Brazilian football in thrall to politics, say ex-players

By Andrew Downie (Reuters) - After spells with AC Milan, Leeds Utd and Bayer Leverkusen, Brazil's World Cup winning centre half Roque Junior thought he had the experience to start a football club in his homeland. After eight years of battling politics and bureaucracy, he finally gave up on Primeira Camisa, or First Shirt, the small club he had tried to set up in Sao Paulo state. "I had things I wanted to put into practice but I saw that being competent didn't help," Roque said. "It was clear as an administrator that it was all about politics. I ended up just closing the club down." Roque's struggles bear witness to the malaise in South American football, highlighted last week when U.S. prosecutors arrested two of the most powerful administrators in Latin America and indicted the current and former presidents of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), all on suspicion of corruption. Former players are notable by their absence from the top echelons of Brazilian football, where ambition and political nous are much bigger prerequisites than football prowess or love of the "beautiful game". "People get into sport in Latin America not because they love sport but because they love power," said Christopher Gaffney, a U.S. professor who has written several books on corruption and sports management in the Americas. "It is not about developing sports, it is purely exploitative from top to bottom.""We've seen a lot of progressive change in Latin American politics over the last 30 years, with new governments, more transparency and stronger institutions, but sport has evaded all of this and still operates in the same old authoritarian fashion." HIERARCHY DECIMATED Now, however, the region's football hierarchy has been decimated by the U.S. crackdown on FIFA and related football bodies. More than 40 people have been arrested or indicted since May, including officials from all 10 members of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) and the federation's president. Among the indictees is Ricardo Teixeira, president of the CBF from 1989 to 2012, who is accused of taking bribes for the sale of television rights for the Copa Brasil tournament from 1990 to 2009. Roque, 39, had hoped to be part of a new generation of Brazilian players who could put their experience at the highest levels to work. Yet he said he had lacked the political clout to secure a permanent home for his team in Sao Jose dos Campos, 90 km (55 miles) from Sao Paulo, while any promising players were quickly snapped up by agents and sold on to bigger clubs. "You try to do things properly, thought out over years," he told Reuters. "Some difficulties are normal, and others are not normal. You try to play at a stadium and, if you are playing well, you should be allowed to play there. But you can't, because you don't have the support of the right politicians." In recent weeks, Brazilian players have protested about unpaid salaries and corrupt leadership, but judicial authorities have been less proactive. Former World Cup striker Romario is at least leading a Congressional inquiry into football-related corruption, but this can only turn its findings over to authorities, who must then decide whether or not to prosecute. "Impunity reigns - but there is more awareness now, and the actions of U.S. prosecutors are an example to Brazil," said Alex, the former Brazil and Fenerbahce midfielder who leads a group of players demanding reform. "It is hard to see anything different happening right now, but we will keep fighting." (Editing by Kevin Liffey)