Boca Juniors have installed shaking devices at their training grounds to prepare youngsters to play on a pitch notorious for swaying under the feet of their raucous fans. Boca’s Bombonera stadium is known for vibrating when fans bounce together in big games, but the experience can be unsettling for young players, says the club’s former midfielder and current vice-president Juan Roman Riquelme.
“It doesn’t happen anywhere else. It’s the only stadium that moves,” he said in a video on the club’s social media. “You can be out there and feel the ground moving.” Boca recently installed a series of pneumatic devices that pound the pitches of their training ground. The devices are linked to social media accounts, so when fans click ‘Like’, the club turns that into movement on the training ground.
Boca, based in Buenos Aires, has 4.5 million followers on Twitter, 6.4 million on Instagram and 8.7 million on Facebook. “You have to be ready to play for Boca,” said a video from the club. “We are preparing the young people who will be in the first team tomorrow. We prepare them for football, and emotionally too.
Boca are one of the biggest teams in South America, with some of the most passionate fans. The club was home to players such as Diego Maradona, Carlos Tevez and Claudio Caniggia.
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