Back in the 70s and 80s at English football grounds often there was on offer

some pre-match and/or half-time entertainment. Basically down the City that

meant girls not wearing very much - a couple of strategically-placed rosettes -

the Wurzels or some seals (not our Australian striker of the same name,

unfortunately).

From top left: leggy 80s ‘birds’ do the half-time City Society draw (the name was felt-

tipped onto the tombola! How City/Les Kew is that?!); even leggier 70s City birds, the

famous ‘Rockin’ Robins’ get their hands on City ‘character’ Stoney Garnett; Mr J Jenkins in

1935; couple of likely lads on trial at half-time for the City; and some 80s majorettes who

probably dropped their batons less often than John Vaughan in his 5 loan games in the 80s.

There was also Mr Joseph Jenkins (above) who would organise singing among

the crowd in the 30s, too, but let’s not go down that path today. Blimey. More

or less you could expect a bit of 70s sexism (scantily clad girls) or some dodgy

animal welfare (performing sea-life), but what about a helicopter (see first

photo, page 1)?

Probably not, although of course there were occasional performances by

dare-devil nutters jumping through rings of fire or crew-cuts from the Armed

Forces running round in their gear and abseiling down from somewhere.

But helicopters landing on the pitch during the game didn’t happen, at least

not according to my (albeit sketchy) memory. If you want this sort of

aeronautical exhibition you gotta go to Brazil, home of World Cup 2014.

But you might have to put up with some of this, too:

These were the scenes in December as Vasco da Gama played host to Atletico

Paranaense in the Arena Joinville, (neither team’s home ground – it was being

used as Atletico PR were being punished for previous violence).

Not being a close follower of Brazilian football, it’s not easy to write about

these events from the other side of the world. One man who is in situ and is a

respected voice, however, is Tim Vickery, who wrote the following:

One of the wisest quotes I know about the global game comes from the

Liverpool academic Rogan Taylor. "Football," he says, "is like strong beer.

Some people just can’t take it."

So many times in Brazil I have been asked how it came to pass that English

football eliminated its problem of violence. I always answer that such thinking

is dangerously complacent. The problem is never eliminated. Crowd

psychology being what it is, the possibility of a violent flare-up always exists --

and therefore such risks need to be taken into account when the spectacle is

being organised. This clearly did not happen on Sunday December 8th (2013)

in Brazil. The last round of the championship always generates strong

emotions, which spilled into tragedy in the match between Atletico Paranaense

and Vasco da Gama.

There was plenty at stake for both teams -- Vasco trying to avoid relegation to

the second division, while Atletico were seeking to secure a place in next year’s

version of the Copa Libertadores, South America’s equivalent of the

Champions League. Atletico were the home side. But the game did not take

place in their city of Curitiba, in the south of Brazil. As a punishment for

supporter behaviour in a previous game, Atletico had to stage the match at

least 100 kilometers away. The chosen venue, which Atletico have already used

this year, was Joinville, in the neighbouring state of Santa Catarina.

This state has adopted a curious, and surely utopian, practice. Security inside

the stadiums is not provided by the normal police, but by private companies.

For this game, with an electrical emotional charge, such a strategy was clearly

insufficient. The ground was nowhere near full, and a huge space existed

between the supporters of both sides. But there was nothing to stop fans

moving round the stadium -- no line of security guards, no fences to divide the

ground into sectors.

The emotional stakes were raised still higher when Atletico took an early lead.

Within minutes groups of rival fans were meeting in pitched battles on the

terraces. As the kicks, punches and iron bar blows flowed, three supporters

were left in a state of coma. A huge national TV audience witnessed scenes of

revolting violence - scenes which will take on an extra international dimension

because so many representatives of the global media were still in Brazil at the

time, following December’s World Cup draw.

Thankfully, however, a repetition of such scenes next June and July is surely

highly unlikely. There are, clearly, security concerns. In addition to Brazil’s

street crime and the possibility of political protest getting out of control, there

is also the near certainty that thousands of Argentine fans will cross the border

to follow their team. The chance of a violent flare-up always exists. (See below!)

But it is almost impossible that such a thing could happen inside the stadiums.

For a start there will be a level of organisation and adequate risk analysis that

was so glaringly absent from Sunday’s match in Joinville. And also because, in

terms of the Brazilian context, the national team has always attracted a

different type of fan from the club game. The follower of the Selecao is usually

more middle class and less inclined to get involved in the fierce rivalries that

move Brazilian club football -- and which currently give Brazil the totally

undesirable title of current world leader in football-related fatalities.

The dreadful scenes of Sunday, then, hopefully have little connection with the

mega-event set to take place in seven months’ time. But if the global impact of

the scenes in Joinville help concentrate minds on the dangers inherent in the

gathering of a crowd, at least something positive will have emerged from a

black Sunday for Brazilian football.

Tim Vickery has lived in Brazil and commented on South American football

since 1994, so there can be little doubt as to the authority with which he

speaks. Listen to him for five minutes on any radio station where he appears

(eg BBC Radio Five Live’s weekly Friday night World Football phone-in on

Dotun Adebayo’s Up All Night show) or read one or two articles by him in the

myriad publications in which he writes, both online and in paper format (eg

World Soccer magazine) and you know you are in the presence of someone

who is not just knowledgeable, but is also engaging to listen to/read. No statto,

he brings in a wealth of cultural, socio-political and wider influences to bear on

both his relaying of information and his well-judged opinion.

