The whirlwind taking place in the lower section of the Bank of America Stadium featured Colombian and Uruguayan fans, Uruguay players and their family members (with kids), stewards, male and female police officers.
Violence seemed unstoppable. Objects of all kinds were thrown. Faces were smashed. There was blood and confusion. Kids were crying.
CELEBRATIONS
Minutes before, a brilliant 10-man Colombia had reached the final after beating Marcelo Bielsa’s team 1-0.
Celebrations of some of the Colombian players sparked angry reactions by Uruguay players, with Luis Suárez as general. One second he was neck and neck with Borja and insulting Mina, but the next he was hugging and congratulating James Rodriguez, the tournament’s MVP.
In the meantime, some of his team-mates carried on the bust-up. Nothing that South American football had not seen before.
CHAOS
The problem is when what happens on the pitch, it moves to the stands. It’s impossible to say if this behaviour ignited the chaos that engulfed the semi-final in Charlotte, North Carolina. But it didn’t help, that’s for sure.
According to Uruguay captain Josema Giménez, after the final whistle, drunken Colombian fans started an avalanche over the players’ family members, “some of them carrying newborns”.
Lack of security staff forced the players to intervene, Giménez added. In that intervention, Darwin Núñez climbed the wall and ended up throwing and receiving punches.
Ronald Araujo followed. The mother of PSG player Manuel Ugarte fainted. Mina Bonino, wife of Fede Valverde, jumped on the pitch carrying her son in her arms and narrowly avoided a bottle thrown from afar.
Another bottle smashed the head of Uruguay fitness coach Santiago Ferro. It was later shown that the bottle had been thrown by Rodrigo Bentancur. Friendly fire.
In another video, at least one Uruguay FA official is shown throwing a glass to the fans, sparking a worse reaction.
SLOW REACTION
CONMEBOL first barely posted a general statement in their account, condemning violence and inviting the fans “to cheer for their teams and to have an unforgettable party”.
Fourteen hours later, with images emerging from all possible angles, they announced that a disciplinary proceeding was opened “to establish the sequence of facts and the responsibility of the ones involved”.
They didn’t suspend any of the players provisionally, meaning that all of them will be available for the third-place playoff of Saturday against Canada.
Whatever decision they take will be criticised. They can ban Colombia fans in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers and suspend some Uruguayan players that were caught flagrant, even if they were defending their family members.
What won’t happen is that CONMEBOL suspend themselves for this brutal lack of organisation when it comes to safety.
The Copa Libertadores 2018 final had to be played outside the continent because they were unable to provide a better solution.
The Brazil-Argentina game in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers was suspended with one official carrying a gun.
The Brazil-Argentina game this year was temporarily suspended following carnage to Argentinian fans by local police, with the players also trying to intervene.
THE VALUE OF MEDIA
What’s also interesting is that most of these scenes came from media outlets with rights and social media from the people in the stands.
The official feed chose to ignore them, but they never ignored the 10-second cameo on CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez and his family in the stands, in every single game.
As Josema Giménez said to the reporter in the flash interview, “I’d like to say something because you’re being pressed not to ask me and to cut me and they don’t want us to speak about this”.
His respectful statement is also an invitation to reflect on what would happen if organisation and communication operate without independent media to report the real facts and access to ask the right questions at the right time.
Credit: AIPS Media
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