Another campaign, another violent beginning. The problems never quite went away domestically in Argentina, continuing through the playoffs with the death of a Tigre fan after their victory over Nueva Chicago, and now onwards. But what was truly remarkable about Tuesday night’s shooting – which has now turned into a murder, because Gonzalo Acro died around thirty hours later – is that it went so far beyond the ‘accepted’ norms of barra brava behaviour. Football’s problem, which had been a reflection of wider society, has now spilled out of the stadia, through the mirror, and into the world at large.
The shooting ocurred well away from the stadium, and not on a match day. It also, of course, involved firearms, which seems to break one of the main unspoken rules of the barras – disputes aren’t settled with guns. And the fact that it happened not on a stadium terrace, but out in the streets, in the every day setting of porteño life, just goes to make one thing clearer which many of Argentina’s foremost journalists have been saying for much of the last year: this is a problem with society, not just with football. The two don’t happen in isolation from each other.
Squabbles over power and who gets the honour of being ringleader of a gang happen in school playgrounds. At the age of nine or ten, it seems terribly important to be in with the most popular kid in school and to seem ‘tough’. That’s simply a part of growing up, as, of course, is growing out that phase. But when people who left school ten years ago or more are still involved in such petty bickering – and, furthermore, when the weapons they’re holding are not sticks or imaginary swords, but real guns loaded with real bullets – something has clearly gone rather badly wrong.
As I said on Wednesday when reporting the attack, Gonzalo Acro was hardly a squeaky-clean member of society. But neither was he a villain through-and-through. He was from as close a thing as Argentina has to a middle-class family, did well enough at school to study sports journalism after leaving, and it was then, through a course-mate, that he came to know some of the people involved with Los Borrachos del Tablón. That man, Matías Goñi, was found years later by police with AR$80,000 hidden in a bag. This came during investigations after the trouble following River’s match against Independiente in the Clausura just gone. When questioned, Goñi claimed the money belonged to Acro.
The key here is that by this point Goñi and Acro had gone separate ways. Goñi is one of the supporters of the Schlenker brothers, Alan and William, in the current power struggle. The Schlenkers are the current heads of Los Borrachos, but Adrián Rousseau wants control of the barra and its bank accounts, and it was as his ‘lieutenant’ that Acro has been in the papers previously this year. In December 2001, Acro was employed by River to help maintain the swimming pool at one of their social venues, but in February this year he was one of six club members – Rousseau and the Schlenkers were among the others – banned from the club following trouble prior to the opening Clausura fixture with Lanús.
The internal machinations, though, are by the by. Barras bravas act as more than simply hooligan gangs for many, leading the chants, in many cases providing transport and even financial support for other devoted fans who fall on hard times. But the overwhelming majority of the time, they cause trouble. They leech the clubs they claim to support by claiming free tickets and even subsidised transport for away matches – the clubs often can’t financially afford this, but they also know the barras provide the best part of their travelling support, and that if scorned, they might make life very difficult for fans continuing to go into the stadium. So far, Racing – who are privately owned and thus not quite so answerable to their fans – have been the only sizeable club in Argentina to stand up to their hooligans, banning their barra brava from all home matches.
Gonzalo Acro knew what he was doing when he became involved with Los Borrachos, but perhaps that’s not the whole problem. Perhaps the problem lies as much with a society in which social exclusion and mistrust of authority pushes perfectly normal young men into organisations like this. Perhaps it’s also a problem when these people find it difficult to fully grow out of the school playground mentality of yearning to be popular, and find themselves fighting in the street with real guns. You may think Gonzalo Acro got what was coming to him, you may think he got caught up in something much, much bigger than him. But whether he was a symptom or a victim of the problem, a human life has been lost.
On Friday, La Nacion reported that according to police sources, Acro knew his killers, who were indeed – as everyone knew without needing to be told – members of the opposing faction, and probably even talked to them after they’d shot him. It’s unlikely that he quoted Shakespeare, but Mercutio’s dying words in Romeo & Juliet would have spoken volumes in the situation.
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Excellent article Sam.
I have one problem with the idea that this sort of hooligan trouble is “just” a reflection of society. I think it’s gone beyond that in recent years, as leaders of the big firms have become famous. The fact that we are talking about these people by name (along with Rafa Di Zeo etc) is clearly an indication that becoming a top hoolie is a way to become “important.” This might be the same mindset as the childhood playground power struggle, but the rewards are now more tangible. And this is football’s fault, not society’s.
“Ordinary” street violence does not make its perpetrators famous, allow them to hobnob with Diego Maradona or Ariel Ortega, give them a level of status in their neighborhood. This is football’s problem. It is ingrained in football culture now that the barras brava are important, when in fact they are not. They have no talent or skill. They are not special. Anyone desensitized to violence can do what they do. They do create a fantastic atmosphere at matches, but unfortunately it’s become accepted that violence and atmosphere are mutually inclusive. There is no reason this has to be true.
The sad truth is, hooligans have an element around the world that admires them, or at the very least has a morbid fascination with them. One need only look at the number of books published by reformed hoolies in England, or various documentaries about them. While these don’t exist soley to celebrate hooliganism, neither do they outright condemn it. Or they wait until the last paragraph or closing scene to do so.
Obviously the clubs in Argentina have to find a way to deal differently with the barras brava. But in the greater context, as long as these people are considered special and important in the football world, they will never stop what they do. I recognize it’s not so simple, but I can certainly hope the day comes when I can be a River fan without knowing the names of these wastes-of-space who “run” the terraces.
Being 0:40 Argentina time, I can tell you that River’s match against Newell’s has been suspended, to avoid any kind of problem (Clarín online is the source) And I agree with you, Justin. This is not a society problem. This is, in a very strict way, a River issue. It’s clear that Aguilar’s silence is a message. He knows there’s something wrong with this people, but he doesn’t seem to find a way to stop them fighting. It’s been a rumour that some guys of Barrabrava get money from the passes of the players. How can journalist say that? When Higuain went to Real Madrid, barrabravas got into a huge fight inside the club. And now, Carrizo has been sold and we have even a worse kind of trouble between these people. The club’s president can’t pretend nothing happened. Now, Justice attributed a responsability on Acro’s crime to the Schlenker brothers but I don’t think it’s gonna end just blaming the Schlenkers. However, and it’s not a way to justify them, making a comparison between Di Zeo and Schlenkers brothers isn’t quite accurate. The social origins aren’t the same. Di Zeo wanted some kind of “famous” treatment. The Schlenker are far beyond that. They come from a middle-high class, both with good jobs and social statement. They don’t need any special treatment, ‘cos they already have it, naturally. The continuos fights between Rousseau and Schlenkers is, in other words and making a very ordinary example, when cats spray to mark their territory. River is a huge organisation and they’re fighting to get the most of it. Let’s just hope they don’t keep killing each other, and that all this problem don’t affect the team.
Excellent piece, and two excellent comments.
Gracias a todos.