Journalists from all over the world present in the press room of the Maracanã Stadium on June 18, 2014 felt a thunderous noise. They were the metal fences that yielded to the pressure of more than 200 Chilean fans eager to enter – without tickets – to witness the duel in which the team commanded by Jorge Sampaoli would beat Spain, current world champion, by two goals to zero.
The Brazilian police guarding all World Cup venues acted promptly and rigorously, although it was only possible to arrest 85 fans, who had to leave the country within 72 hours. The sanction imposed was the result of intense negotiations between the Chilean Foreign Ministry and the Rio de Janeiro justice. FIFA, scandalized, took measures so that the event would not be repeated, especially when Chile acted, which would end up eliminated in the second round against the hosts, through penalty kicks. Since then the act of breaking into a sports venue en masse without tickets was known as a blowout.
In the local competition, blowouts are frequent in the stadiums where the teams with the highest call are home: Colo Colo and Universidad de Chile. They allow fans who did not buy a ticket to enter the enclosure in droves, but also those ultra leaders who are prohibited from entering the stadiums. That is why they are coordinated and violent, mainly affecting security guards who do not have dissuasive resources to prevent them.
This week in the neighborhood of La Boca in Buenos Aires the phenomenon was experienced again, this time caused by violent ultras colocolinos, who had warned of the situation because more than six thousand arrived and there were tickets for just over two thousand. They overwhelmed the security perimeters of the police at the entrances to La Bombonera and tried to force the turnstiles. Those who did not enter caused disorders, burned tires and then moved to the tourist neighborhood of Puerto Madero, where they clashed again with the gendarmes.
Those who managed to enter fought a verbal duel with the local bar and provoked in an unusual way: they broke bills of the devalued Argentine currency, remembering that thousands of compatriots cross the border daily to buy wholesale groceries in supermarkets. After the triumph of Boca Juniors by one to zero there were new excesses in the surrounding streets. The total balance of the excursion was 56 detainees.
The situation is not new. Each trip through continental tournaments means for the Garra Blanca, the group of ultras of the club, the possibility of consolidating the violent fame that precedes them since 1998, when hundreds of barristas stoned the Police Station 10 of Maipú with a balance of 32 detainees and several injured policemen. There were official efforts by the Government to release them and it was the club that finally paid the bail.
The overflowing violence was experienced again in 2004, 2011 and, especially in 2017, when fans again destroyed police stations in Mendoza, assaulted Argentine gendarmes and looted nearby businesses. The 34 detainees had to remain 12 days in prison, until again the Chilean political authorities mediated for their release and the club assumed the costs.
This time the situation escalated because the Soccer Safety Committee, the police custody body on Argentine bars, issued an opinion prohibiting Colo Colo fans from attending new matches during the 2023 season, and raised a report to the South American Confederation for new disciplinary sanctions against the club.
The violent reputation of Chilean fans has meant severe penalties from both home and away, but nothing seems to work. The blowouts continue to happen and the Chilean political authorities suspended this week friendlies of Colo Colo and Universidad de Chile against Deportivo Cali of Colombia in Valparaíso for fear of excesses and irregularities in the organization of the event by the clubs, still unable to develop a plan against violence.
Therefore, when on June 29 Colo Colo plays the classification to the second phase of Copa Libertadores against Deportivo Pereira, there will surely be reduced capacity at the Monumental Stadium, in Santiago. A double-edged sword, because it will allow better control if they go less amateurs. But it will whet the appetite of those who want to enter without having tickets. And the blowout, again, will be present.
Aldo Schiappacasse is one of Chile's leading sports journalism firms. With experience in television, radio and written media, he is one of the hosts of País ADN. In EL PAÍS he writes columns about Chilean sports and social life
