(Image from La Nacion, used sin permiso!)I tend to think of futbol, and pretty much all sports, as a kind of ritualized battle. One side v. the other, somebody wins. A battle, nothing less. and the sports fans, supporting one side or the other, become vicariously involved in the battle. And in places like Buenos Aires, and all over the world really, a culture evolves around this vicarious participation in battle that elevates it in importance. And to be sure, this taps into some deep genetic impulses that everyone, but especially males (obviously) carry around. Sure, it's a survival thing -- the young men are the strongest and fastest of the group, so over the millions of years that we evolved, they had to fight to protect the group. So being a futbol fan gives the young males a chance to participate in some level in a battle, which some genes somewhere say is a good thing.
The problem is, battle is not a good thing. Not at all. Battle is violence. Battles frequently get out of control. Especially in a heavily populated, urban society. The battles get out of control, and kids get killed at soccer games, people get stabbed. One kid got killed at a game on saturday, then on sunday there was something of a riot at a Boca Juniors game. A hundred and eighty people were arrested, and one older guy was stabbed. Cars were burned and overturned, i'm sure there were dozens and dozens of injuries.
And it's not just a matter of game-day violence. The bigger problem is that this battle-related violence may tend to legitimize violence and a generally confrontational attitude. Gotta be tough, right? You can't help but notice the attitude, the dudes wearing the futbol shirts. Not all of them -- lots of dudes wear futbol shirts, but you can easily spot the ones looking for trouble.
Argentina, like italy, brazil, england, and lord knows dozens and dozens of other countries has a futbol culture that glorifies belonging to a group of supporters of a team. It becomes way, way too much of these people's identities. And when it's that much of your identity, you start to justify anything done in the name of "supporting" your team.
Seems to me to be very much like a street gang. Your gang becomes your support network, and before long you become willing to do anything to support your gang.
And of course it's generally the people (okay, men - let's be clear, this is a male problem) who don't have that much else going on in their lives who become the most trouble. They're frustrated by their place in society, their lack of opportunities. And being a member of the "Barra Brava" -- the brave/crazy fans -- gives them an outlet for asserting themselves.
So, hell, what is there to do about this? Nothing, it seems. This is cultural, and it's hard to change culture. Although it does change over time -- the soccer fans in england are much, much less thuggish than they were twenty years ago. So what happened? Actually, I hate to say it but it seems that england just became a lot richer. In the seventies, eighties, things were looking kind of bleak in england. And now, it's much more posh. The soccer teams were bought by big companies and really rich people, the stadiums fixed up, the prices raised, and over a decade or so, soccer became 'family entertainment'.
And note how in the US we have a very limited amount of sports-related craziness. OK, once in a while the post-victory celebrations get out of control, but that seems to be about it. And of course the US is pretty rich. But what about the italian example? Italy is now a pretty rich country, but I think they still have trouble with their futbol fans. Although I'm not really sure.
OK, I admit, this is a rant. But it's something I think about a lot. Dan's original quote of the day -- "Violence -- it's a problem." I just hate the futbol culture, because it seems like a violence incubator. We really, really need fewer battles, not more.
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