SPORTS-ARGENTINA: Football – Breeding Ground for Violence

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, May 5 2000 (IPS) - Argentina’s football stadiums have become scenes of extreme violence, claiming 50 lives in the past 10 years, but the authorities are at a loss as to how to combat the growing problem.

For a foreign tourist who knows Argentine football from seeing it on TV and enjoys watching the footwork of Diego Maradona – one of the greatest players of all times -, going to a game here is almost an obligatory rite if he or she wants to really experience the excitement of the sport.

Tens of thousands of Argentine fans spend a great deal of time following their favourite team and watching the television programme ‘Fútbol de Primera’ (Football’s Best), which is the exclusive broadcast of the most important game each Sunday, and has been the highest rated TV show in Argentina for years.

The songs chanted against the opposing team, the hats, flags, jerseys and signs painted with colours of a fan’s favourite team, even the tattoos that diehards proudly display on various parts of their bodies, are all part of the spectacle – before, during and after the actual game.

Ninety minutes go by as the players desperately play to win, and take one more step on their way to whatever championship is on the schedule. For the spectators, it is practically impossible to remain seated in the stadium bleachers due to the fervour of the most faithful fans, who endlessly jump up and down, yell insults, shout and cheer.

But this sport, the most popular in Argentina and in many other countries, and the strange spectacle that surrounds it are becoming infected with violence, as groups of fanatical fans spin further out of control.

Approximately 80 deaths have occurred in or around football stadiums in Argentina since the 1930s, when football became a professional sport here. But 50 of those deaths happened in just the last decade, and were the result of violent acts – a situation that only seems to be getting worse as the new century begins.

Just last month, fans of the ‘Excursionistas’ football club, the home team, brutally beat 10 players from ‘Comunicaciones’ while the game between these third division professional teams was underway.

One of the Comunicaciones players was hospitalised with severe head injuries. A few days after he was released, he suffered convulsions and ended up in the emergency room, just when he was to file legal charges against the attackers.

The thrashing of the Comunicaciones players, shown on video as proof of the barbarity of the attackers and the ineffectiveness of the police, prompted the Unionised Football Players Association to call a strike from April 27 to May 2.

Players, referees and journalists agreed they had never before seen violence to that degree at a football game.

But they all also concurred that the episode was the corollary of other violent events, beginning with fans throwing objects onto the field from the stands.

On several occasions players and referees have been removed from the playing field on stretchers after being hit by objects thrown by the fans, whose unsportsmanlike chants are also increasingly aggressive.

The violence includes racial attacks on Argentina’s football fields, such as the ongoing harassment suffered by the Atlanta club, which is associated with the Jewish community.

Fans of the Atlanta club’s rivals employ such tactics as waving signs that applaud the 1994 bomb attack against the Israeli Argentine Mutual Association in which 89 people died, and throwing bars of soap onto the field, an allusion to the Nazi holocaust against the Jews.

Another incident that went far beyond the limits of civilised behaviour occurred last month, led by over-zealous Huracán football club fans.

Just days after the suicide of Mirko Saric, a player from the San Lorenzo training team, fans of the Huracán club, San Lorenzo’s major rival, displayed a sign bearing a picture of the young player with a noose around his neck.

“Such violence, more than being a reflection of society, is specific to football, which has its own organisations, codes and even gangs paid by the managers, who later lose control over them,” commented Ariel Scher, sportswriter for ‘Clarín’ newspaper.

During the football strike, representatives from the Argentine government, the Argentine Football Association (AFA) and the players’ union met to discuss measures for ensuring the safety of players and spectators at the football stadiums.

The government promised to step up police presence at the stadiums and players created a committee to verify security measures prior to each game and to suspend play if an attack occurs. The delegates at the meeting approved these mechanisms, which then led to the end of the players’ strike.

The authorities promised to send a football security bill to Congress this month that would give police greater control over fans who engage in violence, allowing officers to identify them and prevent them from entering the stadiums.

Despite the commitments the various parties have made to resolve the problem, scepticism still dominates the sports scene. This is not the first time the government and football officials have attempted to implement such plans.

One reason behind this frustration is the alleged complicity between the football club managers and the so-called ‘barras bravas’ (wild gangs), groups that act under codes similar to those of organised crime.

These groups receive money and free tickets from the sports club in order to create a euphoric atmosphere in the stadium, according to complaints, which the clubs generally do not deny. The ‘barras bravas’ even travel to world championships to cheer on the Argentine team, and the club managers pay their expenses.

“The ones who are most responsible for football violence are the club managers who created these gangs and encourage them, protect them, but then deny they exist,” charged judge Victor Perrota, who suspended a 1998 local championship game due to violence at the stadium.

Perrota said there had been insufficient protection, not just for the players, but also for the public, coaches and referees, and even the residents living near the stadium.

“The complicity continues and is severely damaging football, which is only accentuated by the government’s and AFA’s lack of will to ensure compliance with the laws that would permit police to control violent people in the stadiums,” said the judge.