Tim Vickery Column: A dramatic penultimate Sunday in the ‘Round against Racism’

I was up out my seat yelling ‘goal!’ in the press box of the Engenhao stadium when Vasco da Gama scored their late, late winner against Fluminense. Not because I’m cheering in favour of one team or cheering against another. But because it means that the race for the title goes all the way to […]
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sambafoot_admin
2011-11-28 13:18:00

I was up out my seat yelling ‘goal!’ in the press box of the Engenhao stadium when Vasco da Gama scored their late, late winner against Fluminense. Not because I’m cheering in favour of one team or cheering against another. But because it means that the race for the title goes all the way to Sunday’s last round.

Corinthians, whose game away to Figueirense had finished a few minutes earlier, were celebrating on the pitch as the clock ticked away and Vasco and Fluminense were tied at 1-1. That goal by Bernardo makes those celebrations premature. To be sure of the title Corinthians need a draw at home to traditional rivals Palmeiras in the final round. We have drama to the end – which is just what this 2011 version of the Brazilian Championship deserves.

As well as all the drama, the penultimate set of games, apparently, also deserved a theme. Sunday’s matches were ‘the round against racism.’ All over Brazil the players took the field to be photographed in front of a banner which read “Say no to racism. Racism is crime.”
It is a noble sentiment – though in this case I doubt very much whether it has been motivated by the most noble of motives.

Veteran sambista and writer Nei Lopes is releasing a new novel. In a recent interview with the ‘O Dia’ newspaper he said that the content of the work had been motivated by his belief that “Brazilian racism is still terrible, something that we have not yet been able to cure. The stratification of power continues and the blacks don’t have access to it.”

Paulo Cesar ‘Caju’ would surely agree. On Saturday I had the chance to sit down and discuss football and life with the 1970s legend – not only one of the great players that the Brazilian game has produced, but also one of its most interesting figures.

He told me that he had never accepted the place that Brazilian society had reserved for its afro-descendents. Most Brazilian buildings, and almost all middle class apartment blocks, have two elevators – the ‘social’ for the residents and the ‘servico’ for the tradesman, maids and so on. And the apartments have two doors, observing the same division. There was no way that Paulo Cesar would humiliate himself by accepting second class status. Even as a kid, if he couldn’t go in the front door then he wouldn’t go in.

He spoke of his frustration at the lack of progress in overcoming racism – not only in Brazilian society, but also in football. How many black coaches are there? I pointed out that Colombia has many. Brazil doesn’t. How many Brazilian blacks have influential positions in the sports media? Not many.

It was with this conversation still playing in my head that I went to the Engenhao the following day and was left a little cold by the anti-racist message being professed. Because it was not placed in any context. There is no reflection or debate on the problem and what can be done about it. Occasionally there are fans making monkey noises in Brazilian stadiums – a noted and especially absurd example taking place in the stadium of Santos at the end of July in that epic 5-4 win of Flamengo. While visiting substitute Diego Mauricio was warming up, home supporters (of Pele’s old club!) greeted him with this wretched treatment. I am not aware of any action being taken against these fans. Racism, then, did not seem so unacceptable to the football authorities just four months ago.

But perhaps racism was not even the principal target of this ‘round against racism.’ It is more likely that the principal aim of the CBF was to embarrass FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who left a flank exposed with his recent remarks about racist incidents on the field being settled with a shake of hands on the final whistle.

This is the perspective that much of the Brazilian press have given to the ’anti-racist round,’ and it is hard to disagree. Relations between Blatter and CBF president Ricardo Teixeira are clearly very strained. In the search to improve his image, Blatter seems to be seeking to distance himself from Teixeira and the controversial baggage he brings – and we all wait to see what will happen if Blatter is true to his word and allows the ISL papers to be released. Is Texeira being thrown to the wolves?

The reaction of the CBF boss (also president of the World Cup Local Organising Committee) would seem to indicate that he is on the defensive against FIFA. Announcing the ’round against racism’ Teixeira went out of his way to declare that the problem could not be solved by a simple handshake, explicitly repudiating the much criticised position taken by Blatter.
So is this genuinely the start of an anti-racist campaign that will highlight the problems, debate the issues and seek to form a consensus about solutions? Or is nothing more than a calculated piece of real politic? It would be nice to be able to think the former – because racism is a crime, but cynical opportunism is nothing to be proud of. 

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