As the World Cup draws closer, the governments of Brazil and Argentina are
drawing up a cooperation agreement, while in Argentina guidelines for
travelling fans will top and tail football broadcasts, encouraging those
with past records or pending hearings to apply for special permits to
travel.
Brazil is no stranger to street muggings, pickpocketing, and organised gang
action, so the issue is non-negligible and likely to be an ongoing sub-plot
throughout the tournament. Argentine rivalry, added to close proximity,
could set things off more than, for example, the presence of British fans,
or German or Russian ones.
Violent actions, be they war, terrace-related gang fare, police brutality or
lawless street confrontations, permeate societies. Football has the
potential to be the most noble and beautiful of art forms, but it comes hand
in hand with notions of sectarianism, territoriality, exclusion, and hatred
of the other – factors we are often all too willing to forgive, on the
grounds that football justifies them. Sadly, the love of football, one way
or another, is stacking up a death toll that becomes increasingly hard to
swallow.
Maradona’s sense of England as the enemy spurred him to score two of the most
remarkable goals on a World Cup stage within the space of a few minutes, a
perfect illustration of all that is good and all that is unjust about this
game. Michael Owen went on to pay back in kind in 2002, diving for a penalty
which wasn’t and then shutting up any critics with a superb
solo effort from start to finish. Who knows what will motivate the
people who provide the enduring images from the turf this summer, a prospect
that has most of us salivating with anticipation. Whatever magic the ball
unfolds, let it not be reflected off the pitch by vitriol and hatred.