Open Mic: Brazilian Football and Racism

The idea of racism in Brazil must be shocking to some. Hard to believe that such a cosmopolitan country could suffer from this ill.

The reality is that racism does exist in Brazilian football at a national level and, to a much lesser extent, at club level as well.

Brazil boasts of all colours and creeds, but within the society the ugly face of racism surfaces and exposes our backward ways of thinking regarding certain issues.

Racism in Brazil is of the worst kind—the kind of racism which people do not even realise is racism. I am not talking about jeers and antics but of attitudes and choices.

An example would be Dida. When he was first called to the national side, commentators would openly debate his ethnicity on television. Comments like "I don't remember us ever having a black goalie before" were common and went by unopposed by the public or any entity.

Many people worldwide don't know that the Brazilian team is not only picked on merit but the captain and goalie must be good looking, as these two often appear isolated and are very much publicised.

Things are slowly changing but by "good looking" the idea was that they had to be white—as crude and ugly as that sounds. Unfortunately, these views are openly discussed on television and in magazines.

In a 2008 article in an inboard magazine of one of the largest airlines in Brazil it openly states, about the 50th anniversary of Brazil's first title, that the captain of 1958 was chosen because of his "looks" and not his skills.

So it's the worst kind of racism—accepted racism—tolerated and unopposed.

Poor old Dida had to undergo constant criticism by the media with every error scrutinised to death. Today he may be the best goalie Brazil has—but not the best looking.

There is a member of the women's national side called Pretinha. This is actually written on her back while she plays. It means in English: Little Blackey.

While coaching Gremio Luis Felipe Scolari the current Portuguese coach was secretly taped making racist remarks about a member of the opposing team. The fact he said those things is bad enough but the fact it was on television and everywhere with nothing coming out of the incident is even worse and consistent with Brazilian tolerance for these things.

The incidents go on and on and where Brazil has had a couple of African-origin captains, and well, Dida in goal. However, change is slow in coming and appearance still matters a great deal as the football team is considered the country`s face overseas.

Older generations with outdated thinking still remain at the helm of Brazilian football, and the public seem to challenge very little—they themselves are only now coming out of a dictatorship mentality where ideals are never challenged.