Higor Ramalaho To Continue His Long-Standing Journey to Watch Football Games
Higor Ramalaho To Continue His Long-Standing Journey to Watch Football Games: With Brazilian football fans associating the yellow jersey with Brazil’s far-right, they are giving up on it. The shirt used to be an icon of unity, but now signifies the opposite.
Brazil has lifted the temporary restrictions that kept Higor from attending a football game over fears of the flu, and football spirits are high. Higor plans to continue visiting stadiums despite being free to attend games with minimal risk of spreading the coronavirus.
However, Brazil’s most famous soccer jersey, which is yellow, remains unused and unpressed in the athlete’s closet. He doesn’t know when he will wear it for the last time or if he will ever wear it again.
Even though the president of his country’s football team, a 33-year-old man, said he no longer wore the jersey in support of protests against the president and his political party, he kept it as a symbol of victory. Wearing the yellow jersey was not only for watching games but also to wear on regular days. The president turned the jersey into a campaign symbol, which is now being pulled off by supporters of the president and their political party.”
And since I do not support these political ideas, I refuse to be mistakenly considered part of this group. The yellow jersey has not always been the Brazil national team’s shirt. In 1953, three years after the World Cup final heartbreak at the hands of Uruguay in the Maracana, it was designed. At the time, they were wearing white.
The Brazilian National Football governing body and a newspaper launched a design competition to create a new kit for the national team contingent upon their having the colors of the flag as the current kit did not carry with it any sense of “Brazilian identity.”
150 entries were submitted. The winning entry was by Aldyr Garcia Schlee, a Brazilian who felt torn by the 1950 result given that he was born on the border with Uruguay. After many years, including a record five World Cup wins, two Copa America wins, and the pivotal side coming together to support their country, the yellow jersey had become a symbol of luck and unconditional unity among football fans.
Historically, there have been many numbers that are synonymous with Brazil on the pitch. For example, Pele wore number 10, Ronaldo wore number 9 and Romario wore number 11 during their successful World Cup runs.
However, the political campaign of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has led to the abandonment of a novel design that previously enjoyed widespread interest. Analysts say these same football memories being used on and off the pitch are promoting ideas that are directly antithetical to the building of a united country.
All of Brazil’s people are to some extent united by football, which offers an insight into how the country can’t be divided by political issues. Media and far-right supporters have mistreated the national football team and its flag. Despite having an opportunity to express freedom of speech through hanging flags on windows during the World Cup, Isabela Guedes chooses not to due to their misrepresentation of her political ideals.
The military dictatorship used the national flag, a color scheme and the team’s logo to associate the essence of Brazil with a sports team to advance its cause. Carolina Fontenelle, a researcher at the Laboratory of Media and Sports Studies in UERJ, points out that this strategy dates back to 1970 when Bolsanaro’s supporters began their practice.
Due to generals like General Medici, Brazil’s military leader at the time, and their efforts, a strong connection was formed between citizens of Brazil and their national team. Thejacksons also said that people began to feel love for their team’s jersey as soon as it landed on a street in the nation’s capital.
Encouraged by residents of the Euromarkets, the yellow jersey took on a new meaning during 2013 protests. With the riots beginning to fade into history, people look at the jersey with pride and feel part of a group.
Worldwide, many people have started wearing the jersey. During the protests in 2014, there were a large number of people on the streets protesting against many things, including the money spent on the World Cup. In 2018, we had far-right groups wearing this representational symbol from Brazil to embody different causes, Fontenelle said.
Those who don’t agree with this choice feel ashamed, because the jersey gives a feeling of belonging to a group and this feeling is lost when it’s associated with a political campaign of someone who doesn’t defend minorities. During the 2014 elections in Brazil, the campaign of centrist candidate Aecio Neves hijacked the colors of the Brazilian flag, Fontenelle said.
An advocate led the campaign to eliminate a famous football jersey in favor towards a classic, white and blue look. Unfortunately, our nation is in an unstable situation with intolerable policies.
Following the campaign by Bolsonaro supporters to help him become president, a newspaper called Folha de Sao Paulo encouraged its readers to wear yellow. Dubbed “Dissociation Campaign”, they wanted to show support even though his supporters continued their campaign on the Supreme Court and Congress.
At the Museum of Football in Sao Paulo, Ademir Takara said that he does not support people wearing football jerseys with slurs and degrading slogans. Many Brazilians feel affectionate towards their beloved shirts, which are meant to host games and be a symbol of unity.
The hijab has become a political statement for freedom of expression and many female Muslims don’t feel like they can express themselves without their hijabs. Thousands of Bolsonaro supporters were on the beach in Rio de Janeiro, giving their support that week.
President Lula, candidate for next month’s elections, blasted a demonstration on the anniversary of Brazilian independence. The 7th of September should be a day of love and union. Unfortunately, that’s not what is happening today. Lula has faith in Brazil getting back its flag — sovereignty and democracy.
Despite being a football fan, Marina Moreno is tired of seeing the yellow jersey become associated with the president and his supporters. There is no way to avoid it any more because it has become automatic for her to be categorized as one of them. She decided not to wear the yellow jersey, since she does not support the current president or his followers.