ERIC WEIL in BUENOS AIRES:   A recent study in Argentina has reported that It was calculated that only 1.5pc of criminals are ever sentenced by the courts. With football hooligans  here it must be even less.

Last year a law was enacted against the reselling of tickets at abive face value. If caught – and nobody yet has been caught – culprits can be fined between 2,000 to 10,000 pesos depending on the number of tackets held and a 30-day jail sentence is also an option.

Nobody has gone to jail yet and, anyway, the law applies only to Buenos Aires so far.

Last week Quilmes fans threw a smoke bomb at Lanus goalkeeper Monetti. For this and other crowd incidents, if proved that the home crowd was responsible, the club should be heavily fined. The likelihood is minimal with the Argentinian federation in its current state, being run by a ‘normalisation committee’ appointed by FIFA and CONMEBOL.

Meanwhile no progress is being made in separating clubs from their ultras. Recently Salta Governor Eduardo Sylvester even held a barbecue for the Gimnasia y Tiro Club hooligans who are accused of reselling tickets.

Last Sunday Tigre hooligans, but wearing Nueva Chicago shirts, alighted from a bus on Avenida General Paz on the way to a match against Lanus and started stealing and destroying every thing they could could lay their hands on.

When they arrived at the Lanus stadium the police managed to catch 15 of them however the next day they were all released under what was mystifyingly called an ‘express arrangement’.

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