Los de Abajo

Los de Abajo ("The Ones from Below") is the official supporters group of Universidad de Chile. They are one of the biggest groups of supporters in Chile.

History

The group initially was formed around 1988, in the worst times of the club, when the youth members of the official group at the time (Imperio Azul, or Blue Empire) started to make a change in the way of supporting the team that was more related to the barra brava style from Argentina. In 1989, when they stole a banner from the archival ultras group, the group was expulsed from the official group after they refused to give the banner back. After that, the youth group moved to gate 12 of the National Stadium, where Universidad de Chile played its home games, and they started the new group called Los de Abajo ("The Ones from Below"), because they used to be below the official group before moving to gate 12.

In 1989, the group made its fame, when the club was in second division and they still kept supporting the team like never before. They were rewarded with the immediate promotion to first division.

At this point the group began to be more aggressive, mainly because at the derby with Colo-Colo ultras group of that team used to move around the stadium usually throbbing normal fans of Universidad de Chile, so Los de Abajo started to "clean" the neighborhoods around the stadium, so that normal fans could attend the stadium with their families.

In 1994 Universidad de Chile won its first title in 25 years. The final match was played in El Salvador, a mining town of 10,000 habitants in the desert, and a stadium with a capacity of 20,000 people. 25,000 fans of Universidad de Chile traveled there to see the end of the title drought.From that point the team was always on the main spot of the championship, so the long wait and enthusiasm in the bad times was rewarded. In 1994 they also became the official group of for the club.

Criticism

From the beginning the group have been criticised for the being violent. The press have been very critical and claim that the barras bravas are the reason for the lack of fans at matches. Although, Los de Abajo never fight fans of Universidad de Chile, or normal rival fans. The fights are only with other ultras groups, an unusual characteristic of ultras groups in Chile. They have been also been involved in scuffles with the police.

Los de Abajo is the only supporters groups that has registered members. Normally those involved in violence are not registered members, and are considered to be outsiders of the "barra" that just go to cause conflict in the stadiums.

In recent times Los de Abajo changed their confrontational manner for a more defensive approach of not fighting unless they are attacked.

ocial and political activism

Los de Abajo are well known for their left-wing ideas. They were born in the Pinochet dictatorship, and the majority of the Universidad de Chile fans were known for their opposition at the dictatorship. On the other hand, Pinochet was honorary president of the archirival Colo-Colo and he helped the team to solve their economics problems twice and promised funds to build their stadium, so for every game played in the Colo-Colo field they like to destroy the "Pinochet Stadium", as they call it.

The group is mainly formed by working-class men, low-class teens, and students. Los de Abajo make several charity events, and recreational activities. Also, in 1999 they opened the "Escuela Libre Los de Abajo", a free school for teens of low-class and people that didn't finish their basic grades. In 2006 they also open a free preuniversitary, so the students can study to achieve the universitary aptitude exam.

Politically, in 2003 they were one of the founding organizations of the Juntos Podemos Más, a left-wing coalition that includes the Communist Party of Chile and several others organizations. They had one candidate to deputy on the 2005 parliamentary election.

External links

* [http://www.losdeabajo.cl Official Page]