An unfortunate event overshadowed a youth soccer match in the city of Barranquilla. Violence and riots took over the Moderno Julio Torres stadium, where a group of players were attacked by fans and footballers of the rival team.
(You may be interested in: Barranquilla: brutal pitched battle, players ended up beaten and robbed; video).
Everything happened on date 4 of National Tournament under-17, in which Club Deportivo Maracaneiros de Bogotá faced Boca Junios de Soledad in Barranquilla, but with just a few minutes remaining in the game, violence broke out in the stadium.
Jorge Salinas, general coordinator of the Maracaneiros Club, spoke with EL TIEMPO about the violent acts and moments of panic that his players experienced in the youth category match of Colombian soccer.
(We show you: Terrible flying kick: player injures two rivals with a violent foul, video).
This was what he said.
Why did the threats against the players arise?
In the first leg, Maracaneiros won 5-0 in Bogotá. When we travel back, since we arrived in Barranquilla, They attacked our parents, began to insult us and told them that they were prohibited from entering the stadium; that if they entered, they would not come out alive.
They threatened to kill them, attacked them, beat them. One way or another we got the boys out of trouble and entered the playing field, where they were also intimidated by the stands.
The players were attacked by the public.
Screenshot
They told them that if they scored a goal, they would know what Barranquilla was. The pressure they exerted was so great that in minute 3 of the first half we were already losing 3-0; In the first half we finished 5-0 down on the scoreboard.
At the end of the game, gunpowder exploded inside the field; When the players passed by one side of the stands, gunpowder, fuses and anything that exploded were thrown at them. The goalkeeper had people behind the goal insulting him, saying that if he didn’t let the goals be scored, they were going to hit him.
To our two teachers who were directing, They attacked them with water bottles and insults. With 10 minutes left in the game, we made some changes and scored three goals; In the end the game was 5-3. When the referee took the ball and ended the game, that whistle unleashed their anger as they realized they were out of the tournament.
How does the pitched battle begin?
One of the substitutes ran towards our bench and hit the teacher in the face; He fell to the ground, his cell phone fell too, he grabbed it and ran, which unleashed violence in the stands, where they also attacked the police officers.
(Also: Tragedy in motorcycling: promising pilot dies in strange circumstances).
There they took our players’ suitcases and threw them into the stands to steal them; Those who managed to take the suitcases were chased and threatened with knives. Those who were recording were also intimidated and their cell phones were stolen.
Health status of the players and their parents
The young people were not injured with knives; They all ended up with bruises and scrapes, superficial injuries from the physical assault. The parents were also beaten; They had black eyes. One of them received a cut on the head and received two stitches.
21 people from Maracaneiros traveled: 15 players, two teachers and four parents. They stole 17 cell phones and 14 suitcases; one of them was the professor’s, which contained the money for the hotel, meals and return flights. We have an estimated loss of 15 to 18 million pesos between the sum of the belongings and the cash.
(Read here: Dimayor keeps the alerts on for transparency in the championship).
The Police were also attacked. One of the parents, who was doing a live broadcast on Instagram, asked for help for his colleagues who were being attacked by approximately 100 people in the stands; Reinforcements arrived and managed to control the situation.
Afterwards they took us into a room where we stayed for approximately four hours. Two hours after being there, we tried to leave for the bus to return to the hotel, but we were turned back because stones, insults and attacks were thrown at us. We returned to the room and stayed for another two hours.
What legal actions did they take?
One of the affected players has a father who works in the Prosecutor’s Office and, through him, we are going to file the complaint. He was in Bogotá, but traveled to Barranquilla to offer legal assistance, review the videos and other evidence to determine the legal actions that can be taken for this fact. This shouldn’t happen in sport.
HAROLD YEPES
SPORTS
More news in EL TIEMPO
#threatened #knife #alive #Maracaneiros