FIFA on Monday condemned football violence and insisted that security at World Cup matches would be “very comprehensive”, after at least three football fans were taken to hospital in Brazil Sunday following violence at a league game between Atletico Paranaense and Vasco da Gama.
Supporters at Sunday’s match in the southern state of Santa Catarina fought for several minutes before police arrived and intervened with tear gas and rubber bullets. Local media reported that no police were stationed within the pitch because a private security force was employed.
Video footage shows the spectators running toward each other on the stands, and kicking and punching one another. There did not appear to be any barriers or segregation between the two groups of supporters.
In one video clip, a group of more than a dozen Paranaense fans surround a Vasco supporter lying on the ground and kick him. Other footage shows Vasco supporters attacking a Paranaense fan who appears to be unconscious.
Play was halted for more than an hour. During this time a helicopter landed on the pitch, and the most seriously injured fan was airlifted to hospital.
The game was an important one for both teams: Vasco da Gama was trying to avoid relegation, and Atletico Paranaense was trying to get through to 2014’s Copa Libertadores.
On her official blog, President Dilma Rousseff commented on the “shocking scenes” of the confrontation. She said she had spoken to Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo and argued for "required attendance" of police in Brazilian stadiums, immediate arrests in the event of violence and the creation of a police delegation for soccer fans, so as to prevent scenes like Sunday's.
"This violence goes against everything we believe to be football; a sport of passion, but also of tolerance,” President Rousseff wrote. “The country of football can no longer live with violence in stadiums."
A twitter campaign “Peace in our stadiums” has been launched, with the hashtag #PazNosEstádios.
“I am a 16 year old, but am terrified of going into football stadiums .... because I do not know if I'll come back alive,” said one tweet. Another read “Share it! If anyone sees it: report it! Football is entertainment, not a cause of violence and death!”
The incident is likely to raise alarm bells ahead of the 2014 World Cup. Fan violence has been increasing in Brazil, with a particularly grisly episode drawing plenty of international attention. In July, an amateur football match ended in two gruesome murders: fans decapitated a referee after he stabbed a player to death.
FIFA called Sunday's incident “very sad for Brazilian football,” but said it could not comment directly as neither FIFA nor the Local Organizing Committee of the World Cup were involved in the organization of that match.
“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 sent to Anadolu Agency. “The concept has worked very well during the FIFA Confederations Cup and is build on models used at previous FIFA World Cups.”
Mauricio Murad, a University of Rio de Janeiro State sociologist, who wrote the book ‘How To Understand Football Violence', told Reuters that this year has seen at least 30 people have been killed in and around football stadiums. He said this was seven more than last year and blamed organised fan groups.
