Sport Club Internacional: Side by Side

Brazil is the country of soccer and, together with the passion of one of the world’s largest legion of sports fans, comes rivalry. Unfortunately, in Brazil, many games end in violence. And, to suggest a change in the supporters behavior, Sport Club Internacional, south of Brazil’s biggest club, launched the action entitled “Side by Side”, that promoted a jointed crowd in one of the most important soccer derbies of all times: Internacional versus Grêmio, pointed out to be one of the 3 biggest derbies of South America, among the Argentinian derby Boca Juniors vs River Plate, and the Uruguayan derby Peñarol vs Nacional; and it’s among the 10 biggest derbies of the world.

With the challenge of bringing families back to stadiums, the campaign “Side by Side” proposed an unexpected invitation to the supporting partners of Sport Club Internacional: to watch a highly anticipated match of the Campeonato Gaúcho March this year, they’d have to invite a Grêmio supporter to sit beside them. But, before that, the rival supporters would have to go through the Goal’s Way, a kilometer long walk to get to the stadium. In less than 48 hours, 2 thousand seats to the game were sold. Through this, Sport Club Internacional showed that watching a soccer match can be safe for everyone.

“Our goal was to surpass the stadium barriers and bring back the origin of the sport, that has had in its essence the gathering of people in a healthy environment. Sport Club Internacional campaign restated the coexistence and tolerance message for everyone around the world. We realized the success of the campaign, mainly, with the increased number of kids in the following games,” states Alexandre Silveira de Lima, Sport Club Internacional Vice President. “We found a way to bring kind people to the stadium. We [from Sport Club Internacional] brought ‘gremista’ friends to watch the match beside us, peacefully. Gre-Nal (Sport Club Internacional vs; Grêmio) is one of the best programs of the ‘gaúcho’ championship, and is commented everywhere. This is a case created by us and by our initiative”, adds Luiz Henrique Nuñez, Sport Club Internacional Marketing and Media Vice President.

The outcome of this match, that was named “Gre-Nal da Paz” (Peace Gre-Nal), was a maximum capacity José Pinheiro da Borda Stadium, also known as Beira-Rio, with 37 thousand people without any single case of violence. More than simply restating, in an unprecedented campaign, its performance as a club against this kind of behavior, Sport Club Internacional received the support of the local population and inspired the rival team to also make a game with the same jointed crowd model. “Side by Side” was a milestone in brazilian soccer history.