Fanhearing São Paulo, 18.03.06

International Hearing in Brazil

Relatório completo aqui: http://www.fansforfootball.org/index.php?id=444 , infelizmente só em inglês.

A total of 18 fan representatives plus a number of invited representatives from the press, the Ministry of Sports, and from the Brazilian football association CBF (Confederacao Brasileira de Futebol) arrived at the conference venue on 18 March 2006. There was such a lot of interest in the issues under discussion that the participants did not even want to interrupt the discussion for a coffee break.
The focus of the Brazilian fan hearing was on the situation of the fans in Brazil, so that topic was discussed first. Discussion was stimulated by talks by Sandra Schwedler, who reported on the German fan associations BAFF (‘Association of Active Football Fans’) and pro fans, and by Gerd Dembowski, who talked about anti-racist activities of the German fan organisations FARE and Flutlicht. In the subsequent discussion it became clear that the problems of Brazilian football supporters are very much like those of the German ones: the conversion of standing room into seating, the apparent arbitrariness of police actions, a strict separation of fan groups, the prohibition of fan equipment such as flags and musical instruments in football stadiums, commercialisation, discrimination, and an exclusion of financially weak people.
Therefore, the Brazilian fan representatives regarded it as necessary to join forces and form a national fan association. For this reason, many of the questions brought up dealt with the practical implementation of such an organisation and with suitable defence strategies. Two alternatives were thought through in some detail. One was an institution financed by the state and by the Brazilian football association. The other was a national fan association sponsored by fans.
[…]
In a final roundtable meeting, the results of the discussions in the working groups were presented to the representatives from the Ministry of Sports and from the CBF, Marco Aurelio Klein (Ministry of Sports, Lula), José Luiz Portella (Ministry of Sports, FHC) and Francisco Horta (CBF ombudsman).
[…]
The main focus of the fan hearing was on international dialogue, which is a critical precondition of the success of the motto ‘A Time to Make Friends’. The hearing was intended as an opportunity to establish contacts and to engage in co-operation. Without doubt, these aims were met. Let us hope that it will be possible to give the results of the hearing some permanence.

http://www.fansforfootball.org/index.php?id=444