The Football Riot That Stopped a Season

There are football riots that stop a game, and then there are football riots that stop a whole season. The riot that followed Danubio’a 1-0 over Nacional in Uruguay’s Primera División was one of the latter.

At the final whistle fans from both teams invaded the pitch and fought for a full fifteen minutes (video after the jump, violence fans). And so the Uruguayan FA decided enough was enough and have suspended the league indefinitely.

Here’s what the Uruguayan FA president Jose Luis Corbo had to say:

“We have decided to cancel all top-flight action as a precaution following Sunday’s problems and previous troubles we have experienced. We think we have to calm things down.

“There’s no date set for the resumption. We will analyse that only after we find measures to ensure security at the games.

“There’s absolutely no chance of action next weekend.”

Here’s the riot that led to Corbo taking such drastic action:

[video via 101GG]

Incredibly, there were no injuries or arrests reported. After fifteen minutes of pretty vicious fighting. Which implies that maybe they weren’t doing it right. But good on the Uruguayan FA for taking a tough stance and giving the league a collective timeout. Hopefully the fans will decide that football is more fun that fighting and the Uruguayan Primera División will be up and running in time to finish the season.

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Category: South America