In Futbol-Mad Argentina, Ms. Rubeo Teaches Fans to Play Nice

Filed under: Argentina, Supporters, Suspensions, Turmoil

From the Wall Street Journal:

For years, the roughneck fans of the Huracán soccer club often put on more of a show than the players did. Boasting in a fight song that they “root with wine and drugs,” they battled police with rocks, fought rival fans with chains and vandalized everything from cars to bleachers.

But at a recent Huracán game, the tough guys were kept in check by a woman sporting a Chanel handbag. Fabiana Rubeo, a 5-foot-3-inch lawyer, is crusading to teach sportsmanship to the barras bravas, gangs of soccer hooligans who have fueled a culture of violence in Argentina’s national sport…

…But Ms. Rubeo’s hooligan rehab group, called New Horizon for the World, is sparking skepticism, and some ridicule, in this fútbol-mad country…

Posted on Sep 18th, 2008 by  FC Uptown 

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  1. Jimmy says

    When i saw this article in the wall street journal today I laughed, mainly because they mention Pablo “El Bebote” Alvarev, if any one has seen the Real Football Factories International with Danny Dyer, it is evident that “El Bebote” has not stopped his hooligan activities, rather he has just kept them more secretive.