Boca Juniors has been "expelled from the Copa Libertadores" following Thursday's violent clashes between its supporters and players for rival River Plate, according to ESPN. Thursday's second leg of the round of 16 "turned to chaos at the start of the second half when Boca supporters apparently cut an opening in a tunnel put up to protect players as they entered the field and filled it with pepper spray or mace to spray at their opponents." River players "stumbled onto the field to start the second half of the scoreless match covering their faces, rubbing their eyes and dousing themselves with bottles of water." The players then huddled together at the center of Boca's compact La Bombonera stadium, "seeking refuge alongside police and officials who waited more than an hour before suspending the game." After asking for Boca to present evidence in its defense, CONMEBOL issued its judgment on Saturday night, "removing the Argentine giants from South America's elite club competition." In addition to its elimination from the tournament, Boca will also play its next four continental home games behind closed doors, "have no traveling supporters" at its next four continental away games, and pay a $200,000 fine. In its sanctions, CONMEBOL also warned Boca that any repeat offenses "would lead to more penalties, though for the moment the club has escaped a potential penalty of being banned from future tournaments" (ESPN, 5/17). REUTERS' Daniela Desantis reported four River Plate players were "taken to hospital after they were sprayed with an irritant by fans of their bitter rivals on Thursday." The River Plate medical team said the players were suffering "inflammation of the cornea and needed days to recover." The rivalry between the two Buenos Aires sides is "one of the most heated in the world." The incident was "just the latest in a long line of violent events to blight football in South America." In '13, a Bolivian fan was "killed by a flare" fired by Brasileiro side Corinthians fans during a Libertadores match. In Argentina, "an average of five people died each year in fan-related violence" from '00-09, according to reform group Salvemos al Futbol, cited in a recent Insight Crime report (REUTERS, 5/16). JORNADA ONLINE reported Boca President Daniel Angelici said that there is a "very real possibility" he will resign as VP of the Argentine FA as a "consequence of the suspension of Thursday's game." He suggested that he would resign from his role with the AFA, and added that he would "formalize this step on Monday before the AFA's Exec Committee" (JORNADA ONLINE, 5/16). DYN reported Angelici said on Saturday that Boca will "appeal the sanctions" from CONMEBOL because "games are won on the field and not in court." Angelici: "We will make the corresponding appeal." Despite the "fact that after seven hours of deliberations, the penalty imposed was less than what was initially considered, Angelici remained unsatisfied and did not hide it in any manner." He expressed his disagreement and said that "the second half of the game should have been played" (DYN, 5/17).
CLIMATE OF DISORDER: ESPN's Tim Vickery wrote Boca's punishment "has struck many as being extremely lenient." More important than any punishment, however, "is the need to change the environment that makes this type of incident possible." This, in turn, requires an "honest assessment of the problems." The inflatable tunnel appears before and after the game, and also at halftime, "with the aim of protecting the players as they move between the pitch and the dressing room." On this occasion it "offered no protection." A group of Boca fans "first managed to cut through the fence separating them from the pitch, and then slice through the tunnel." But the "mere existence of, and necessity for this tunnel is in itself an admission of defeat." It is a confession by the authorities that they are "unable to prevent fans from throwing objects at the players -- rather like the situation which prevails in some part of the continent where visiting players are protected by police with riot shields when they take a corner, a confession which in practice serves as an encouragement for some fans to throw bottles and cigarette lighters." A "climate of disorder is thus permitted." Firstly, because the stadium architecture does not "facilitate the swift identification and apprehension of the wrongdoer." Secondly, a much wider point, because the relevant institutions are "either too weak or unwilling to punish certain wrongdoers." This "climate of disorder has now, in front of a worldwide audience, sullied what should be one of the great spectacles of South American football" (ESPN, 5/17).
