Boca Juniors Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Do you recognize the Swedish flag? Photos: Photogamma
A couple of days ago Emma blogged about the result of the Swedish general election and the fact that a new party takes place in parliament, the far-right Sweden Democrats (SD). In history we’ve seen how importartant immigration and globalization has been and I have an interesting point to make. At the moment I’m in Buenos Aires, Argentina programming a Swedish institute show featuring the Swedish artist Taken By Trees (more about that event later). Being here, absorbing this really cool and by all means vivid city, made me think about the various cultural influences here and that they seem to be the very soul of the city. Buenos Aires would have been nothing without its immigrants and the influences they brought here. Here you can probably eat some of the best sushi, pizza and cup cakes in the world, and nobody would ever question the fact that they all got here thanks to people moving here at some point. You also find big East Indian and Jewish communities in the city. Time, I think, will always make the discussions about the downsides of immigration obsolete.
A really cool story about how not only food and people travel in a global world, is the kit and badge of the Buenos Aires football team Boca Juniors. Maradona, Argentina’s own Zlatan Ibrahimovic, used to play for them. Do you recognize the team colors? Thinking about Sweden? Yes you’re right, it’s the yellow and blue of the Swedish flag. And how did this happen? The original jersey color was actually pink. Legend has it that in 1906, Boca played another team that used this strip to decide who would get to keep it. What happend was that Boca Juniors lost, and decided to adopt the colors of the flag of the first boat to sail into the port at La Boca in Buenos Aires. This proved to be the Swedish freighter “Drottning Sophia” sailing from Copenhagen under Swedish flag. This resulted in Boca Juniors adopting yellow and blue as new team colors. Check out the 105th anniversary kit below!
So the next time you see Boca Juniors, remember the Swedish connection and what immigration is all about in a globalized world!
The Boca Juniors 105th anniversary kit. You just can't miss the Swedish flag.
