MAJOR EVENTS
FANS Attending a World Cup match when you are not affiliated to either team is incredibly enjoyable. You have no need to worry about the result and you can party with both sets of supporters. We chose to tackle our first game, Columbia versus Greece, as England fans, with shirt, cap and flags. It took 90 minutes to walk
from the bus stop to the stadium due to the number of times we were stopped for photographs. We loved it! The interaction with other fans is something special that you will only experience at a football tournament. We had a similar experience at Belgium v Algeria. For the Argentina v Iran game we went ‘undercover’ as Brazilian supporters and backed Iran. The Iranians fed off the support they were getting due to the South American rivalry. Iran were unlucky to have been beaten by a Lionel Messi wonder goal.
MINEIRAO, BELO HORIZONTE The Mineirao stadium was built in 1965 and was refurbished for the World Cup by BCMF architects. The building is protected which prevented it from being demolished. The bones of the building are a simple and elegant concrete structure. To that a new, lightweight steel and fabric roof and a new podium structure were added to accommodate FIFA’s programme requirements. The stadium's
About the author
Charles Cooke is an associate principal at sports architects Populous. Populous has 30 years’ experience in sports stadia and arenas, and has designed stadia for three FIFA World Cups. It also designed the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi - the venue for this year’s Winter Olympics and a future host to FIFA World Cup matches in 2018. Charles is a passionate football
fan and as well as England, follows Portsmouth FC. He is currently working on football projects for Manchester City and Southend United and secretly planning his next sabbatical for Euro 2016 in France.
The buildings surrounding the lake designed by Oscar Niemeyer
playing pitch was lowered and the surrounding running track was removed. The seating bowl is shallow and spread over two continuous tiers. You can see everyone in the stadium and the sightlines are good everywhere except around the lateral gangways which are frequented by ice cream and popcorn sellers. It works well for Mexican waves and roars with noise during moments of excitement. The upper concourses are limited in size
by the extent of the original façade - this made them tight and after the first match we avoided them at half time. The Mineirao has a wonderful setting
near a huge artificial lake that was commissioned in the 1940s by then Mayor Juscelino Kubitschek. The new neighbourhood was landscaped by Brazilian architect Robert Burle Marx with the surrounding buildings designed by another famed Brazilian – Oscar Niemeyer.
The stadium is home to two
of Brazil’s most successful football teams, Cruzeiro and Atletico Mineiro, so it will be well used after the World Cup. In Belo, the rivalry between the two sets of fans is intense. During quieter moments in the stadium, a Cruzeiro song would start up – followed by booing and a rival Atletico chant. It was like having four sets of fans inside the ground. The Mineirao is the first stadium in the world to be fully powered by solar energy.
It also collects and uses vast quantities of rainwater and makes use of the nearby lake for cooling. Interestingly, the impressive eco-friendly solutions have been designed to be very subtle. There's no 'green bling’ – in fact no visible evidence at all of any of the admirable measures in place. Another astute step was to introduce
strong, reusable plastic cups – rather than weak, single-use ones – branded with the match details. This reduced waste, as it encouraged fans to take the cups home. In fact people collected them, with many fans fishing discarded ones out of bins.
PUBLIC ORDER We saw very little disorder during our time in Brazil. The authorities had a big security presence outside the stadiums and were available to move into the stadium when required.
Charles (in cap on right holding the England flag) and his dad with other fans 36
sportsmanagement.co.uk issue 3 2014 © Cybertrek 2014
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92