By Germán Tinti (special for Crónicas al Voleo)
The hobby is known worldwide… fanaticism, rather, that it professes. Rod Stewart for football. The British artist does not miss an opportunity, in the midst of his tours, recordings and commercial commitments, to go to a stadium where his beloved plays. Celtic de Glasgow or the Scottish national teamrecently qualified for the next World Cup.
Even in his youth and before being a super successful singer, Roderick David was tested in the Brentford FC. A London club that currently navigates the middle of the Premier League table, but in those years they participated in lower divisions of English football. It didn’t stay.
While Stewart is a Londoner, he has strong Scottish roots. On more than one occasion he has acknowledged that he was raised as “Scottish in a Scottish home, with its music, its customs, its humor and its football”. He has never said anything about the ancient Highland hatred of all things English.
A bet with Elton
His football passion has taken Stewart to different stadiums around the world to follow Scotland. He did it in international competitions as another member of the «Tartan Army». But with a slightly more solid purchasing power, of course.
Thus, long before arriving in Argentina to offer massive concerts, Rod Stewart He had visited our country in 1978, when the Scottish team participated in the World Cup that was played in our country. The fixture took the singer through Córdoba y Mendoza. Always following in the footsteps of the team led by Ally MacLeod (nothing to do with Connor MacLeod, the “Last Immortal”).
The singer’s arrival was due to a bet he had made with Elton John. If England qualified, Rod would pay for Elton’s trip to Argentina. If Scotland qualified, the one who had to pay was the author of “Rocket man”, which finally happened.
A bodyguard for Rod
His commitment to the Scottish representative was complete. It got to the point that, after participating in the Rio Carnival and enjoying all its excesses, he recorded, together with the players on the squad, a song of encouragement for the players. «When the blue shirts run through Argentina / the beating of our hearts will be like that of a drum. But he quickly gains courage and puts aside modesty and caution. Ally’s army has everything under control / It’s not just imagination / It’s not even speculation / Scotland’s goal is to bring the cup home. The music reflected the musician’s fascination with Brazilian music: “They expected bagpipes and I gave it a Latin flavor.” he stated.
In our country, Rod – who had traveled accompanied by Bomi Bulsarafather of Freddie Mercury– He had the company of an assistant who followed him everywhere. The singer tells it not without astonishment in his biography. Because he understood that it was a bodyguard and it was the first time something like that happened to him. And although there were still a few months left for him to launch his first global megahit «Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?» (Do You Think I’m Sexy?), Stewart was a household name. And things in our country were not such that the local popes from the Warner record company would take risks.
It’s true, it wasn’t a bodyguard per se. He was a famous producer Peter Deantoni who at that time represented the group Vox Dei. And certainly the forecast was not in vain. The Argentine assistant’s job must not have been easy, because the Scotsman took advantage of his almost anonymity in Buenos Aires and went through the fashionable nightclubs y He enjoyed the sympathy of South American women.
Everyone on the ground
Being in the city of Buenos Aires, after the unexpected elimination of Scotland in the group stage. (There were great expectations, but it was a squad with some stars and many partygoers), they invited him to dinner at one of the best restaurants in the city.
I tasted the Scotch of the renowned quality of Argentine meat in the La Candela Grillin the heart of downtown Buenos Aires, a few blocks from the Alvear Hotel, where he was staying. Deantons He remembered years later that «It was a grill where the local jet-set went. We were sitting and suddenly three guys enter with short weapons, itaka type. “One stayed at the door, the other went to the cashier’s side and the third began to go around the tables gathering the valuables of those who were eating.”
The representative recalls that Stewart managed to hide a valuable watch he was wearing. And a few moments later the police arrived and a violent shootout ensued (Can a shooting not be violent?). Everyone fell to the floor and one of Rod’s companions threw himself at the singer screaming. “Don’t shoot, the guy is worth a million dollars.”
The result was that The three criminals fell under police bullets. Some analysts believe that it was not a good time to carry out this type of venture, because the country was militarized by the Soccer World Cup. And the security forces are extremely alert and in mode “Oily Boogie”: First they shot and then they asked.
A new world
Rod Stewart left the country a few days later, partly because of the assault he suffered, but also because his team had been eliminated amid internal scandals within his team and there was not much left for him to do in Argentina. He took a ball autographed by Diego Maradona as a souvenir, that although he had been left out of the Argentine squad, soccer fans around the world already knew about him.
Rod Stewart returned to our country in 1989when he offered recitals at the Monumental de Núñez and at the World Cup in Mar del Plata and a little less than a month ago he performed in Buenos Aires in one of the chapters of his farewell tour «One last time».
For its part, in recent days Scotland has once again qualified for a World Cup, something that has not happened since 1998. It will be its ninth World Cup and until now it has never made it past the group stage. But this will not stop the “Tartan Army” from making “No Scotland, no party” a reality again. And Rod Stewart will surely be there.
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