The
Seedbed of the World
and the
Cradle of Cracks
came together again. After almost 28 years of a painful separation,
Argentinos Juniors
and the
Parque
club , one of the most prominent institutions in the basic training of soccer players, will join forces again as they did in the past to bring players like
Fernando Redondo
to the elite ,
Claudio Borghi
,
Sergio Batista
,
Juan Román Riquelme
,
Esteban Cambiasso
or
Juan Pablo Sorín
.
The highest authorities of the two clubs signed last Monday at the Sergio Daniel Batista Professional Football Center an
exclusivity agreement for four years
, renewable for another four, so that Argentinos have the exclusivity to sign players trained in Parque. In addition, the link establishes that the
Bicho
leadership will decide who will be the sports coordinator of the Villa del Parque institution.
The leaders of Argentinos Juniors and Parque signed on Monday the bond that unites both clubs again after almost 28 years. Photo: Argentinos Juniors.
This agreement will allow Argentinos to rebuild a bridge that was extremely fruitful in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s with the club whose headquarters are at 3200 Marcos Sastre Street and in which
Fernando Cáceres
,
Néstor Lorenzo
also began to kick a ball ,
Diego Cagna
,
Federico Insúa
,
Leonel Gancedo
and, further back in time,
Carlos Tevez
,
Fernando Gago
,
Leandro Paredes
and
Alexis Mac Allister
, among others. There were also kids who would later stand out in activities very different from football, such as Stuka, guitarist of the famous punk band Los Violadores, and the tango singer Hernán
Cucuza
Castiello.
The link between both institutions had been interrupted in
October 1996
. Two factors came together to make this happen. On the one hand, the delay in some payments by Argentinos for the sales of, among others,
Sorín
,
Sebastián Pena
,
Leonel Gancedo
and
Carlos Javier Netto
(Parque had to receive a percentage every time El
Bicho
transferred any of the footballers he had formed).
That delay opened the doors for Boca to put in the spoon. The leadership headed by
Mauricio Macri
(he had won the elections 10 months earlier) made an offer that allowed him to keep the exclusivity of the Parque players. The contract that was signed then was initially for five years and, in addition to a percentage for the sale of soccer players, it contemplated a monthly contribution of 10,000 pesos (then convertible to dollars) and the payment of the coaches' salaries, which amounted to similar amount. Among them was
Ramón Maddoni
, the head of the sports structure of the Villa del Parque club.
Sergio Batista in front of the old Parque headquarters. Photo: Instagram @parquesocial.
“It is a great step and a source of pride because Parque is one of the most important children's soccer clubs,”
Jorge Bernardo Griffa
, who had taken over as coordinator of Boca's Lower Divisions in January of that year, celebrated. The historic coach praised the trainers of the institution with which he would begin working: “They have a lot of experience, they brought out many very good kids.”
On the other side, the Argentinos leadership tried to hide the impact of the loss. “Parque was something circumstantial in the lives of Argentines. Without us, Parque would not have existed," said
Alberto Pérez
, vice president of
Bicho
, who recognized that the trigger for the divorce had been purely economic: "Maddoni was owed a lot of money and on top of that came Boca's proposal. Like any professional, he went where he was paid best. "We couldn't keep him."
Esteban Cambiasso, one of the youth world champions to emerge from Parque. Photo: Instagram @parquesocial.
Maddoni was the symbol of the second generation of great trainers that Parque had had, an institution founded in May 1949. The first was made up of
José Batista
(father of Sergio and Fernando),
Tito
Patiño
and
Oscar Refojo
. With them at the helm, the club became dominant in the championships organized by FAFI, the most competitive baby soccer league in the country at that time. Its hegemony in these competitions was so marked that in the mid-1990s, FAFI decided to expel Parque because its participation made the tournament less competitive, since no club was in a position to beat it.
The agreement with Boca gave Parque good income, especially from the sale of players. One of them, that of
Fernando Gago to Real Madrid
, allowed him to buy a property neighboring its historic headquarters at Marcos Sastre 3268, in front of Plaza Aristóbulo del Valle, in order to expand. The work, which included the demolition of its facilities, began in 2010. To move forward with it, the leadership counted on the money that would come in from the transfer of
Nicolás Gaitán
to
Benfica
(around $800,000).
Carlos Tevez played for Parque before joining Boca's lower divisions. Photo: Instagram @parquesocial.
They expected to receive the money in one payment, but the agreement contemplated that it would be paid in installments. In the meantime, the link with Boca was interrupted, the monthly payment stopped flowing, the money for Gaitán's transfer was delayed and the inflationary process made the work more expensive, which was paralyzed in 2011. This meant that the club, without facilities own, had to move its activities (the soccer school, baby soccer, futsal and basketball) to the Pacífico clubs in Villa del Parque and Amanecer in Villa Real, and the Leonel Gancedo sports complex in Villa Devoto.
Only in 2013 did the club find a solution to its problem. The former Argentinos and Boca midfielder
César La Paglia
, who had also trained in Parque and was a resident of the neighborhood, and an investment group that accompanied him approached a proposal to take charge of the resumption of the work and the management of the institution. The leadership agreed to sign
a management agreement for 25 years
. “Despite everything, we will continue to be a neighborhood club, everything is clarified. Just as before Boca exploited the club's services, now the company will do so,” vice president
Bernardino Ladeo
explained then .
César La Paglia trained at Parque and today is one of the club's managers. Photo: Instagram @parquesocial.
The club was finally reopened on March 21, 2017 and a day later its teams returned to play at the Marcos Sastre headquarters, which has a microstadium, five baby soccer fields, gym, classrooms, barbecue area, grills, garages, restaurant and room for events. Seven years after that resurgence,
Parque and his talent factory will once again nourish Argentinos Juniors
.