Mass on-pitch brawls between players in supposedly “friendly” matches between top Argentine soccer teams have driven the government to vow to end soccer violence.
Long used to match-day violence involving hooligan gangs, Argentine fans saw ugly rucks erupt on the pitch itself at two recent high-profile friendlies.
Argentine President Mauricio Macri, himself a fan and former chairman of top team Boca Juniors, responded by vowing to crack down on soccer violence.
Last week’s Buenos Aires summer derby between the nation’s two most popular teams, Boca and their fierce rivals River Plate, descended into a full-on punch-up.
A match already marred by cynical fouls and insults degenerated after a clash between former Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez of Boca and a River defender.
Five players were sent off and River Plate’s goalkeeper was hit by a projectile from the stands, but the match carried on to end in a 1-0 win for River.
On Sunday, in the city of Mar del Plata, a match between rivals Estudiantes and Gimnasia was abandoned after a mass brawl broke out on the pitch with kicks, spitting and shoving.
REGRET
“We all regret it. It got out of hand,” Gimnasia’s Uruguayan midfielder Roberto Brum said.
He had left the pitch before the ruck broke out, but he ran back on to join in the fight.
A total of 18 players were booked by the referee. It is not yet known what their sanctions are to be.
A day after the second brawl, Argentine Minister of Security Patricia Bullrich called a meeting of Argentine Football Association officials.
“She demanded the utmost severity,” Argentine Football Association president Luis Segura. “It will be handled by our disciplinary tribunal.”
Estudiantes chairman Juan Sebastian Veron, a former Manchester United midfielder and Argentina international, promised the club would impose “internal sanctions” over the violence.
However, he called for critics “to understand the confrontations that there are on the pitch.”
“This is absolute instinctive barbarity,” said Dario Mendelson, a sports psychologist. “It is true that there is extra pressure during classic matches, but you have to train your mind to cope with the pressure.”
ANTI-VIOLENCE
Argentine anti-violence soccer charity Let’s Save Football said that players are under pressure and blames authorities for being too lax in the past.
“This is violence by the players, but violent groups of the clubs’ fans pressure them and they end up offering up that kind of behavior to the stands,” Let’s Save Football founder Mariano Berges said.
Berges is a former judge, who probed various cases of soccer violence.
His non-profit organization said six people were killed in soccer-related violence in Argentina last year, 16 in 2014 and 12 in each of the two years before that.
Rules in place since 2013 have restricted visiting fans’ movements at soccer grounds to prevent clashes.
However, fights between fans of rival sides have given way to violent power struggles among fellow members of extreme fan groups.
They fight each other over rackets, such as ticket sales and parking around the stadium.
Now, the violence has spread to the pitch to an alarming degree.
“This reflects many years of exasperating permissiveness by the authorities,” Berges said.
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