El objeto antropológico

89 On the 12th June 2014, the FIFA World Cup began with an official opening ceremony in Sao Paulo. The opening ceremony aimed to introduce the Brazilian people and nature to the world and also welcome travelling football fans. President Dilma in her speech to the capacity crowd declared the FIFA World Cup as the ‘cup of all cups’ (Tzanelli, 2015). The official version of the 2014 tournament is a positive environmental legacy left by increased attention to waste and recycling, green stadiums and carbon offsetting. Further, FIFA and the Brazilian organising committee also claimed a positive social legacy was left with youth empowerment and actions against poverty. This section shows how these claims were made.

The opening ceremony of the tournment in Sao Paulo acknowledged both the people and environment of Brazil through a celebration of Brazil’s biodiversity (Fig 2), 600 dancers dressed in various costumes designed to depict Brazilian wildlife (BBC, 2014). Themes of unity with each other, and the environment, were evident in the banners around the stadium reading juntos num só ritmo (all in one rhythm)

(Arruda, 2015).

90 One example of FIFA and the Brazilian government’s commitment to staging a ‘green’ games was the selection of the mascot. Mascots were first introduced in the 1966 World Cup and are used by World Cup (and Olympic) hosts to represent the theme of the tournament and national identity (Griggs et al., 2012, Melo et al., 2014, Freeman et al., 2006, Knight et al., 2014). The mascot for Germany in 2006 was a life sized lion named ‘Goleo’ without an environmental theme. Weszka (2011) suggested that the lack of affiliation with Germany resulted in poor sales of toy versions of the mascot. Learning from this, the 2010 World Cup developed a mascot with strong links between the hosts and the tournament. The mascot was a football playing leopard named ‘Zakumi’. According to van der Westhuizen and Swart (2011), ‘ZA’ represents South Africa and ‘kumi’ is the number ten in various languages across South Africa. The choice of mascot in Brazil highlighted Brazil’s environmental importance and could be said to serve two main purposes. First, Fuleco, the name of the mascot is a combination of the Portuguese for football and ecology and therefore symbolised a connection between the two (Fig 3). Second, the selection of the animal, a three-banded armadillo was said to increase awareness of different Brazilian biomes. The three-banded armadillo is an endangered species in the Caatinga habitat in the east of the country. Although species in the more famous Amazon may have been more well known, the choice of the armadillo was said to draw attention to Brazil’s diversity (Melo et al., 2014). Through the mascot the tournaments ‘green’ theme was continually reinforced. The mascot appeared at all matches, on official merchandise and was part of the marketing programme. It therefore contributed to the ‘green’ ethos of the tournament.

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Figure 3: Fuleco the 2014 FIFA World Cup Mascot, the name comes from the Portuguese for ‘football’ and ‘ecology’ (Segalla, 2013)

The first official document which stated Brazil’s ‘green’ potential was the ‘Sustainability Concept’ document released in 2012 by FIFA (Addiechi et al., 2012). It described how FIFA expected the Brazilian government to incorporate sustainability themes into the tournament. The graphics running throughout the document (Fig 4) can also be seen to develop green themes; trees, hills, oceans and rivers can be interpreted and visualised in the graphic, which appear in harmony with the cogs of industrialisation. This graphic works to reiterate that the environment and economic development are compatible. The ‘Sustainability Concept’ was part of a wider environmental and social strategy by FIFA which is officially organised through the ‘Football for the Planet’ programme and ‘Football for Hope’ respectively.

The ‘Football for the Planet’ programme suggests the environmental strategy of a FIFA World Cup should be organised around three main themes: monitoring and compensation for greenhouse gases emissions resulting from the activities, certified green stadiums and waste management and recycling

92 (Birth, 2014). The ‘Football for Hope’ programme suggests the World Cup can be used as a tool for sustainable development through social inclusion and practising citizenship (FIFA, 2016).

Both the Brazilian Government and FIFA claimed to have achieved this for the 2014 World Cup. In 2015 a sustainability report of the 2014 World Cup was released (FIFA, 2015). In a prologue, the then FIFA President Sepp Blatter wrote:

‘from waste management and carbon offsetting to capacity-building and inclusivity, the implementation of our sustainability strategy has led to many achievements that we are proud of. I am convinced that our experience in Brazil leaves us well placed to further integrate sustainability considerations in our future FIFA World Cup

operations’(FIFA, 2015:5).

Figure 3: The design of the FIFA World Cup which appears on all official documentation has ‘green’ themes (Addiechi et al., 2012)

The official version of the FIFA World Cup presented by these documents is a successful tournament with multiple benefits for both the environment and local populations. In order for this to have been achieved, FIFA’s ideas had to align with the Brazilian Governments. The following extract from the ‘Sustainability Concept’ document (Fig 5) (Addiechi et al., 2012) illustrates how FIFA thought the Brazilian Presidential directives and FIFA’s sustainability principles align.

93 As this extract shows directive four and five speak directly to the sustainability claims. The Brazilian government were keen to host a ‘green’ event as it provided them with the opportunity to ‘re-imagineer’ Brazil into a safe country to invest in after the 2008 financial crisis. It would also contribute to the

attempt to change dominant narratives around deforestation in Brazil, particularly of the Amazon. Finally, it would show that Brazil can develop economically in harmony with the natural environment, aligning with the ecological modernisation paradigm. I first explore how the effort to defend the The 13 directives that outline the Brazilian Government’s policy agenda, adapted from Addiechi et al. (2012), are summarised below:

1. Expand and strengthen democracy 2. Increase economic growth

3. Implement a large-scale and long-term economic development project 4. Defend the environment and guarantee sustainable development 5. Eradicate poverty and decrease inequality

6. Improve working conditions and facilitate access to formal employment for youth 7. Guarantee access to quality education and vocational training

8. Transform Brazil into a scientific and technological power 9. Improve access to quality health care

10. Provide citizens with basic necessities such as accommodation, sanitation and transportation 11. Promote Brazilian culture and dialogue with other cultures

12. Guarantee civil security and combat organised crime

13. Defend national sovereignty through an active and proud presence of Brazil in the world

The FIFA World Cup and the FIFA World Cup Sustainability Strategy will contribute to the achievement of many of these directives. A few examples to illustrate this are listed below: • Directive 4: The aim of FIFA and the LOC to minimise and reduce the negative impact of the FIFA World Cup on the environment is in line with the Government’s efforts to defend the environment and promote sustainability.

• Directive 5: Through Football for Hope, FIFA will support programmes in Brazil that combine football and social development, thereby empowering youth in underprivileged communities in their fight against poverty and unequal access to opportunities.

• Directives 6 & 7: Through specially designed capacity-building programmes for a number of groups involved in the World Cup, FIFA and the LOC will support their pursuance of long-term employment.

• Directive 6: The Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Labour estimate that the FIFA World Cup will generate 710,000 jobs. Of these, it is expected that 330,000 will be permanent jobs, while 380,000 will be temporary positions.

• Directive 10: The 12 Host Cities are investing considerably more in public transportation than would be the case without the FIFA World Cup. These investments will positively impact on the quality of life of citizens, thereby leaving a lasting legacy.

94 environment and promote sustainability was played out in the preparations for the World Cup. Second I explore the ‘Football for Hope’ programme and the contribution this made to eradicate poverty in Brazil.