Proudly wearing the jersey of a Historically Black Peruvian Soccer Team
As I strolled through one of Lima, Perú's most dangerous districts, La Victoria, where a stadium is located housing Perú's famous Alianza Lima soccer team, no one gave me a second look, let alone tried to harm me. Peruvians told me that no one messed with me because they though I was “familia” (Afro-Peruvian).
The Alejandro Villanueva Stadium where Alianza Lima play their home games.
Alianza Lima, winner of 22 national titles.
Before my first trip to Perú, many warned me about venturing into La Victoria, particularly alone. They told me that I was crazy and that this district is no joke. When I arrived in Perú, the family with whom I was staying also warned me about La Victoria. But I had to go.
To help ensure my safety, I flagged down three different taxis. When I told them that I wanted to see La Victoria, they looked at me trying to keep from laughing, then drove off shaking their heads. I finally hired a taxi to show me around. The only time I got out of the taxi was to take pictures of Alianza Lima's stadium, named after the black superstar Alejandro Villanueva, considered the first great soccer player in Perú's history.
El Nene (the Kid) Teófilo Cubillas, Peru's all-time leading scorer and two-time world cup soccer star.
Several days later, I got a little bolder and took a combi (van serving as a bus) into La Victoria's main square and started walking around. Someone greeted me with the word's, ¿Qué pasó, familia? (what's up, bruh?) I just smiled, waved, and kept stepping. He most likely thought I was Afro-Peruvian, I didn't want my gringo accent to reveal otherwise.
The stadium which Alianza Lima play their home games is named
after superstar Alejandro Villanueva, pictured above.
The reason I'm so fascinated with La Victoria and its team Alianza Lima, or Alianza Lima Grone (Grone is Negro spelled backwards) is that this historically black team has won over 20 national titles. This is the team that produced black superstars such as Alejandro Villanueva of the 1930s and Teófilo Cubillas who was part of the Peruvian national team that won the 1975 American Cup, and reached the quarter finals at the 1970 and 1978 World Cup competitions.
After several trips to Perú, I made friends with a black family from La Victoria, and rented a room on their property for several nights. In this community hardly anyone speaks any English so all of my communication was in Spanish. However one evening, I happened to pass by a Peruvian National Police officer; as our eyes met, I guess he can tell by the way was was walking (swag movements) that I am black American, he blurted out in English, "how ya doin, man?” LOL.
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Congratulations for your blog!! good stuf familia!
ReplyDeletePD: this saturday los grones are going to play against the upscale team Universitario, our all life rival, wish us luck!
¿A qué hora es el juego? Good luck!
ReplyDelete4 pm (GMT -5)
ReplyDeleteWe are going to play in the Universitario's Stadium, so is a tough challenge, if you are in the Estados Unidos and wanna see the game, you can see it in the internet, BUT i know that futbol (soccer) is not quite entertaining for estadounidenses
I'll look for it on the Internet. A friend in Lima told me the game starts at 4pm, so it must be 1 pm here in California.
ReplyDeleteCan you recommend a web site to catch this game?
http://www.mill-tv. com/
ReplyDeleteRight on, brotha (todo bacán, familia)
ReplyDeletehahah, you know the words we use in the hood, thats nice : )
ReplyDelete