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How Aldo Poy’s iconic goal for Rosario Central against Newell’s Old Boys is still celebrated in Argentina 50 years later

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ON SUNDAY a goal scored fifty years ago in Argentina was celebrated – as it has been on every December 19th since 1971.

It was on that date that Rosario Central beat Newell’s Old Boys 1-0 in perhaps the biggest game played between them up to that time.

Every year on December 19, a goal scored by Aldo Poy is celebrated in ArgentinaCredit: AP
Poy’s diving header for Rosario Central against Newell’s Old Boys is the most famous goal in Argentina football historyCredit: DEPORTV
Poy re-enacts his famous goal for Rosario fans every year

Often in football, the fiercest rivalries are in towns big enough to have two major teams, but not big enough for three.

So it is in Rosario, Argentina’s second city, a six hour bus ride north of Buenos Aires. Rosario Central and Newell’s Old Boys have been bitter rivals for a long time.

Near the start of the story Newell’s agreed to play a game to raise funds for the local hospital for sufferers of leprosy. Rosario Central refused. Ever since Newell’s have been ‘the lepers’ and Central ‘the scoundrels.’

The match in 1971 was so important because their rivalry had gone national.  For years the Argentine championship was restricted to teams around Buenos Aires. But now the whole country was involved.

And so, on December 19th 1971, the two rivals met each other in a semi final played in Buenos Aires, in River Plate’s famous stadium.

Rosario Central won 1-0, the only goal coming from a diving header by Aldo Poy. Central’s fans instantly declared this goal so important that it would have to be celebrated for a hundred years.

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And so, every year, on December 19th, they get together, bring Aldo Poy along, and someone has the honour of lobbing the ball into the air for Poy to reenact his diving header so that they can all celebrate together one more time.

Poy has even performed the feat in Cuba. Che Guevara was from Argentina, from the city of Rosario and was a Central fan.

So one year it was his son who threw the ball into the air to provide Poy with the assist.

Aldo Poy is now in his mid 70s. But he still plays a full part in the ritual. Sadly, he is unlikely to complete a full century of reenactments, and thought will have to be given to how to proceed without him.

But the game is such an important part of Rosario Central folklore that the celebrations will surely carry on. Adding to the aura of religious ritual, there is another – frankly bizarre – relic from December 19th 1971.

The Newell’s defender who should have been marking Aldo Poy was called Ricardo Di Rienzo. Soon after the game he complained of chest pains – and went to hospital where he had his appendix removed.

The surgeon who performed the operation was a fan of Rosario Central. For posterity he preserved part of Di Rienzo’s appendix, storing it in a bottle as a permanent reminder of the defender who was unable to prevent Poy’s diving header.

This really is football as religion.

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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk

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