The end of
another year of football in Brazil exposed the putrid state of every element of
the game. This video explains some of it:
The Vasco x
Atletico Paranaense match was held in the city of Joinville in Santa Catarina
State because Altético´s stadium is under construction, and massively delayed,
for the World Cup. Vasco needed to win in order to avoid relegation, but their
team is so devoid of talent that staying in the first division another year
would have been a sporting injustice. Why are Vasco so bad? Anyone out there
remember Phillipe Coutinho, now starring in midfield for Liverpool? Ex-Vasco, he
was sold to A.C. Milan on the day he turned 18. Vasco´s youth system has been condemned
in the courts and the few times they do manage to produce talent, the boys are
sold off to the highest bidder. This is same reason for which Fluminense was
relegated. They decided to sell their two best players, Wellinton Nem and
Thiago Neves, in mid season and brought no one in to replace them. The
political-economy of Brazilian football continues to benefit agents and
directors at the expense of clubs and fans.
However, the
causes for the scenes above have much deeper roots than just the emptying of
talent pools and managerial incompetence (read: Vanderlei Luxemburgo). The torcidas organizadas have long standing
relationships with club directors. This is not new or surprising in Latin
America. However, the fact that there had been violence between the torcidas of
Vasco and Atletico PR and that the Military Police decided not to patrol inside
the stadium, leaving it up to a private security force, on a day when the Torcida
Jovem of Vasco was likely to be at its most aggressive because of the impending
relegation…that is another kind of violence in and of itself. The inability of
the state to anticipate pre-announced conflicts or of the responsible football authorities
to ensure the safe realization of a game is exactly the kind of violence
through absence that has as its inevitable counterpoint a boot in the face and
a nail-tipped club in the head. Violence permeates Brazilian football at all
levels so why are we so surprised when it breaks out in the stands?
Naturally, in
Brazil, no one is going to assume responsibility for any of this. The clubs cannot
be held responsible for their permissive relationships with the torcidas, the
PM´s hands off attitude may be criticized but not investigated, the CBF is tone
deaf, blind and unmoving. The only thing that will happen is that both Vasco
and Atletico will receive punishments of short duration that will not
significantly alter the status quo.
A number of
important Brazilian footballers have started a movement to reform Brazilian
football from the inside. Good Sense F.C. is calling for a reorganization of
the football calendar and for a declaration of labor rights for football
players. They issued a note regarding yesterday´s violence saying all culpable
parties should be found out. This includes the CBF, the Military Police, the
private security firm in charge of the internal policing, the emergency
personnel, the board of directors of both clubs and the torcidas organizadas.
As bad as the violence was, it could easily have been prevented - with the presence of police and actually having a fence to separate the rival torcidas. Without condoning the violence, it would be a shame to see all toricda organizadas suffer as a consequence of this. Because although a violent element does exist at times, they also contribute so much energy into the atmosphere at matches. I'd hate to see Brazil football go the way of England's league - dull and boring, with a ban on flags and such... and everyone seated the entire match. But yeah, as mentioned above - where the hell were the police and a security fence..?
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