Coach head-butting referee, fans threatening players – Can Brazilian football stem a troubling trend?

The match in Brazil on April 10 between Desportivo Ferroviaria and Nova Venecia was not supposed to be a major national event.

He threatened to sue Netto, adding that she was trying to take advantage of being a woman, and other such incoherent nonsense.

But the question remains; how could he have engaged in such delinquency? Football is a game of emotions — in the wise words of sociologist Rogan Taylor, it is like strong beer — some people just can’t take it.

A few days before the incident involving Soriano, football did in fact become a police matter when Corinthians goalkeeper Cassio made a formal complaint about death threats he and his wife had received on social media.

He was in the team bus, on the way to a game, when the bus was attacked by some of the club’s own fans, outraged by recent results.

Or they go to the training ground to make their protest, at times — and this is especially worrying — with the cooperation of club directors.

When tempers overheated in a match in the Maracana, an old Brazilian coach said that “football is survival.” In a country such as Brazil, the game cannot be just a game.

This means that there are fewer meaningful trophies to go round — not enough for all of the clubs to maintain their status as winners.

A temporary withdrawal of the game at some point might be the best way to warn that a line is being crossed between emotion and criminality.

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