How do they see the Spanish ultras in Europe?: “Fascism has been underestimated and is now a big problem”

Violence around football celebrates a sad anniversary. 100 years have passed since a Uruguayan fan died in Argentina while celebrating the Celeste’s gold in the 1924 Games. There is no precise documentary evidence, but most researchers consider that death to be the first. Kilometer zero of ultra culture. A phenomenon so alive, so ruthless, that it is updated day by day. Just yesterday, the Italian police arrested 19 radicals, accused of “criminal conspiracy crimes, aggravated by the mafia method, as well as extortion and injuries.” Among those arrested were Luca Lucci y Renato Bosettiheads of the South Curve of Milan and the North Curve of Inter. To the Nerazzurri boss He is linked to the N’Drangheta, the most powerful mafia organization in the world. Lucci, already convicted of drug trafficking, is linked to Matteo Salvinivice president of the Government of Giorgia Meloni. In May 2023, Lucci’s lieutenants went to the Milanello facility to protest the team’s losses. “They encouraged us to give everything,” he said then. Stefano Piolitechnician red and black.

«Today we talk about what happened in the Metropolitan between Diego Simeone and the Frente Atlético, but it is not unusual to find coaches and players excusing some behavior of the ultras,” he explains to EL MUNDO. James Montagueauthor of 1312: Among the Ultras, A Journey With the World’s Most Extreme Fans (Ebury Press, 2020), one of the most celebrated texts on the subject. “When these groups are powerful and find a space within football, whether in Italy, Germany or Serbia, they are a group that should be listened to, whether you like it or not,” adds the Briton.

French football has been joining this strategy, precisely, thanks to the Instance Nationale du Supportérisme, a working group that includes, since 2017, the Ministries of the Interior and Sports, the Federation, Ligue 1, a panel of sociologists and the representatives of the ultras. «In my country these groups are more structured than in Spain, where everything seems much more spontaneous. Of course, in the Atlético Front there will also be a hard core, but not as organized as here,” he details to this newspaper. Adrien Verrecchiaone of the authors of Ultra, lifestyle (La Grinta, 2017), a 530-page volume that addresses, among other episodes, PSG’s decision to expel Kop de Boulogne y Auteuil Bendits two historical factions.

“Very difficult to stop” trend

The majority of Ligue 1 stadiums, created or updated for Euro 2016, have the most modern security measures, including cameras equipped with a zoom capable of identifying who throws any object. «In Spain, unfortunately, everything focuses on repression. And I believe that it makes no sense to sanction an entire hobby for what certain people have done. In the case of throwing objects we should never consider ourselves safe from individual initiative. So, from my point of view, there is no miracle recipe, no magic potion,” confirms Verrecchia.

According to data from the National Police, 305 ultras were arrested during the last two seasons in Spanish football, linked to crimes related to violence. Some worrying figures, although below those of countries like Italy. «From here, what happens in Spain is seen as something natural. Not good, but normal nonetheless. In my country it happens completely normally, despite the many laws passed to stop the worst of the hooliganismo. But this phenomenon is linked to politics and clubs, so now it is very difficult to stop the trend,” he says. Diego Mariottinianother expert on the connections between football and society. From Ultraviolence! Bloody stories of Italian typhoid (Bradipolibri, 2004) to his most recent God, country and death. Football in the Balkan war (Altamarea, 2021), this writer has studied the implications of the extreme right in stadiums.

«The Front is known for its links with fascist groups throughout Europe. Since the beginning of the 90s, when the president Jesus Gil He became famous for sympathizing with them. In any case, this is a general problem, not Spanish or Atlético. The fascismization of the stands has been underestimated over the years and is now a big problem to solve,” completes the transalpine author.

In Argentina, on the other hand, the phenomenon of the brave bands occupies different coordinates. These are also groups organized through a vertical structure and closely linked to the clubs, which extended their domains to other areas such as unions or political parties, increasing their share of power and reaching million-dollar income. However, the ideological profile remains more diffuse. «In the 80s and 90s, episodes of violence had to do with confrontations between bars of rival clubs, but at the beginning of the century, with the prohibition of the visiting public, it evolved into fights between factions of the bar of the same team. Unlike in Europe, in these clashes many firearms appear, which increases the death toll,” the sociologist tells this newspaper. Nicolas Cabrera.

«What happened with Simeone and Soon represents another example that football actors never take responsibility for the violence they exert. There is zero self-criticism. Violence is always in the other. I see them more concerned with bringing grist to their mill than with building an increasingly tolerant, inclusive and peaceful football,” says Cabrera, an Argentine living in Brazil, whose teaching work is limited to Football Social Observatoryat the State University of Rio de Janeiro.

“the enemy of my enemy…”

Like Verrecchia, Cabrera advocates an “individual system of punishment,” such as that offered by the Safe Tribune Program. Every person who enters an Argentine stadium must identify themselves with their document number, so if they have a criminal record or pending matters with the Justice Department, their entry is automatically invalidated. And if someone participates in a fight, the cameras capture their image and they are prohibited from attending any more games.

Returning to our continent, one of the lessons that the last European Championship in Germany left us was that fluid exchange of ultra culture. The violence woven by his coreligionists. «It is an international network based on shared cultural or political values. But the most important factor is knowing who acts as the antagonist, given that a law governs here: the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Montague illustrates, before giving another example. If the Atlético Front is related to radicals from the Roma is due, in large part, to the fact that Ultra Sur maintains a certain friendship with those of the Lazio. “It is often more important who you are against than who you support,” he says.

«Ultra culture is not known in Spain for its great tifos or pyrotechnic shows, although it does reflect the ideas of a part of the community. In the case of the Atlético Front, the extreme right. The Spanish ultras are, to a large extent, a mixture of Italian aesthetics and the politics of their country,” concludes Montague. According to his aforementioned book, the ultra phenomenon first took hold in Italy at the end of the 1960s and from there it spread throughout Europe. That culture arrived in Spain after the death of the dictator, with a very marked influence by the English and Italian fans present at the stadium. 1982 World Cup. That bad dream from four decades ago returns to terrify us today.

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