be in league 1, Liga 2 or Copa Peru, the Peruvian soccer He will never forget curious stories and unusual cases that are part of what is colloquially called the folklore of our country. But even by the standards of sport in our country, it’s difficult to find something as bizarre as a player who has to leave his team, travel and wear another club’s shirt for an official match. Incredibly, this happened Jahirsino Baylon with university in 2013.
Jahirsino Baylón, the well-known striker and son of former Peru international Julió Baylón, was a first-choice player in those years. He joined U from Sport Huancayo in mid-2012 and left the club a year later to sign for Unión Comercio. However, when he was already training with the mighty of Altomayo, he had to dress in cream once more. What happened?
Jahirsino Baylón was saved from relegation with Unión Comercio in 2013. Photo: GLR archives
The rugged Melgar vs. University in Arequipa
On July 21, 2013, Melgar and Universitario faced each other in Arequipa for the 26th appointment of decentralization. The match was very entertaining. La U won 2-0 through a brace from Raúl Ruidíaz. After Dominó was reduced to ten men after Santiago Bezruk was sent off, Bernardo Cuesta equalized with two goals in four minutes. With more than 10,000 spectators, the stadium was on fire.
All was going well until the referee’s foursome accused Bernardo Cuesta with a scandalously non-existent offside at 87 minutes. This sprung up the Melgar bank to make claims and things spiraled out of control: Franco Navarro, Domino’s DT, attacked Jhonny Bossio, the assistant who raised the flag. In this way, referee Iván Chang considered the game stopped.
Jahirsino Baylón and the unusual resolution of Melgar vs. academic
Weeks later it was decided that the remaining seven minutes of Melgar vs. Universitario would be played on Wednesday 21 August 2023 at the National Stadium. Yes, in a different city and without an audience, everyone involved got together to play what little was left of a game that had started exactly a month ago. Finally, 10 minutes were played in which there was no more than one goal chance for everyone.
And where does Jahirsino Baylón come in? It happens that the striker was substituted on by Diego Guastavino at 55′, so he was on the field at the time of the suspension. Despite being signed for Unión Comercio, Baylón had to abide by the protocol of being present in Lima, standing in uniform and with all the trimmings for Fernando Alloco to fill in for him before the restart.
Jahirsino Baylón added in the resumption of Melgar vs. University a month later. Photo: DeChalaca
“I have no problem playing for Universitario again, but now I have a contract with another team and I have to ask permission. If they give it to me, I’ll play. I always want to play,” Baylón had said. He signed for the leagues with Comercio and still failed to make his debut with the club on the day the remaining minutes were played. Although he was immediately replaced, he marked an unusual episode in Peruvian football in the same way.