33 year old Franco Nieto has just become the 15th person to
die in football-related violence in Argentina this year. He was the captain of a regional club Tiro Federal, who had been
playing Chacarita Juniors in the town of Aimogasta in the north-west of the country.
The match had been stopped 15 minutes
from time after the referee sent off eight players for fighting. It is
reported that afterwards Mr Nieto was going to his car with his wife and baby daughter, when he was attacked by three people, one of whom hit him on the head with a stone.
Police say three people have been arrested. Much football hooliganism in Argentina is
blamed on so-called Barras Bravas, gangs who control the terraces and the
streets around the stadiums.
The deadliest sporting riot in history came in Constantinople in 532
when rivalry between supporters of two chariot racing teams morphed into a
full-scale rebellion in which perhaps 30,000 people were killed. (see also my
blogs of 30 March, 2009; 2 January, 2010; 2 February and 11 May, 2012.)
No comments:
Post a Comment