World Cup 2010 Preview: Argentine Hooligans Disembark in South Africa

One of the bigger stories surrounding Argentina's World Cup preparation in South Africa has been the arrival of the infamous "barras-bravas" and the ensuing scandal that followed them. Some have even gone as far as to suggest that Argentine manager Diego Maradona may possibly have been involved in this "mysterious" affair.

The "barra-brava" tradition

For those who aren't familiar with the term, "barra-brava" is a handle used throughout South America to describe the most passionate, rowdy, and often violent strain of football fanatics. 

What most sets these fans aside from the rest is that they organize and plan their "performances" at matches, as if they were the ones competing.

Their tasks include the manufacturing of large banners to support their team, or to mock rivals. They also come up with the songs or chants that are sung at stadiums, and they're generally the ones who get the crowds going.

Granted, these fans can be quite creative in their antics. Some of the most notorious antics in Argentina take place at the Boca-River matches, where Boca fans have been known to receive the River squad with a shower of maize (in reference to their nick-name "the chickens"). River fans will often wear surgical masks when visiting La Boca, in reference to the legendary stench and poverty of the neighborhood.

Other slightly more agressive antics include, for instance, stealing a rival "barra's" flag before a match, and displaying it throughout the match as a taunt, etc.

When love turns sour

However, there is a much darker and less folkloric side to this brand of football fanaticism. Over the years these groups of fans have gradually banded into criminal gangs, and used their position as "appendages" of the clubs to exert pressure, and extract favors. In many cases club managers have been coerced into negotiating, and have offered free tickets in exchange for promises that the gang will stay out of trouble.

The prominence of these "barras" has also resulted in a great deal of violence between rival gangs, both inside and out of the stadium. The outcome has been escalating death and injury counts, and the further corruption of Argentina's feeble football institutions.

Hot potato

About ten days ago the Argentine delegation were all aboard a commercial airliner en route to South Africa, when -lo and behold- aboard their same flight was a group of 30 "barra-bravas".

Once in Pretoria these "barras" set up camp at a school which they had arranged to paint in exchange for lodging. Later they were seen at the entrance of the University of Pretoria (Argentina's base) asking for some duffel bags that they said belonged to them. These bags carried flags and football merchandise (T-shirts, etc.), which they planned to sell during their stay.

When asked how these packs had "mysteriously" appeared within their installments, the Argentine delegation replied that they had been taken by mistake. They were, after all, Adidas bags, much like the ones the National Team uses.

As news of all this began to surface, questions arose as to why these fellows  had happened to be on the same flight as the Argentine delegation.

Furthermore, these particular individuals couldn't have possibly payed their own way, and several hundred of them have already travelled, with more yet to come.

So, who payed for all those flights? Who authorized them to leave the country? Some of them have criminal records; one even travelled on an expired passport.

Today a few of these fans assembled outside the University of Pretoria, requesting that they be "given the football tickets they were promised." The man they asked to speak with was Carlos Bilardo.

However, so far all parties have declared innocent on the matter, and we may never fully determine who was responsible. But by the looks of things their are three particular parties which may at least have been accessories in this affair.

1) The Argentine National Government has gone out of their way to claim that they have had nothing to do with helping fans travel to South Africa.

However, although they may not have actually payed, they've certainly done little to prevent it. Some of these fans are known violent offenders, and the Argentine Government, police, and judicial system, have all the intelligence necessary to pinpoint and keep these folks from travelling; but they've looked the other way.

2) Upon his arrival in South Africa, Julio Grondona (President of the Argentine Football Association) stated that he had warned Carlos Bilardo and Diego Maradona that they ought to avoid involvement with "barras", as it could potentially harm them. He also stated that Bilardo and Maradona have held ties with the "barras" ever since the 1986 World Cup.

Diego and Carlos have both denied any involvement in this affair, but it is well-known that they did, in fact, make contact with the "barras" in 1986. The idea was to create "the appropriate stadium climate" during Argentina's World Cup matches.

This time around it seems -once again- that their is too much evidence pointing in their direction for them not to have at least been in-the-know.  The extent of their involvement is, however, somewhat unclear.

3) In another of his classic evasive moves, Julio Grondona has once again dodged the lime-light by shifting focus towards Maradona and Bilardo. But one has to wonder: didn't he know who he was hiring? If he says they've had ties with the "barras" since '86, shouldn't he have known this was likely to happen? What has he done to prevent it?

Another hypothesis is that some of these fans may have gotten free flights from the managers of the clubs they support, as payoff (although the clubs deny this). Given the fact that Julio Grondona supervises much of what goes on at the club level, it seems highly unlikely that all this nonsense could've taken place under his nose without him finding out.

Once again, there are too many unanswered questions. I hope (sincerely) that these boys do behave themselves, and manage to keep out of trouble.