Promotional football and violence are back: two deaths, a match suspended, a team robbed in the locker room and few people responsible

For many of Argentine football’s rising teams, the wait had become eternal. It was almost four months before many First National clubs were able to compete again due to the format of the latest tournament and the date chosen to start the season, last weekend. But far from the game, the most important and difficult category in Argentina, once again left those images that we always try to dissociate from sport: two dead, murdered a few meters from the field where the meetings in Chacarita and Gimnasia de Mendoza continued as if nothing had happened.

The violent weekend on the Argentine football fields, the same one that won the third world star just 14 months ago, did not end here. In the First B, a match was suspended due to accidents between the barracks and the intervention of the police, while in the Regional Amateur Tournament – the previous step to the Federal A, third category in the ranking – a team was robbed as soon as it arrived in its locker room, where rival fans ambushed them to beat them before the final. Inexplicable.

Let’s go in parts, therefore, with a criterion of severity and not of chronological order. On Saturday it was the inmate of Chacarita barrabrava who caused the death of Jorge Daniel Duran43 years old, following a stab wound in the middle of a fight that started in the heart of the popular grandstand and continued at the entrance to the San Martín stadium, in Buenos Aires.

It all happened during halftime of the match in which the ‘Funebrero’ received Deportivo Maipú, from Mendoza, who won 2 to 0. The duel resumed at 6.30 pm. Since accidents had occurred, the match was delayed by 20 minutes. The referee Pablo Giménez She said: “There was a situation that the police have already resolved. We have the guarantee of continuing the game”.

According to APreViDe (Agency for the Prevention of Violence in Sports), Durán was hit two shots. One on the neck and one on the abdomen. Camera images show a pinwheel at the entrance.

Two days after the murder, the police are still on the trail of the murderer, who they have identified. He is expected to be arrested as well as a de facto sanction for the San Martín club. APreViDe evaluates two alternatives: close the stadium or have the team play there, but at least on the next date they will have to play at home behind closed doors.

“The crime has been committed and there will be a sanction”they said Clarion from the Buenos Aires security agency, the agency where reports from the Department of Justice are awaited.

Durán, 43, frequented the La Famosa stand, as the Chacarita bar is known. For investigators, however, his death has nothing to do with an internal affair. Furthermore, the main suspect, a 31-year-old man residing at Villa Ballester, is said to not even be part of the heaviest group.

“It was a completely isolated event that had nothing to do with specific factions or supporters, from what we could ascertain it was the result of the ingestion of a large quantity of alcoholic beverages and drugs.”I explain Guillermo Cimadevilahead of the Buenos Aires security agency, Clarion. The Minister of National Security, Patrizia Bullrichhe tried to internalize the subject through Franco Berlinbrand new Director of Security at Sports Events.

Another hypothesis concerns a robbery. At least this is clear from the post that her daughter-in-law Yennifer Ruiz published on Facebook: “He didn’t die, they killed him and what’s more they took his cell phone and wallet. We won’t stop until they all rot. “Jorge, this doesn’t end here.”.

Twenty-four hours, another dead and four arrested

The dismay over the violence in San Martín had not yet passed that similar news was spreading in Mendoza. A few minutes before the debut of the Gimnasia of that province, another stabbed a few meters from the Victor Lagrotaglie stadium, where the ‘Lobo’ had received the Defensores de Belgrano, died in the middle of a pitched clash between two barrabrava factions.

Ricardo Nicolas Balles32 years old, he was the one who received a stab wound in the chest and was left lying on the asphalt around 6pm on Sunday at the intersection of Boulogne Sur Mer and Juan B. Justo streets, in the heart of the General San Martín Park neighborhood, about 150 meters from the gymnastics field.

The clash occurred between the faction of the San Martín neighborhood and that of the Jesús Nazareno neighborhood, to which the victim and his father Ramón Ricardo Balles (52) belonged, and although there was no previous documentation, the distribution of tickets for the entry was the trigger for what they described as a pitched battle, which included knives and firearms.

After having clarified the list and the panorama of the other injured in the brawl – one is in intensive care -, the following was clarified four of these Gimnasia fans were arrestedtwo of them hospitalized in police custody.

Among the suspects there are two family members stay, from Guaymallen. One of them, a 27-year-old young man, was found in possession of a knife.

The first vice president of Gimnasia, Carina Legrotagliehe considered “very sad” what happened before the match that ‘Dragón’ won in Mendoza: “They decided that the match would be played, the whole problem was outside the pitch, everything is fine in here. I know there was a mess, but I don’t know exactly what happened. What happened today is very sad, we were waiting these days to get on the pitch, it’s something that happens throughout Argentine football, we don’t know how to get these people who create these problems out of the club, there are two or three of them, it’s not all the people.”.

The match? As happened in Chacarita, the game was played anyway, with a 20 minute delay and an unusual statement from the local club: “The AFA stipulates that the match will only be played with the people who are currently inside the stadium”has indicated.

Cañuelas and a frustrated debut due to pure accident

The Primera B, the third tier of Argentine football, has not been free from violence. Cañuelas’ debut in the championship was frustrated by the suspension of the match against Midland, due to the clash between two factions of the ‘Tambero’ brava group, five minutes before kick-off.

It all started when the access gate to the popular gallery was closed and part of the dissident faction remained outside, while the bulk of the official faction was inside. After the intervention of the police, the officers became the center of the attack. Thus ended the battle, which lasted about an hour four wounded soldiers.

After 40 minutes of waiting, referee Gabriel Gutiérrez decided to suspend the match and the case has now been left in the hands of the AFA disciplinary tribunal. “Outside the stadium a clash takes place between two factions of the Cañuelas brava group (about 150 people). “They intervene by separating the parties and both sides throw stones at the police personnel.”we read in the official report of the Agency for the prevention of violence in sport (Aprevide).

Ambush in the tunnel in a final of the Federal Amateur Regional

Serious accidents also occurred in the fourth category of football in the country’s hinterland on Sunday. The Regional Amateur Federation is in the midst of the definitions to determine promotions to the Federal A (Third Division).

In the prelude to the rematch of the Patagonia final, in Comodoro Rivadavia, Jorge Newbery’s fans laid an ambush in the locker room tunnel on the players of Deportivo Rincón de Los Sauces (Neuquén), who had won 2-0 in the first leg and were looking to to close the Series.

The scorer of the visiting team Davide Boquin He was the most affected by the accidents and ended up with a cut in his mouth, which made him bleed.

According to Deportivo Rincón, the police cleared the area so that some Newbery fans could intimidate them, although everything got out of hand and the verbal attacks turned physical. Technical staff, players and managers defended themselves as best they could and one of them filmed the moment of the attacks..

Rincón also reported the theft of cleats, goalkeeper gloves and sports equipment. They also said he tried to steal some of their cell phones.