Regional Tournament: breaks a rival’s jaw with a pineapple, is arrested and suspended for just four dates

The game was already over: Zapla blast furnaces had qualified for the semi-finals of the Northern Regional which qualifies the finalists for promotion to the Federal A. They did so after beating 4-3 on aggregate against Atletico San Pedroalso from Jujuy.

Nothing, apart from the bitterness for the eliminated team, suggested that the match left a negative balance. Until goalkeeper Nahuel Fanola played a deplorable role.

First it was intertwined with a ball catcher: a verbal exchange and a physical clutch. Then he ended up kicking another rival who had crossed his path a couple of times, while his teammates tried to calm him down. However, Fanola did not come to his senses and found a new goal.

Blinded, he struggled to free himself from those holding him and ran until he was on his side. Augustine Duran to which he gave a tremendous blow with his fist which immediately caused him to fall.

Fanola tried to walk away from the scene, along the way he received a punch from a person wearing a bib and a commotion that dissipated on the pitch and continued in the locker room. There he had at least one clash with the police and the following day the judge acted ex officio and requested the player’s arrest.

Durán spent the night under observation after finding his jaw fractured in three parts. He is out of danger and after being discharged and with his face visibly swollen he went to see his team in the first semi-final against Deportivo La Merced, with a narrow defeat. Chucky will also not return as he will have to remain without physical activity for at least three months.

The clinical diagnosis indicates “the sinking of a third of the median region of the right face” and the “decrease in the opening of the mouth”. The three fractures are located at the level of the malar arch, the zygomatic arch, the right internal orbital rim and the floor of the orbit itself.

Once the inflammation subsides, Durán will undergo surgery under general anesthesiaand they will place a titanium mesh that will need to be checked periodically.

Despite the level of violence of the attack, the penalty for Fanola seems small. The Disciplinary Court of the Federal Football Council – the structure that brings together all the leagues affiliated to the AFA – only appealed four punishment dateswhich will take effect from the next regional championship, but not from the Jujuy championship.

In file no. 4979, the Internal Sports Disciplinary Tribunal applied the provisions of article 200, which provides for “suspension from three to fifteen matches”, to the player who, among other listed aspects, inflicts a “punch whether or not he is inside, I play the ball between both players.

The criminal case

But the main concern of the archer of San Pedro is not the sanction of the Court, but that of ordinary justice. After the complaints from the player Durán, from his club Altos Hornos Zapla and the official measure, a case is being weighed against Fanola classified under the crime of serious and aggravated injuries for having been perpetrated during a sporting event.

Even though the goalkeeper’s condemnation came from the club itself, with the passing of the days things have changed. Atlético president Julio Bravo lashed out at Fanola in a press conference and hinted that his tenure at the club was over. However, that same night the situation changed when a video appeared that provides another perspective on what happened.

In the new images, Durán appears to physically attack an Atlético player, which would have motivated the reaction of the goalkeeper, who ran to avenge his teammate and brutally attacked the midfielder.

“This doesn’t take away the barbarism he did, he behaved very badly. He had already behaved badly with the receiver, with another rival, but when he saw the aggression he ran to hit Durán,” Atlético San Pedro football coordinator Pedro Ruiz explained to Clarín.

After Fanola regained his freedom, the club made a psychologist available and confirmed to this newspaper that he will remain at the club both as a goalkeeper and as a youth coach. The good relations between the two clubs are not affected, at least in the immediate future, but the novelty of the goalkeeper’s continuity at least undermines them.

“If we confirm this situation that makes us aware, the truth is that we are confused because the president (Julio Bravo) said the complete opposite,” the president of Altos Hornos Zapla, Daniel Fin, explained to this newspaper.

Hospitalization and operation costs will be borne by both clubs: Durán does not have medical coverage nor is he covered by the Argentine Football Federation as he is an amateur category. For the same reason he also does not have an ART, not having a professional contract.

“San Pedro told us that as a collaboration it will contribute 50% of the expenses, which will obviously be received when it does so. A priori, I think their civil responsibility is 100%, but we’ll see about this,” Fin analyzed and what is coming seems to be very far from the end.