While the Colombian national team continues its unwavering storming during the World Cup, a bloody fan war is raging in the football arenas in Colombia. Often a wrong look is enough to turn a triviality into deadly seriousness. The project "Football Fans Against Violence" contributes to the suppression of the culture of violence from football. The message to the fans is: sport is not a fight.
After 50 years of armed conflict, a culture of violence has spread in Colombia. Violence permeates all areas of society, is omnipresent and has long been perceived as normal. As with the current peace negotiations, the "Football Fans Against Violence" project is also about overcoming this culture of violence. A bloody fan war is raging in the football arenas in Colombia. Often a wrong look is enough to turn a triviality into deadly seriousness.
Loss for the Barrismo social
What can become serious was demonstrated once again in June 2013 when Oscar Eduardo Sandino was killed by a fan of the opposing team with a stab to the heart before a football match in the big city of Cali. Oscar Sandino was a member of our partner organisation Fundación Juan Manuel Bermudez Nieto (FJMBN), which runs the project "Football fans against violence". He was strongly committed to the Barrismo social, the counter concept to the fan culture based on violence. His commitment has always been characterised by the conviction that sport is not a fight.
Death gained a lot of attention
For the members of our partner organisation FJMBN, Oscar's death was very bitter. Just a few days before his death, Oscar spoke to Colombian television at a public event organized by FJMBN in the Suba district of Bogotá. The tragic death of Oscar Sandino has given FJMBN a lot of attention. This may not bring Oscar back to life, but perhaps the media attention will help to give the barrismo social a boost.
The successful fan work continues
FJMBN trains multipliers, for example in producing radio programmes. Furthermore, the organisation currently advises and accompanies a total of 18 fan clubs from different parts of the country in their fan work. Most of them come from big cities like Bogotá, Medellín or Cali. For communication with their fans, these fan clubs have set up their own websites or radio stations with FJMBN. In addition, strategies to reduce violence in and around football stadiums are discussed in workshops with fan club leaders, local authorities and local police.
Prevention of violence in and with football
The strength of the project is that it addresses young people who cannot be reached by other projects. More about football as a means of preventing violence in the radio feature "Football also helps prevent violence" on SRF 4 News. (Andrea Zellhuber, topic leader for violence prevention, in conversation with Helen Hürlimann)
