The game of football is associated with violence among fans and players since its inception. Thursday eye-witnessed dual aggressions - first, the UEFA Cup first qualifying round match between Bosnian side Zrinjski Mostar and Serbian visitors Partizan Belgrade faced mob outrage while the under twenty FIFA World Cup match confronted a wrangle between the Chilean team and the Toronto cops.
Soccer’s governing body FIFA vows to take immediate action following the under twenty World Cup match chaos at Toronto.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter said:
On behalf of FIFA, I have to express regret over what happened because the origin of the encounter was definitely the bad behavior of one of the FIFA teams that qualified for this wonderful competition, and giving this black mark just at the end of this competition is not good. FIFA will now make disciplinary investigations and take adequate actions with regards to the behavior of the players and the officials of Chile.
The confrontation took place after Chile lost 3-0 to Argentina in a semifinal match. As the Chilean players and officials headed to their bus at the side of the stadium, the cops prevented them from reaching a large fence that separated them from hundreds of furious, chanting fans. Cops even handcuffed players, suppressing using pepper spray and a Taser and eventually escorted them back to the dressing room.
Chile’s foreign minister Alejandro Foxley filed a formal complaint with Ottawa over what he called “unjustified aggression” by Toronto police.
However, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair issued a statement defending his force and said, ‘The job of my officers was to respond in a firm, but fair, manner to end that violence. They are trained to do so, and that is what they did.’
Via: CBC
