A black player who is called a “monkey” by the opponent, racist insults from the crowd, abuse of black team members even by their own fans – in Brazilian football, reports of racist attacks on players and spectators have recently increased. Internacional Porto Alegre’s Edenilson reported that his opponent called him a monkey and in protest he changed the name of his social media profile to ‘Monkey Edenilson Andrade dos Santos’.
Goiás’ Fellipe Bastos had a similar experience, being insulted from the crowd on the way to the dressing room. Coach Edinho Rosa has even been the victim of insults from his own supporters, and verbal attacks in stadiums have also been reported by Afro-Brazilian fans.
New stadium landscape, different audience
The reasons are complex. Historian David Gomes sees a key factor in the fact that the country radically changed its stadium landscape for the 2014 World Cup and the Summer Olympics two years later. And with it the composition of the audience. In an interview with DW, Gomes recommends taking a look at the Brazilian football archives to understand the dramatic changes in the stands: “If we look at the big pictures from the Maracanã, like the historical photos from the 1950s to the turn of the century, then we see a lot of black and poor spectators in the stands.”
Historian David Gomes sees increasing racism in Brazil’s stadiums
But that changed abruptly with the construction of new stadiums and the renovation of existing ones. “It was clear that the events like the World Cup and the Olympics were intended for an all-white elite audience and not for the audience that we were used to at the big club games in Rio,” says Gomes. Sponsors and the world association FIFA would have had an interest in attracting a different economic audience, the construction industry wanted orders.
More subtle structures of racism strengthened
Some of the structures of racism were therefore strengthened by the World Cup, while others had already existed before. “But from a perspective of the more subtle structures of racism, it has certainly intensified,” says Gomes, citing a concrete example: “The main problem is the issue of the arenas. In addition to ticket prices, there are other expenses: drinks, food, everything is more expensive than before.”
This increase in overall costs is also due to the fact that the new arenas have to be paid for somehow. “This whole process ends in an elitization and with the expulsion of black spectators from the big arenas.”
Bad experience in the mall
One person who has experienced racist insults himself is soccer player Juninho from Vasco da Gama. He had to listen to spectators making monkey noises at an international away game when he complained to the referee about a scene in the game. “I didn’t understand what happened. All I know is that I was very sad. It was a terrible experience,” Juninho told DW. Afro-Brazilian players also have experiences away from football that they would like to do without: “Once I went to the mall with a backpack and security people followed me just because I’m black and carrying a backpack. It was really bad.”
Juninho’s experiences are sometimes part of everyday life for the Afro-Brazilian population. Despite this experience, the professional does not want to give up and wants to stand up for respect and equality. Change begins when everyone embraces these values in their families and in their upbringing. “I won’t give up, especially because I’m playing for Vasco, a club that takes a clear stance against racism.”
“I can’t stand racism in football anymore”
In the meantime, the Brazilian football association CBF is also coming under increasing pressure to take more decisive action against racism in football. Columnist Rodrigo Coutinho from the UOL portal recently called for drastic action by the associations at national and international level: “I can no longer stand racism in football,” he says.
Coach Roger Machado, one of the few Afro-Brazilians to have made it to the coaching bench at a professional club, sees football as a mirror of society. “Football shows who we are as a society. The presence of the black population in other areas is very similar to that of football,” the Correio Braziliense portal quoted Machado as saying a few weeks ago.
As blacks and whites attempted to climb the social ladder, some sort of filter would appear. A filter of the ideology that created racism and which attributes black people to a state of lower intelligence, leadership and management skills. Exactly those skills that would be required of a football coach. Machado also criticized President Jair Bolsonaro’s right-wing populist discourse. With him there was a kind of authorization for racism in society.