There were unbelievably horrific scenes at an amateur soccer match in Maranhao, Brazil, on June 30th, when a referee was lynched, and his head put on a stake, after he killed a player during an argument.

Eurosport are reporting that the 20-year-old referee, Otavio Jordao da Silva fatally stabbed 30-year-old Josenir dos Santos Abreu, during an altercation on the soccer pitch.

Santos Abreu was believed to have remonstrated with da Silva over a refereeing decision. Santos Abreu then struck the referee before da Silva fatally stabbed the player.

Santos Arbeau was taken to hospital but died from his injuries.

Angered by the incident, spectators took a horrific revenge on referee da Silva. According to Eurosport:

‘..the referee was tied up, beaten, stoned and quartered. They then put his head on a stake and planted it in the middle of the pitch.

One man, Luiz Moraes de Souza, 27, has been arrested over the incident. He has admitted to assaulting the referee but denied killing the man. Police are searching for two more suspects.

They are currently viewing video footage of the incident filmed by a witness with a mobile phone.

In a statement, the regional delegate of Santa Ines, Valter Costa, who is looking after the case, said: “One crime never justifies another crime. Actions likes this do not collaborate with the legality of state law.”

The original news report (plus photographs of the scene and victims) published in the Brazilian press, can be found here.
 
Via Eurosport, with thanks to Scheme Comix

 
It was because of Alan Anderson that my brother collected ‘My Favorite Soccer Stars’. Michael’s a Hearts supporter, and Centre-Half Anderson was the only Jambo amongst the 160 player cards given away free each week in the comics Buster and Jet, or Lion and Thunder, or Valiant and TV 21, or Scorcher and Score or, Tiger in 1971.

This was when soccer players were beginning to move away form looking like extras from The Sweeney to bass players for a teenybop band. Unlike today, most players earned a working wage, and usually retired with little more than their Cup Winner medals, that is, if they ever won any. 

The game was more than “a matter of life and death” as Liverpool’s Bill Shankly once famously said:

‘Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.’

Amongst the 160 cards were some legendary players, unforgettable characters like Francis Lee and Colin Bell for Manchester City, Derek Dougan for Wolverhampton Wanderers, Martin Chivers and Martin Peters for Tottenham Hotspurs, Arsenal’s Charlie George, and Billy Bremner from Leeds United

My brother collected 2 sets - one from Lion and Thunder and one from Buster and Jet. I knew why he picked the first, but the second made less sense, unless it was for Aberdeen’s chubby striker Joe Harper, or out of a sneaking respect for Leeds United.

My comic was Tiger, which featured a Native American wrestler called Johnny Cougar, and an unbelievably decent footie player, Roy of the Rovers. As I support Celtic, I had to forfeit my favorite comic to collect the one Celtic card featuring wizard of the wing, Jimmy “Jinky” Johnstone.  For 4 weeks I collected the squares of 4 press-out cards from Scorcher and Score. It was worth it for wee Jinky and the bonus of George Best, although Scorcher and Score was shite compared to Tiger.

This is my brother’s 2 collected sets Buster and Jet (with cover), and Lion and Thunder (without cover) - a look back at sporting heroes (and their sideburns) from forty-years ago.
 

 
More of 1971’s favorite soccer stars, after the jump…
 
Previously on Dangerous Minds

Picture Postcards: 50 Famous Britons 1868-1968

 
With thanks to Michael Gallagher
 

 
Brazilian footballer, Carlos Alberto Torres, describes his arrival to NYC on July 13, 1977 during the citywide blackout in this animation for Umbro.
 

 
(via HYST)

 
Millionaire Mohamed Al Fayed has told fans of his soccer club Fulham FC, to go to hell, if they do not like his gift of a 7 foot 6 inch statue of Michael Jackson.

Today at its unveiling, Al Fayed responded to criticism over the relevance of having a $150,000, two-and-a-half ton monument to the King of Pop, outside Fulham’s stadium, Craven Cottage:

‘Why is it bizarre? Football fans love it. If some stupid fans don’t understand and appreciate such a gift they can go to hell. I don’t want them to be fans. If they don’t understand and don’t believe in things I believe in they can go to Chelsea. They can go to anywhere else.

‘People will queue to come and visit it from all over the UK and it is something that I and everybody else should be proud of.’

Al Fayed was friends with Jackson, and once invited the singer to attend a soccer match at Craven Cottage in 1999.

Al Fayed is proabably best known as the former owner of the legendary department store Harrod’s, and as the father of Dodi Al Fayed, the “boy friend” of Diana, Princess of Wales, who was killed alongside the Princess in the infamous car crash in Paris in 1997. Al Fayed has famously maintained a campaign to prove MI6 were behind the killing of his son and the Royal Princess.

One fan of Fulham FC, Lee Robinson told the Contact Music:

“Why us? Fulham football fans do not want a statue of Michael Jackson. It’s completely mad. He’s got nothing to do with us. To be honest, he’s the last person you’d want there.”

However, not all fans agree, this from the Guardian:

The former Fulham player Kit Symons, who is now Under-18s manager at Fulham, defended Al Fayed’s decision. “It is great,” he said. “The big thing is it is obviously something that the chairman feels very, very passionately about and he has decided to erect this statue and fair dos to him.”

Speaking about the time of Jackson’s visit, he added: “It was just happy times. They were great times back then. The chairman obviously used to bring high profile people down the games. Tony Curtis was here a few weeks after and it was just fantastic times.”

Celebrity aside, the statue is just not that good, and looks more like a waxwork or one of those gaudy plaster statues found in a theme park. And of course, there is the bigger question of whether a sports club wants to be associated with a man who allegedly had questionable relationships with young boys?