So he should know about Brazilian trouble and whether visitors to the World

Cup next June can expect a horror show in the stands, one topped off with

rubber bullets and a helicopter landing in the penalty area.

But Brazil, and South American football in general, has been going through a

particularly rough period for fan-related violence this past decade or so. 2013

saw a record number of 30 deaths related to football. Between 1999 and 2008

there were 42 football-related deaths; in 2012 the number reached 29 for a

single year, followed by that total of one more in 2013.

In February 2013, a flare fired by Corinthians fans killed Kevin Espada, a 14-

year-old supporter attending a Libertadores Cup game against San Jose in

Oruro, Bolivia. A couple of months later, some of the Brazilian hooligans who

had been arrested by Bolivian authorities, one of them a São Paulo city

councillor, were involved in a punch-up at the Mane Garrincha National

Stadium, one of the World Cup venues, in a match against Vasco.

But it’s not just the fans who are at it.

As you can see below, the players can get a bit tasty too. These shots are from

when violent clashes erupted in Brazil last April between players and the

military after Ronaldinho inspired Atletico Mineiro to a thumping 5-2 victory

over Argentinian rivals Arsenal in the Libertadores Cup. Visiting Argentines

attacked match officials and were met with Brazilian military power on the

pitch...

...and in the tunnel, too (last photo, above). At least that game reached its

conclusion, mind.

The Sud Americana final at the Estádio Cícero Pompeu de Toledo in São

Paulo, Brazil, about a twelve month ago (December 12th 2012) was abandoned.

“These men were very big. We had to defend ourselves using sticks and

bottles and they did the same.” Sod yer pitch invasion v the gAss, flaming hell.

In the prestigious two-legged continental cup final of 2012’s Copa Bridgestone

de Clubes - the equivalent perhaps of our UEFA Cup - unfancied Club Atlético

Tigre of Buenos Aires, Argentina and the more illustrious São Paulo FC of

Brazil fought a 0-0 first leg stalemate in Argentina on December 5th, before

lining up to do battle in the return a week later.

Even before the game kicked off controversy hung over the fixture as Tigre

squad members accused local officials of trying to stop their players warming

up on the pitch. A bit feistier than the Gloucestershire Cup Final, as you can

imagine. São Paulo scored twice before the break before all hell broke loose on

the referee’s half-time whistle. A Tigre player complained of being punched on

the nose by an opponent, an incident which was missed by the match officials

he claimed.

A mass brawl followed this, near the tunnel, involving both sets of players and

staff. Local stewarding and Police intervened and finally the players made it

down into the changing area, where Tigre personnel then claim they were

attacked by local Police and intimidated. When the away team failed to show

for the re-start, match officials had no choice but to abandon the game and

award the title to the host Brazilian club, despite the remonstrations of the

Argentines.

quote from a player!

“They were going to lose by a big score. Our biggest victory is the fact that the

Argentines ran away.” Can you guess who uttered these words in the aftermath

of this most chaotic of finals? Maybe the leader of the São Paulo Torcida

organizada (ultras)? Perhaps one of the notoriously subjective South

American tv commentators? Nope.

It was none other than the São Paulo President, the wonderfully named

Juvenal Juvencio, who told the São Paulo club's website via twitter a couple of

days later: “Brazilian football is celebrating. In the same year that the

Corinthians won their 1st international title (the World Club Championship in

Tokyo beating Chelsea. Ha-ha), São Paulo FC won his 12th” and, rather more

obscurely, “Whisky with crackers. You are welcome” (1) before adding, “This

Chelsea is pretty bad” (2) and “This (Victor) Moses is a friend of the coach,

right?” (3) (Translated from: 1. Whisky com Bolachas 2. Esse Chelsea é bem

ruim 3. Esse Moses é amigo do técnico, né?)

But Brazil has a history of police intervention on the field with one of the most

notorious incidents also involving another Argentine side at the Morumbi in

April 2005. The Quilmes defender Leandro Desabato was arrested on the field

for alleged racism during a Libertadores Cup game against São Paulo.

Desabato was held in custody for 40 hours, at one stage being handcuffed

(sadly not on the pitch, that would’ve been ace!), before being released. The

case was later dropped.

In October 2002, the Santos defender Preto was knocked unconscious when a

policeman hit him on the head with a truncheon as players protested about a

refereeing decision in a match in Belem. In March 2006, riot police used

pepper spray against brawling players during a Vasco da Gama-Flamengo

derby at the Maracana stadium, where one policeman was seen with his arm

around a player's neck. Not in a friendly manner, either.

IN 2008 Botafogo defender Andre Luis was arrested on the field and frog-

marched out of the stadium by around 10 riot police after being sent off in a

match at Nautico in the North-Easter city of Recife. His teammates were

squirted with pepper spray. The Rio team’s coach, Abel Braga, said at the time:

"It's unbelievable that this happens in the Brazilian championship and in a

country which in a few years' time is going to host the World Cup."

Compare all this to the Rockin’ Robins leggy show plus a couple of zoo animals

capering about and we ain’t seen nuttin’.

We may think we have some issues with player back-chat, too, in this country,

but in Brazil, maybe even at the World Cup in 6 months, the polícia get

involved if you step out of line. This is how we do it, Brasil-style, indeed.