2017-2018 BRAZILIAN MEN’S SUPERLIGA
- 10/14 – 03/17 – Regular Season
- Official League Site
- Teams
- Schedule
- Power Rankings
- Round 1; Round 2; Round 3; Round 4; Round 5; Round 6; Round 7; Round 8; Round 9; Round 10; Round 11
- Round 12; Round 13; Round 14; Round 15; Round 16
Brazil is living one of the most important political moments of its history. Bathed in a sea of corruption, the country’s government is being constantly questioned by the population, which itself is fighting to lose its pejorative identity of corrupt behavior, also known as “the Brazilian way.”
As it is be expected, this has carried over to sports. The latest example came in Sesc/Rj’s 3-1 victory over Lebes/Canoas. Sesc led the game 2-1, when at the end of the tied fourth set, 23-all, the referees called out on a Canoas hit that had clearly touched the block, giving Sesc a 24-23 lead. This caused a lot of protests from Canoas‘ players and technical staff, which prompted the head referee to give the team a red card, which awarded a point to Sesc and closed out the set and the game.
TV replay showed that Canoas was right, the ball had indeed touched the block, and what was to be a 24-23 lead for Canoas, allowing it to fight for a tie-break, went on to become the end of the game. All fans present at the arena started to yell “Thieves, thieves, thieves!” at the referees, and Canoas‘ coach Marcel Matz had himself to prevent some fans from storming the court.
The protests continued on social media, as Canoas stated in its official twitter that “it was a disgrace for the game to end like that, but it was to be expected, as it is common for small market teams to be cheated on TV games.” The team’s manager, Olympic gold medalist Gustavo Endres, took it a step further, re-tweeting messages condemning Sesc player João Rafael for not accusing himself of touching the ball at the block. His supposed attitude of not admitting his fault won him heavy criticism on social media, as fans stated that he could have prevented the chaos that ensured during the game. A lot of people commented on the fact that if even athletes are corrupt, the government can be no different, and they made sure to spam Rafael’s personal accounts with disapproving messages.
However, by the day’s end, the story got even more complex, as some of Canoas‘ player took to Instagram to support João Rafael, stating that he indeed accused himself, but the referees were too proud to go back in their ruling.
Whatever really happened in those moments of the game, we will probably never know. Regardless, it is safe to say it painted a very ugly picture for the thousands of fans on the stands and the millions watching at home:
Também è uma atitude a se pensar… https://t.co/VBw0uvpLsM
— Gustavo Endres ? (@Gustavollei) February 18, 2018
Lamentável que o espetáculo se encerre desta forma. Mas em jogo transmitido ao vivo é assim, é o momento de aparecer!
— Vôlei Canoas (@VoleiCanoas) February 18, 2018
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