Football : Brazil’s Opium of the People

Over the past week my knowledge of the soccer industry in Brazil has grown exponentially. We have had the opportunity to listen to and question some important personnel in two of the three major football clubs here in Curitiba; Atletico Paranense, and Coritiba. Although these interactions have been very educational they have left me with a strongly negative outlook on the way soccer is structured in Brazil. Both clubs boast Brazil’s success on a world stage, with Brazil being the owner of 5 world cup titles, higher than any other country. They also describe Brazil as the most successful breeding ground for the world’s finest players. As impressive as these stats are, my resentment towards these clubs comes from the socially imperialistic tone that the larger Brazilian football clubs exude which mirrors the historical situation of neighbouring South American countries.

The imperialistic implications of football stem from one fact, in South America football was originally a sport of the Angliophillic white man. Acting as a parallel to football in Brazil, David Wood’s paper “A study of Soccer in Peru” outlines the use of football in Peru as an imperialistic tactic, to insure the integration of the lower class into society under the rules of the upper class. Wood describes the first integration of the lower class into football as a means to teach them ideals such as teamwork, dedication, understanding of ones role in a group, and a good work ethic all of which were traits the elite class believed to be necessary for the upcoming industrialization of the country.

The second imperialistic move in Peru came when a revolutionary realization was made. The lower class possessed a real talent for football, one which if handled correctly could be exploited. It’s argued that the advantageous edge that many South American’s have in the football world is due to their dance culture, which incorporates, fast footwork and quick hip movement, all of which can be transferred onto the football pitch. Regardless of where it came from one fact stood true large European owned clubs could benefit from incorporating this new talent, and under the façade of a push for social inclusion, in the mid-20^th century, lower class footballers were finally incorporated into national clubs.

Now turning back to the current situation in Brazil we can see that history has a tendency to repeat itself, and the use of football within current Brazilian culture reflects that of Peru. In order to understand the social injustices acted out by the Brazilian clubs we must first have a general understanding of the current situation here in Brazil. The 2011 census revealed that the majority of Brazilian citizens (53%) are of black or mixed race. However this portion of the population still remains underrepresented in the economic world, with only 16% of the richest 1% of Brazilians being of a race other than European (Edgerton, Panja 2014). The removal of the majority non-European class from the economic nobility shows that Brazil is still a country controlled by the European elite. As such, society functions around benefitting the elite class at the expense of the poor, a concept which flows into all aspects of society, including football mainly through the large clubs.

I was first exposed to the imperialistic setup of Brazilian Football clubs while learning about their youth development programs. In both Atletico and Coritiba I began to notice a remarkable lack of concern for the wellbeing of their youth athletes as anything more than commodities being primed for sale. In a country where the gap between the rich and the poor is insurmountable many children view football as their only hope for a better life, and both clubs passed themselves off as the saviours of the underprivileged youth. Originally blinded by their expressed commitment to saving the children of Brazil, through the sport which I have grown up loving, I lapped up their propaganda naively. However as they continued to explain their youth development programs the visage of a commitment to social responsibility quickly shattered and began to mirror the need for new talent which was experienced in Peru during the mid-20^th century.

As exemplified by Atletico the current practice is for clubs to remove children from their homes around the age of 14 and bring them to their club’s training facility. Although the club claims to provide these children with an education, mentorship on how to be a successful member of society and, top of the line football training, when questioned further only one of these promises appears to hold true. Atletico outright admits that education comes second to a child’s potential football career. Although this may seem reasonable at a professional level, we must remember that these are children as young as 14, and with less than 2% of the athletes admitted into the training program making it the professional level the dream of making it as a footballer is far from a reality for most. In regards to creating functional members of society, after drooped by the club many of these children are left unprepared and under educated about the real world and as a result find themselves lost in a world of drugs and homelessness. This treatment of young athletes brought me to realize that these clubs had little personal ties to these children who they claimed to be saving from poverty, but instead saw them as bargaining chips that if properly sculpted could bring them the riches they so desperately sought after.

When comparing the current situation in Brazil to that of Peru I see direct similarities. Just as football was first implemented in Peru as a form of Imperialism aimed at teaching morals to the lower class to benefit the wealthy, so too is the current situation in Brazilian culture. However, rather than priming the lower class for an economic revolution as Peru did, Brazil is focusing on creating a fragile and easily controllable lower class. By teaching young players to focus on their football career rather than attaining a sufficient education, Brazilian football clubs are destroying the foundation needed by the lower class to better themselves, then swooping in as the saviours in order to benefit themselves. With little education young members of the lower class have no other means of obtaining the social goals of wealth and success which is measured based on the elite class’s standards. As such they are forced to buy into the large soccer clubs marketing, which promises the only opportunity for a chance at these social goal, and thus providing the large football clubs with a cheap and easily obtainable pool of talent.

Put shortly, Da Silva exposes the truth of how soccer has been used as an imperialistic control method in Brazil. Silva states that at a 2013 confederations cup final between Brazil and Spain “the only black faces were among the players on the field and the cleaners in the bathroom”. This fact exhibits the distention of realities between the dreams of the local youth and the actualities of football here in Brazil. Silva shows how Brazilian football is really the opium of the people here in Brazil. It acts as a social smokescreen by creating the illusion of social equality, when really the entire football organization is based on using the lower class as a means for accumulation of wealth for the elite.