Chilean football hits 'big crisis'

Colo Colo are Chile's leading club - but their fans have deserted them

Chilean football is in deep decline amidst a disturbing rise in crowd violence, football bosses in the country have said.

Most of the country's top clubs are facing financial meltdown as the number of people attending matches has plummeted to its lowest ever level.

Colo Colo, Chile's most famous club side supported by some 60% of the country's football fans, recently had an attendance of around 5,000 for a top-of-the-table clash with Universidad de Concepción. The stadium can hold well over ten times that figure.

"Chilean football really is passing through a big crisis," Colo Colo's general administrator Francisco Gori told BBC World Service's World Football programme.

"I heard on the radio another match with a big team, Unión Española, had only about 2,000 people.

"Another team outside Santiago had 1,000 people. That is really what is going on in the industry."

Violence

Chilean football's decline is in contrast to the general state of the economy, which is steadily improving and is the fastest-growing in South America.

Mr Gori admitted that the fans that were being lost were families as crowds become more unruly and riots more commonplace.

Chile's national team players mainly perform outside the country

Last year one match was suspended when a missile thrown from the crowd hit a player. Linesmen have been felled by rocks - something that caused a game to be abandoned earlier this month.

Inside the stadiums there are no stewards and few police, while outside there are frequently running battles between fans and riot police, known as "Ninja Turtles" because of their green protective clothing.

"It's not something that only Colo Colo can combat, it has to be the whole industry," Mr Gori added.

"The whole football activity has to change."

However, the Chilean Football Federation argues that the situation is improving - at odds with what the clubs say.

"We've already advanced on this matter," argued president Ronaldo Sanchez.

"The number of people going to football matches in 2002 and 2003 can only be compared with 1995, which was one of the best years for attendance, although it is true that some people are not going because of the violence."

To this end, a delegation from the English Football Association has been visiting Chile to offer advice on how to tackle hooliganism.

The Chilean government has also signalled its intention to get involved, and all clubs are to become limited companies within the next three years in the hope of helping resolve some of their financial problems.

But others remain unconvinced that there will be a quick turnaround in Chilean clubs' fortunes.

"We're in a black hole," Mauricio Israel, the presenter of one of Chile's top sports programmes, told World Football.

"The teams are corporations, they do what they want. The TV [companies] pay a lot of money for the rights to the matches, but this money has been lost.

"The teams don't pay their players. The level of football is very bad."