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 Three people were seriously injured when fans fought running
battles at the Atletico Paranaense v Vasco da Gama match on Sunday
and at least 30 people have been killed in incidents in and around
Brazil's stadiums this year.
Sunday's game on the final day of the season had to be halted for 70
minutes and players broke down in tears as they watched fans chase
each other round the terraces, trading blows with home-made clubs
and weapons.
Brazil's Sports Ministry condemned the violence and called for swift
punishment for hooligans.
It also said it would consult with public prosecutors and police
chiefs over security at matches. There were no police inside the
Arena Joinville where Sunday's game took place because the home side
had opted to use private security guards.
President Dilma Rousseff also condemned the troublemakers and called
for a special police station to be set up to deal with
football-related incidents.
"I can assure you the lamentable scenes we saw yesterday will not be
seen at the World Cup," said Andrei Rodrigues, the special secretary
of major events at the Justice Ministry.
"We can assure you that the stadiums at the World Cup will have at
least 200 camera feeds providing real time video and what happened
yesterday cannot happen at the World Cup."
However, some stadiums in use already have CCTV but they are not
always used to identify or track down troublemakers. Many of the
hooligans belong to organized fan clubs sponsored by the clubs
themselves.
DARKEST DAYS
The scenes brought back memories of the darkest days of European
football in the 1980s and provided further proof that football
violence is worsening in Brazil.
"Something has changed, and for the worse," said Mauricio Murad, a
Rio de Janeiro sociologist who wrote the book 'How To Understand
Football Violence'.
"Over the last five or six years violence inside stadiums was under
control and it was only bad outside the grounds. What we've seen
over the last few weekends is a return to violence inside the
stadiums."
Murad slated authorities for neglecting to take action against a
problem they can see is getting worse.
Lance, Brazil's best-selling sports newspaper, said 234 people had
been killed in football violence since 1988.
The paper recently described the organized fan groups "gangsters
dressed up as football fans" and blamed the authorities for not
doing more.
The paper suggested police take simple steps such as making known
hooligans report to police stations on match days, a tactic that was
successful in England.
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"The problem is not the lack of laws but the lack of
commitment and rigor shown by authorities in upholding the laws
that exist," the paper said in a front-page editorial in October
after fans fought with police at the Sao Paulo derby between Sao
Paulo and Corinthians.
On Monday, the paper printed the colorful World Cup logo in
black and white. The tournament will be held in South America
next year for the first time since 1978.
FIFA was quick to tell fans they should not fear violence at
next year's tournament which will be held in 12 new or totally
modernized stadiums across the country.
Unlike Sunday's game, which was organized by local clubs under
the auspices of the Brazilian Football Confederation, World Cup
matches are organized by FIFA and will count on heavy security
both inside and outside the stadiums.
In addition, only eight percent of tickets for each match go
directly to the fans of the teams involved.
"For the 2014 FIFA World Cup a very comprehensive security
concept is in place in an integrated operation between private
and public security authorities to ensure the safety for fans,
players and any other stakeholder involved in the event," FIFA
said in a statement.
"The concept has worked very well during the FIFA Confederations
Cup (in Brazil this year) and is built on models used at
previous FIFA World Cups."
The worry for Brazilians is not just what goes on during the
World Cup, but also what will happen afterwards.
Authorities say the new stadiums will attract more sophisticated
supporters who will watch the match in safer and more
comfortable surroundings.
Yet some of the most depressing incidents this year took place
in stadiums built for the World Cup.
Fans from Vasco and Corinthians battled each other and police at
the Mane Garrincha stadium in Brasilia in August, just three
months after Brazil kicked off the Confederations Cup at the
same venue.
"If things change it is not because we have new stadiums but
because we have policies in place designed to prevent, repress
and educate," Murad said.
"That's the only way that things are going to change."
(Additional reporting by Mike Collett; editing by Ed Osmond)
(andrewdowniebrazil@gmail.com)
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