Independiente Rivadavia's Coach Broke a Crutch, Now It's a Fan Raffle

There are soccer nights that leave behind an image nobody could have planned for. In Independiente Rivadavia's match against Barracas Central, that image was a crutch bent completely out of shape right there on the field, the very same one Alfredo Berti has been using to coach from the bench for some time now.

The play was as violent as it was unintentional in how it played out. Rodrigo Insua came in hard on Bottari, who went down directly on top of the coach's crutches, bending one of them from end to end. The foul, despite how forceful it looked, only drew a yellow card for the Barracas defender.

Berti has been coaching on crutches because he's dealing with a fractured fibula in his right leg. The coach himself explained how it happened: it was during a training session, when he tried to kick a ball, slipped, and ended up breaking the bone. Since then, he's followed matches from the edge of the box with that extra support, something that had already become part of his presence on the bench.

An unusual raffle for club members

What could have stayed as just another locker room story, the club decided to turn into something much more fun. Independiente Rivadavia took to social media to announce that Berti's bent crutch is being raffled off among its members.

Tonight, against Barracas, Alfredo Berti's crutch didn't hold up. The team did: we won and we're alone at the top.Independiente Rivadavia

The post, accompanied by an image as funny as the message itself, laid out the rules for entering the raffle. Signing up alone isn't enough: members who want to walk away with this peculiar keepsake have to comment on the Instagram post explaining why they want it. It's a way of pulling fans into the joke and, in the process, drumming up some engagement around an object that, in any other context, would have gone straight into the locker room trash.

The deadline to enter closes this Tuesday at 4 p.m., according to details the club shared in the same post. In the meantime, the broken crutch has become the symbol of a night when Independiente Rivadavia won and moved into sole possession of first place, and when its coach, literally leaning on two sticks, ended up starring in one of the strangest scenes of the matchday.