Once a week, Argentina retirees have been ritual: they gather in front of Congress in the center of Buenos Aires to protest the losses generated by the Javier Milei government adjustment plan. But that would not be a Wednesday like the others.
On March 12, arguing that organized fans of soccer clubs in the country were articulated to reinforce the march and that fans shot stones and other objects against security forces, the government repressed the manifestation with gas, rubber bullets, and water trucks to disperse the crowd.
In the following days, the authorities prohibited the entry into stadiums of 26 fans who participated in the protests, even offered a reward equivalent to $ 55,000 to identify more people and attributed the increase in the repression of the presence of Bravas bars.
Brave bars are organized groups of fans, which were known for violent episodes. They are similar to Hooligans and Ultras from other countries. Just as organized fans represent a part of the club’s fans, the bars represent a part of the organized.
There is similarities to the youth fans of Brazil, explains Argentine sociologist and anthropologist Nicolas Cabrera, founder and researcher at the Social Observatory of Football, UERJ (Rio de Janeiro State University).
“They are very organized groups, with hierarchy, division of labor, and always operate around a club. Most are men who come from popular and middle class, with a often homophobic ideology, where women also have a place and who values aggressive masculinity.”
In Argentine stadiums, they pull the corners, take the batteries and receive the players before the matches. Also, like other organized fans, they travel around the country and internationally in caravans, receiving for this financial aid from clubs and, in some cases, players.
“They don’t have CNPJ, they don’t have legal recognition. So it’s like they don’t exist, but there are,” says Cabrera. Even so, it is difficult to estimate the number of components of a bar, and even the leaders of some of these groups have only taken over with representatives of these fans more recently, with the popularization of social networks.
The names of the fans also carry symbolism. It is as if the members of “La 12” were the 12th player in the field in Boca Juniors matches, while River’s “Borrachos del Tablón” make reference to the “canch tablones”, the wooden stands that existed in the stadiums.
Historically, the bars have a strong territorial connection and end up influencing politics in the neighborhoods and cities around the clubs. In some cases, they collaborate with politicians in exchange for safety or support services, explains Professor José Garriga Zucal, from the National University of San Martín.
“Even for the biggest clubs, the territory is a central dimension when thinking about Argentine football. To give an example if you wanted to get involved in politics in San Martín, where Chacarita Juniors is a very important club, it would be difficult to have any connection with someone from Barra.”
Especially in the early decades after the redemocratization of Argentina in 1983, it was common for local politicians to request bars support for campaign events near the stadiums, to pay a member to watch out for the candidate’s advertising walls or to ask for chefs to fill buses to increase the public in rallies.
In recent years, these relationships have changed, although in greater weight areas of Peronism, such as the cities of Greater Buenos Aires, the proximity of the fans with this group remains strong. With the groups most linked to a particular union, the same happens.
In the internal policy of clubs, the influence of Bravas bars has become over the years, but they still play a significant role.
“There is no Argentine club where the bars are not strength. They regulate the climate and moods, and there is also the latent threat of violence,” adds Zucal, who is the author of different books on the relationship of football fans in Argentina to violence, such as “La Era Del Aguante – Bars, Hinchas, Violences Y Muerte en El Futbol Argentino” (ed. pages).
It is important to remember that bar members are club members and therefore have the right to give their opinion and mobilizations, says Cabrera, who is the author of “La Cuenten as Quien – Pelear, traveling y altar en Una Barra del Futbol Argentino” (Ed. Prometheus; R $ 143; 354 pages).
With the arrival of Milei to power in 2023, his ultraliberal project did not spare the world of football. The president even tried to transform clubs into SAFs (corporations of football) by decree. The onslaught was barred in court after a request from AFA (Argentine Football Federation), but the government did not give up.
For Zucal, the bars do not necessarily oppose corporations in football. According to him, violent organized fans are more interested in informal business, such as parking and selling products around stadiums.
Therefore, the two researchers say that the participation of fans in the retirees march does not involve the first rails of bar, but non -violent organized fans or no political weight.
“It may be that some component of one, two or three bars have attended the protests. But the bars are totally organized and hierarchical structures. If the lead says ‘Let’s go’, a lot of people go to the street with bands, with shirts, to show strength. This has not happened,” says Cabrera.
Zucal agrees that the manifestation of retirees did not have angry bars, at least not with members of the top of the hierarchy in the fans. “If any was there, it was a minority. The government spread that vandalism was caused by bars only to stigmatize and delegitimize the claim.”
Following the march incident, Security Minister Patricia Bullrich presented a “antibly law” project in which the fans would be considered illegal associations, their leaders would be investigated, and the clubs, penalized.
“Argentina has long needed to solve a structural problem involving the bars in football,” said the minister, who had already tried something similar when she was part of the government of Mauricio Macri (2015-2019).
Sought by Sheet To comment on the consequences of investigations regarding the presence of bars in the retirees’ protest, the Ministry of Security did not respond.
Get to know some of Argentina’s most important fans
. 12
Time: Boca Juniors
Foundation: 1969
Main leader: Rafael Di Zeo
Percentage of club fans*: 29%
. THE BORRACHOS OF THE plank
Time: River Plate
Foundation: 1975
Main leader: Ariel Calvici
Percentage of club fans*: 26%
. The red bar
Time: Independent
Foundation: 1950s
Main leader: “Bebote” Álvarez
Percentage of club fans*: 5%
. The Imperial Guard
Time: Racing
Foundation: 1958
Main leader: Matías Alfonzo
Percentage of club fans*: 5%
. La Butteler
Time: San Lorenzo
Foundation: 1959
Main leader: Cristian Evangelista
Percentage of club fans*: 5%
*Argentine percentage who cheer for the club, or not organized, according to the survey of the 2021 Argentine Football fan, from Kantar
Sources: Kantar and Barrabrava.net
