| |
|
The World's Game
JUNE 2006
|
|
The World's Game
This month 32 nations will compete for the World Cup of soccer, the "beautiful game" that unites and divides countries around the globe. To celebrate that we bring you excerpts from The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup.
|
By Sean Wilsey
|
Photographs by Marco Anelli, Grazia Neri
|
|
"Introduction" by Sean Wilsey
"IVORY COAST—The Way to Win Juju on the Field," by Paul Laity
"ENGLAND—Faded Glory: Taming the Hooligans," by Nick Hornby
"BRAZIL—Ballet with Ball: A Love Story," by John Lanchester
"COSTA RICA—Soccer Inc: Marketing Fanaticism," by Matthew Yeomans
"SPAIN—Morality Play: Soccer as Theater," by Robert Coover
"ANGOLA—A Greater Goal: Healing a War-Torn Land," by Henning Mankell
"ARGENTINA—Ode to Maradona: Falklands' Revenge," by Thomas Jones
"CROATIA—Group Therapy: A Nation is Born," by Courtney Angela Brkic
COSTA RICA
Soccer Inc: Marketing Fanaticism
By Matthew Yeomans
What's the point of turning soccer into big business if your fans continue to treat the sport as just a game? Watching Costa Rican ("Tico") soccer had always been a low-key pursuit compared with the craziness associated with Argentine, Mexican, and Brazilian soccer. For one thing most of the stadiums were rudimentary—not exactly the intimidating cauldrons of Milan's San Siro, Real Madrid's Bernabéu, or Boca Juniors' Bombonera—and the fans, though occasionally demonstrating the blind, all-enveloping mania associated with hard-core hinchas, didn't see the need to get worked up on a regular basis. Maybe it was the relaxed Tico spirit, or maybe it was half a century of soccer underachievement, but on a continent where two of Costa Rica's neighbors, Honduras and El Salvador, had actually gone to war over a soccer game, Costa Rica fans lacked a little something in attitude.
So in 1995 the Saprissa soccer club decided to galvanize its fan base. In what must surely be the first instance of a club recruiting hooligan consultants, Saprissa brought in the ardent fans of Chile's Universidad de Católica to develop a local fanático culture. The result was La Ultra, a superfan clique that looked to mirror the rabid commitment of the best-organized barras bravas, or hooligans, and chants were scripted, La Ultra congregated en masse, dressed all in purple, and smoke bombs began to appear on the once less intimidating back terraces. The Alajuelense club soon followed suit, launching its own hard-core fan base known as La Doce (the 12th man). The results of this investment in fanaticism were quick and spectacular. A gang culture tied to La Ultra and La Doce quickly took root, fueled by a growing sense among poor Ticos that the burgeoning national economy was leaving them behind. With it came a startling increase in fan violence at soccer matches and at least one death. The traditional animosity of the regular Clásico between Saprissa and Alajuelense took on new venom.
Fan violence became such a problem that both Saprissa and Alajuelense took steps to bring La Ultra and La Doce under control. Today, the outright crime has subsided, but the underlying mood of fan anger remains.
(Matthew Yeomans, a journalist in Cardiff, Wales, has covered the past three World Cups.)
Subscribe to National Geographic magazine.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
