The quality of the football on the pitch may not be anywhere near the level of the European leagues, which gobble up the outstanding young talents of Argentina, but for years, the incredible atmosphere inside Argentine stadia have drawn people to it’s football. Over the past two and a half years, crowds have still ensured an enviable matchday experience to many leagues around the world but since June 2013 that has been without the presence of visiting supporters. After the death of a Lanús supporter in La Plata, the AFA banned all visiting fans. The measure has done little to stem football violence and after continued calls to reverse the decision, the AFA have now decided to lift the ban for two matches this weekend.

In this weekend’s Primera fixtures, Olimpo will travel from Bahía Blanca to Sarandí to meet Arsenal and will have visiting supporters present, in what is a small but perhaps significant step. The meeting of two of the smallest supported clubs in the top flight on Sunday afternoon should present few problems for organisers and the police but the hope is that it paves the way to the eventual return of travelling fans.

In the Metropolitana B, a second match will permit supporters from both sides when Tristan Suarez host Sportivo Italiano on Friday evening and in theory there was supposed to be a third but it was decided that Sarmiento’s Estadio Eva Perón in Junín was not yet ready to welcome Defensa y Justicia on Friday.

AFA president, Luís Segura said on Wednesday evening to reporters: “We hope that they play and there is not any kind of inconvenience.” This would be a rather understated way of describing the previous incidents that they had hoped to eradicate and came as a bit of a turnaround as a day earlier, Segura had said that there was no plan and it would most likely not happen this year.

Arsenal against Olimpo will not be the acid test but the hope is that eventually AFA will be able to find the way to see visiting supporters back in Argentine stadiums.

The event that sparked the ban was the death of a Lanús supporter when police reacted to the barra bravas destroying a drinks area at Estudiantes’ stadium in La Plata and shot the supporter in the chest with a rubber bullet from close range. Much of the violence in Argentine football is internal with battles among a club’s own barra bravas and so the visiting supporter ban does little to halt this. Since the ban in June 2013, the non-profit organisation Salvamos Al Fútbol has counted 33 related deaths and so the far more complex issue of the barra bravas needs to addressed with the clubs, the police and the government.