Bring On the Barras
The US Can Finally Join the World Soccer Community, If It Doesn't Mind
a Few Burned Down Stadiums
By Angel Luna

A lot of the soccer teams in Latin America count on the unconditional support of their hardcore fans, groups that are called “barras bravas.” The “barra” is an organized group that consists of people who devote their time, passion, and loyalties to the team they root for. They exist all over Latin America, and have become part of the soccer experience. At games, the barra is almost as important as the soccer players, because they will be with the team in the good times and in the bad times. But in their passion, barras have developed a reputation for being violent – throwing people out of the stands, ripping seats out, and burning parts of the stadium.

A couple of weeks ago in Mexico, the barras got banned by the Federacion Mexicana de Futbol (FMF), the national professional soccer league, from attending away games. Many think that the very existence of barras in Latin America is being threatened. The banning of the barras is a typical regulatory action that any sport association in any country would do after some sparks of violence. But you can't just cut something that has tradition like that. Latin America might be done with barras, but barras might be exactly what US soccer needs to be welcomed as an “American” sport.

If the USA wants to become part of the world soccer community, it can't just focus on trying to be pretty like England's David Beckham, who recently joined the U.S.'s Major League Soccer for a 27 million dollar contract. And don't take me wrong, soccer is a beautiful sport. But the truth is, Americans aren't watching the beautiful sport.   More then 90% of the globe plays the beautiful sport, lives the beautiful sport and deals with the consequences that the beautiful sport brings, and I'm not talking about expensive tickets and overrated players. I'm talking about the beautiful passion that sometime becomes violence, on the field, but even more so with the fans. Even though it sounds ugly, this sometimes violent passion, expressed through barras, is what may motivate the American fan to actually watch soccer. American sports fans like violence, even if it's in the stands.

One of the main reasons why soccer is not attractive to American sports fans, is that the nature of soccer is to be a friendly sport, almost delicate, where everybody seems to be very technical instead of being rough. This makes the average American sport fan feel like soccer is boring, because there are no fights like in the National Hockey League or the big hits in the NFL games. But despite the actual play, the barras are even more aggressive than the most crazed football fans, who are painted in their teams colors. Think “Raider Nation” times ten.

The barra brava started is one of the many trends that the UK exported to the world. Barras are Latin America's evolution of of Europe's “hooligans” where soccer fanaticism will make the most dedicated US football or baseball fan look reserved. The exchange of the barra mindset from Europe to Latin America is a clear example of how globalization works. The barra bravas got seeded in Argentina and South America, then spread all over the continent. Its time America received this new globalized form of soccer support.

The reason why I think barras would work in the US, is that it is usually a lot a young adults from poor areas, who are related to each other through the loyalty to the same soccer team. They find a way to express their frustrations by jumping, cheering canticos throughout the game and displaying trapos(banners). And if you never seen a barra in action, just imagine any football hardcore fan going gorilla from the start to the end of the game non-stop, in an organized manner. They never stop cheering even if the game is over they keep the party live like if we were back in 1999. Don't let the colorful mob fool you because they will definitely bring the noise to the place if you dare to mess with them or to wear the wrong jersey. There is nothing pretty about being in the wrong place with the wrong colors and the wrong crowd.

The process of how barras do things, say before a game, is similar to the NFL and the NHL fans. For example, the NFL fans have tailgate party's before the game where fans lounge around the stadiums parking lot having bbq's and drinks. A lot a NFL fans are usually associated to a section in the stadium and they have diverse names for their sections. The barristas sit in the similar side, meet at a certain point in the city and caravan to the stadium where they hang prior to the game.

The barra movement seems to be the key for the future of soccer in the USA, regardless if it is not the very best way to promote soccer, or the best example of what soccer is. American fans will respond well to the barra, because it has all the ingredients for to make soccer the perfect American sport.