World Football - River official 'facilitated threat on ref'

Thu, 30 Jun 14:07:00 2011

River Plate could find themselves in even greater turmoil after a video circulated of a senior official appearing to encourage a hooligan fan to threaten the referee of the match that saw them relegated.

- 0

The record 33 times Argentine league champions went down for the first time in their 110-year existence on Sunday when they drew the second leg of their relegation-promotion play-off against Nacional B side Belgrano 1-1, which saw them lose the play-off 3-1 on aggregate

Leading 1-0 at half-time and still needing a goal, camera footage is alleged to show River's head of security Gabriel Riccio talking to another River employee who is then seeing talking to a man identified as a leader of the ultras group 'Los Borrachos del Tablon' (The Drunks in the Stands),

The referee Sergio Pezzotta wrote in his report: "When we opened the door and they threatened us, there was no official present. You ask if I felt looked after. The answer is no."

The video has not been released but video stills were published in Argentinean sports daily Ole.

Reports in Argentina say that River could be docked 18 points and have their famous Monumental stadium shut for an entire year as punishment for events of the last week.

After going down, rioting "Barrabrava" hooligans caused mayhem inside and outside the giant stadium.

The violence from fans throwing metal bars and stones left 25 people, including six police officers, injured, with one badly hurt after being hit by a car.

A major avenue nearby looked like a war zone with bonfires blazing, shops windows smashed and stores looted.

Former Argentina midfielder Matias Almeyda has already been installed as their new coach for next season after the resignation of JJ Lopez.

Eurosport / Reuters

Comment 1 - 6 of 6

Sort comments by: Most recent | Most rated
  1. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Call that a riot. Not even worthj talking about in­ England back in the good old days unless there were at­ least 100 injured

    From Michael S, on Fri 1 Jul 10:17
  2. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Do you know that as much as 95% of hard working people,­ who worked their fingers to the bone, now after their­ retirement, rely on social security, or family­ assistance?

    Where would you rather be? The 95% who­ would be frontrunners when it comes to pension reforms­ or would you rather take a good step today that would­ ensure your finance never runs dry?

    Funny enough,­ these 95% are the ones who never took any­ actions.

    Start your own business which you set up once­ and it runs for a life time.

    Google;­ belazybutmakemoney

    From belazybutmakemoney, on Fri 1 Jul 7:27
  3. Suppose Blatter would put this rioting down to just­ being "passionate" then !!!!! as opposed to­ brits being "hooligans"

    From P, on Fri 1 Jul 4:32
  4. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    meh no big deal... RP are a massive side, them getting­ relegated is the same as utd getting relegated from the­ prem or real getting relagated from la liga and­ considering the cheating tactics of both of those­ managers i wouldn't put this kind of thing past­ either of them

    From ?Evil Tediz Bast*rd?, on Fri 1 Jul 4:25
  5. Ironic that the great River Plate were sunk by a team­ carrying the same name as a battleship that was itself­ sunk in 1982.

    From Archie Meades, on Fri 1 Jul 4:25
  6. even if they shot the referee, raped the lines-person­ and burnt the city to the ground they would still not­ be banned from playing and hosting football­ games..
    why?
    because they are not English..

    From Mikee, on Fri 1 Jul 1:27
Sort comments by: Most recent | Most rated

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account