What about Barrabravas?

Barrabravas intrigue me. Are they hooligans, plain mafia, or what? Originally they certainly were the local barrios soccer team's passionate hinchas or supporters. Now they also unite in the code of violence, expressed machismo, intolerance toward others and obscure connections to the clubs management.
The anthropological gaze of Jose Garriga Zucal at porteño soccer makes it possible to understand more of the circle of passion and personal bonds which are tied between supporters, the social fundament of the violence, machismo and intolerance, and the twirl these values has taken the last few decades in the way of manifesting loyalty to a football team.
Submitting himself as participant observer into the barrabravas of Huracán, he aimed to explore the patrons of the barrabravas, and above all, to find out where the violence of Argentinian soccer is located.
The soccer scene are too complex to deem barrabravas all guilt of violence. They are certainly the most violent, but they are not the only ones. And they are as heterogeneous as the rest of us. Some are robbers, other professionals, some are drug addicts, others do not consume drugs at all. But there is one trait he found which unite; The stamina, the persistence. The heterogenous barrabravas unite here, they are fighters. To become a member, you must fight. You must show yourself. They fight each others, not the other spectators, the players or the management. They do not report to the police. When the Boca hinchas fight the Chacarita hinchas, they keep the trouble internal. Nobodys else's business. That is the code. The code also says not to use weapons, but sometimes they do. Codes exist to be broken. It is like driving on red.
To participate or distance oneself from the barrabravas is a question of class, even though the fascination for violence is the same whithin very different social groups. Barrabravas from River are upper middle class. The political and social idea that violence equals poverty, does not stand.
River and Boca have the largest barrabravas of Buenos Aires, numbering four to five hundred members. Huracán and San Lorenzo numbers between two and three hundred.
The leader of a barrabrava needs more qualificastions than to be a good fighter, he has to know the mechanisms of distribution, and he needs a certain amount of charisma.
It will be interesting to follow the court case of the brothers Alan and William Schlenker. The snob Alan, River barrabravas' leader, is accused of murdering a rivaling River barrabrava.