“Commentator Pedrinho Speaks Out Against Disrespectful Criticism of Botafogo Fans”

the commentator Pedrinho made a strong outburst on SporTV’s “Exchange of Passes”, when analyzing the victory of the Botafogo upon Corinthians by 3 to 0, at Nilton Santos. The former player was irritated by terms used to refer to the alvinegra fans, asked for more respect for Glorioso and more responsibility for football analysts and commentators in general.

– The respectful criticism at the beginning of the season was valid, because the team was not playing well. Do you think the Luis Castro is Botafogo? He is in Botafogo, but the respect he has for the institution is much greater than that of the people who live here in Brazil, who are not Botafogo, but who know the history. That’s what impresses me. Here we are going to be right and wrong as a critic, and our job is even easier, because we are engineers on finished work, it has already happened and we evaluate it. Can’t unlink. When you use horrible terms to refer to a team, don’t tell me you’re talking about the team and not the institution, there’s no way the fan won’t be offended. Botafogo is a gigantic team, with a huge representation, which had one of the greatest players in history. We are living in a social network moment that everyone wants to like… This irritates me a lot… – said Pedrinho, continuing:

– Barbieri (Vasco coach) gave an interview saying: “The criticism is valid, fair, but know how to put the words.” Can you imagine if there was a program where athletes would comment on commentators and talk about us in terms that many commentators use? What about the children of these commentators listening to what the guys are talking about? Imagine that your criticism is your child listening, or what you would like your child to hear. Then you would have respect to criticize. Television and some digital platforms are crossing the line. And the great mass is influenced and encouraged by what we say. So, I ask the people who work in television to be responsible for what they are saying about players, managers and coaches.

Another commentator at the table, Paulo Cesar Vasconcellos he also spoke about the criticism directed at Botafogo in the very recent past and the “queue of apologies” to the coach. Now, Glorioso accumulates 15 games without losing and is isolated leader of the Brazilian championship with 100% utilization.

– This is a cliché of Brazilian football, and it seems to me that no matter how much we receive coaches from other countries, Brazilian football and Brazilian football analysts fall into several clichés. One is that, losing, two, three games and the coach sucks. This happened with Castro, it happens with Fluminense when an error occurs in a ball outing, it will happen with Abel at Palmeiras… This apology to Castro has to be very selective, because there are people who attacked and offended him, and there are people who criticized him. One of Botafogo’s worst matches that year was against Sergipe, there was a criticism that the coach certainly agreed with and the players too. There is another type of criticism that goes to the offense, to the disqualification of the work – recalled PC.