a single minute,” he explains.
All that energy can be seen on their
WaiheTV
channel on YouTube, where they publish videos of the players, the games and the fans.
There is never a shortage of colors and flags: some with inscriptions such as
“Waiheke is family”
and others
with Diego's face
.
Flags and images of Diego among the fans of the New Zealand club.
“They follow us, they organize movements with drums and flags everywhere.
We bring the passion of Argentina, which is not here because they celebrate in any other way: there are no groups, no songs or flags;
People from here attend with t-shirts and very small flags.
In many cases, it looks more like a theater than a court,” adds Miguel, who has lived on the island since 2016 and works at Island 2000, a construction company.
And he emphasizes: “The different teams here met us and told us that they liked to come because they saw the color and the joy.
'It's good to go play on the island', they told us.
Plus the course is beautiful, it's all open and surrounded by hills and vineyards.”
“Every year more kids join in to play,” explains Emiliano, alluding to the young people who, more and more, choose New Zealand to live.
“We all get along very well and when a tournament ends, we travel together,” he emphasizes, referring to the unity of Argentinians.
The team and its supporters must take a ferry every time they play away.
And Miguel adds: “I liked the vibe of the team because it wasn't just football and you could make a lot of friends.
The club generates a sense of belonging.
We are very close, we share meals, we do different Latino events and you always feel like you want to be part of it.
This is a family and friendship.
You learn to always help and, if someone on the team is going through something, we organize parties to raise money.
It's like being in Argentina but sharing with
Kiwis
and Europeans who come to our meetings."
Playing ball in Waiheke also allowed them to discover another facet of this sport that, at times, becomes overly competitive.
“Here you learn other values and
it is notable that the levels of violence decrease, there are none
.
It's not a war, it's a game.
Furthermore, you come across the same players on another team and it makes no sense for the game to be violent, there is no reason to even fight with the referees who are doing their job,” he says while comparing the way of playing a sport in different countries. .
“They are not fans here.
“Those who follow a club are the parents of the kids or people from the neighborhood,” he says and concludes: “The same thing happens with political parties and Argentine fanaticism.”
"This afternoon no matter what it takes."
the Waiheke United fans, with all the color of an Argentine field, unique in New Zealand.
Waiheke United has already achieved
seven promotions in its entire career
and fulfilled the goal of playing in the first division in 2022. It is currently in the second division.
Now, the players' focus is on preparing for next year to be a great year and achieving a new promotion.
“For 2020 we made a lot of adjustments.
This club is a lot of work, we Argentines who have been here since 2013, when the first guys who promoted this arrived, do it.
Later, many players joined because the rumor spread by word of mouth.
This is how we started to grow and made a lot of progress.
We started to have better preseasons, we added a group of girls from Waiheke who helped us a lot, a kinesiologist and a nutritionist who made us improve a lot,” Emiliano remembers about the effort it took to play in the first division in 2022.
There are many who want to formally compete on the team.
However, there is a regulation that complicates them:
only four foreigners can do so depending on the category in which it is played
.
That is, this rule applies to the first and second division.
“Here football and its rules are reinvented all the time,” says Yacar.
“At the time, with the rule of 4 foreigners, we had to go out and look for
kiwis
and, being an island, where there is no university, few people live, so there were not many young people who played,” explains Miguel.
Many of the players are waiting to complete the corresponding citizenship procedures and be able to compete.
In this case, both Emiliano and Miguel were able to play without problems.
“I was very lucky to obtain citizenship two years ago and I was able to participate
,” says Candía.
Passion is his driving force.
“Everything is
ad honorem
,” they say.
However, they are happy doing what they love so much in another country, more than 9 thousand kilometers away.
Waiheke United members organize their days to work in one or even two places – the majority are dedicated to construction
, gardening and gastronomy
– and then go to training three to four times a week.
Now, they are on vacation but with their minds set on something very big.
They all share one goal: to play in the first division again.
MG