Soccer Violence in Latin America

Resurgent Soccer violence throughout the Latin American Countries of Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, and Chile has become a major concern and is threatening the integrity of the sport and health of spectators. President Nicolas Leoz, of the South American Soccer federation, COMNEBOL states that the federation is highly concerned by the problem, "We are worried about these incidents in Latin America. This violence has nothing whatsoever to do with genuine soccer." The authorities are developing plans on how to stop the violence. The stadiums are primarily hiring military and off duty police as a security force to patrol and safeguard million dollar stadiums, filled with fanatical fans. Many of the times these fanatical fans use sticks and stones during these fights which can lead to more serious injuries. Often this fanaticism leads to fights and brawls, which can ultimately lead to serious injury or death.
This unrest comes from fan trouble in Europe which has been prevalent for nearly a century. Argentina has developed a reputation for having the most violent hooligans, whose ages vary from as young as fifteen to as old as fifty. At lease 149 people in Argentina have died since 1939 in violent outbreaks linked to the sport and fan incidents. Much of this violence stems from the barras bravas, groups of soccer hooligans, similar to their European counterpart's, ultras. Javier Castrilli, a top regulator of the sport in Argentina said team executives can no longer cast a blind eye on the barra brava, saying it was time to crack down on such scum.
Soccer has become a part of national past time in many Latin American Countries, the people are very serious about the sport, and fans are fanatical about their teams. This violence first and foremost effects the younger fans, introducing them to such severe violence at a young age. Soccer clubs are also penalized by the Soccer federation for injuries and damages done during fan violence at matches.




Links for Further reading:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/world/2007-02-22-latin-america-violence_x.htm
http://www.originaldissent.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1726
http://wais.stanford.edu/Sports/sports_laandsoccer11101.html
http://www.amnesty.org/