The Everest Scandal

This morning we travelled inland to Campina Grande to stay with Daniel, a Brazilian friend of mine whom I met working in England.

As soon as we arrived he whisked us off to his football team´s annual end-of-year Churrasco (BBQ), where not only were his team-mates enjoying themselves, but an entire community. Everyone from babies to Grandparents were gathered around a long, out-door table, knocking-back beers, eating piles of meat and shouting excitedly at each other. In comparison to the subdued and formal football evenings that usually happen in England, this was a lively, fun, family event.

The afternoon kicked off with a video of their annual friendly (although the tackles were anything but!) between rival fans of the two local teams in Campina, Treze and Campinense. This proved exciting as watching the actual game itself as the players leapt out of their seats to celebrate goals or argue fouls, running to the TV to organise action replays. I was pleased to see that my friend Daniel´s goal got the biggest celebration of all.

As is tradition for all end of year parties, next was the award ceremony. Daniel won a medal as second top-scorer and when he collected it made a short, rousing speech which had everyone chanting for him. I learned that due to his height, he had earned the nickname ´Everest´. I hadn´t realised he was such a good public speaker either.

It became clear next, however, that Daniel was campaigning for votes, as the next event of the afternoon was to decide the next Vice-President of the team. Daniel had even made up hilarious flyers displaying himself in regal pose alongside the slogan "The tall man for Vice-President!". His opponent, Ricardo, a weasly fellow in pink had barely said a word all afternoon, despite hanging around near the microphone. I had no doubt who would win.

However, when the votes came to be counted, ´Everest´ only got 12, to Ricardo´s 18. Daniel was outraged and stepped up to the microphone shouting "I can´t believe 18 of you could be so stupid!". It was all done in good humour though, since the Vice-President doesn´t actually do anything at the club, meaning the vote was more of a popularity contest than anything.

Still, as the forro band began to play, I questioned Daniel as to why he´d lost when everyone so clearly seemed to love him.

"Oh, the other guy paid people 10 reais each to vote for him," he told me.

He didn´t seem too bothered by this, as though a bit of corruption was perfectly normal. I guess if it goes on at the top level of football and politics in Brazil, as it did for many years, its inevitable that it will filter down.