More traditional stadium in the city of São Paulo, Pacaembu is celebrated as the stage of genius bids, unforgettable titles and effusive celebrations. It was at Paulo Machado de Carvalho, in a Sao Paulo and Palmeiras, in 1942, that Leonidas da Silva, the “Black Diamond”, eternalized his trademark by scoring a bicycle goal by Tricolor against the rival. It was also at Pacaembu that Brazil saw one of its most tragic football chapters. On August 20, 1995, the stadium would host two matches: in the morning, Palmeiras x Sao Paulo would decide the junior Super Cup; In the afternoon, Corinthians and Bragantino would play for the first round of that year’s Brazilian Championship. A sequence of errors from the authorities have turned a typical day of São Paulo winter, cold and cloudy sky on a bloody Sunday.
The Junior Super Cup was a tournament created by the Paulista Football Federation to be as a turbocharged edition of Copinha, as the tournament brought together the champions and vices of the Sao Paulo Junior Football Cup.
The final brought together about 7,000 fans. The reduced audience had explanation: Pacaembu was a partially banned stadium. The toboggan, sector behind one of the goals, was closed for renovations.
The space, however, was full of rubble and easily accessible from the stands, since the containment bars were fragile. Structural neglect would become one of the determining factors for the followed tragedy.
The match brought together the country’s two main teams at the moment and so it was surrounded by expectations. Palmeiras striker Adaílton was the revelation of the competition. In São Paulo, whose coach was the idol Darío Pereyra, were in the field Fábio Mello and Edmílson, who were professionals in Tricolor.
The game was balanced and ended without goals. At the time, there was the rule of “sudden death” in extension. Who marked the first goal, won. Just five minutes into the extra time, Palmeirense Rogério scored the goal that decreed the title Alviverde. However, the celebration gave way to one of the most violent confrontations in the history of Brazilian football, which left a 102 balance, besides the death of a young São Paulo fan.
As soon as the ball shook the net, the Palmeiras fans exploded in celebration and part of the Palmeirenses invaded the lawn. The party, however, quickly turned into provocation to the São Paulo who still occupied the stadium. The gesture was the trigger for a violent reaction.
On the other hand, tricolor fans knocked down the fence, invaded the toboggan sector in works and, with sticks, stones and pieces of wood taken from the rubble, left towards the field. What was followed next was a scenario of medieval war.
“You end up seeing things like that you never imagine in life.” I actually couldn’t get to the locker room at the time of the fight. I hosted myself at the reserve bench. It was the number 1 reserve bench, which was on the right of the radio cabin and the television booth. And I was crouching under there on the bench. And the stones beating. But huge stones, wood. It all ended up being thrown. I remember that the players of Sao Paulo needed to be rescued by players and members of the Palmeiras coaching staff at that time, to be able to reach the locker room – recalls journalist Osvaldo Paschoal, in an interview with .
In greater numbers, the São Paulo began to assault Palmeirenses, who retreated and then countered, turning the lawn on stage of a camp battle.
Violence has taken uncontrollable proportions. Fans who fell to the ground were beaten without mercy. The lawn became a rush, flying stones, iron bars and wood being used as makeshift weapons.
“It was really a war scene, a camp battle.” Because when you could lift your head to see what was going on, you saw a fan assaulting the other with wood, throwing stone. Or what was in hand, ended up shooting. It was a camp battle. One of the most impressive, most horrible things I’ve seen in my life. It was terrible, horrible. And even later, there was the death of the fans with that head in the head. An impressive business. A pity, pity, pity, pity. And I quenched a lot of having seen it all. And I can’t erase this event from my memory, because it was very strong. It was really a business of shaking you psychologically. It was terrible – says Paschoal, who was working as a reporter for “TV Bandeirantes” in the day.
The police force present was only 65 men, a number considered suitable for a junior game with public expectation of 10,000 people. The reduced amount of police was insufficient to contain the fury of the fans. The corporation was slow to restore the order, which allowed the stadium to be taken by savagery scenes.
The balance was devastating: 80 fans and 22 police officers were injured. The most serious cases were referred to nearby hospitals, such as Hospital das Clínicas and Santa Casa de Misericórdia. However, the most tragic consequence was the death of adolescent Sao Paulo Márcio Gasparin da Silva, 16. Bruly beaten with heads in the head, he suffered multiple cranial trauma and died eight days after the confrontation.
Three years later, in 1998, Palmeirense Adalberto Benedito dos Santos was sentenced to 12 years in prison for Márcio’s murder. He fulfilled approximately four years in closed regime and then progressed to the semi -open. The victim’s family filed a court against the São Paulo City Hall, blaming her for the death of the adolescent, but did not get compensation. The judiciary did not consider the municipality guilty of the tragedy.
The episode also had direct repercussions on the treatment given to the organized fans in São Paulo. The Public Prosecution Service, through the then prosecutor Fernando Capez, determined the extinction of the Green and Independent Spot. Although both have returned under other legal names or breaches, the decision made room for harder restrictive measures, such as the limitation of the presence of only team fans in classics held in the state capital.
-It was opted for the unique crowd. It has decreased violence, because it has no two cheerful masses moving around the city. Is it harmful to the show? AND. There is a consensus that you should not have two fans again because it is difficult to control what the fans will do. It is to avoid greater evil – says Fernando Capez, in an interview with .
The final of 1995 is constantly remembered as a symbol of the inability to transform the stands of stands and deal effectively with the phenomenon of organized fans.
“It should not have been authorized to hold the match at that stadium.” Underestimated the event – laments capez.
Despite the emblematic character of the tragedy, the practical effects on containing violence on stadiums were limited. Since then, episodes of fans have continued to be recorded, often outside the arenas, in ambushes organized over the internet or on highways.
– There is a lesson that has not yet been learned. You need to monitor social networks, Deep Web, to investigate in depth to prevent the fans from marking ambushes. It is necessary to invest in technology, put smart cameras to identify individuals who have pre -trial detention issued to inhibit these people frequent the stadiums. To avoid fighting in other places, policing at the flow points must be reinforced. It is a public safety problem. Authorities have a duty to protect the citizen. The fighting feathers are quite light, so you have to make the fan feel in what he likes the most, forcing him to attend a police station at his team games at home and away from home. This is a pity he will feel, ”Capez explained.
Three decades later, the Pacaembu episode continues as a painful and still current memory. With each new fighting record between fans, the memory of that bloody Sunday returns as a symbol of what Brazilian football could not overcome.
– Our problem is cultural. Our problem is schooling. Education. If the people who need many laws, these people have no ability to judge their own laws. A people who need many laws have no education. Because if the person has education, they greatly decrease the number of laws in any country in the world. It’s just here. And here it is a special country, where laws ‘take’ and not ‘take’. This does not exist. We have no education. The basis of the problem of organized fans is education. And that. These battles we see every day every week go through that word. Education. We have no education. Nothing. Zero. Our rulers do not take care of it. Brazilian rulers think of the next election, not the good of the people, not the education of the people – concluded Osvaldo Paschoal.
