ERIC WEIL in BUENOS AIRES: When Tigre coach Gustavo Alfaro had a brick thrown at his head, which opened a gash, he told the referee to continue the match at Rosario Central’s stadium “because the rest should not have to pay for one idiot.”
Alfaro was right … but also wrong. A lot of people should not have to pay for one idiot, but unfortunately there are lots of idiots in this game. One was the referee who should have suspended the game, because how did he know that another brick was not going to come flying from the stands and this time really kill somebody, or cause worse injury.
Another idiot was the Rosario Central president who, after the club was sanctioned to play the next home match behind closed doors, complained that it was unfair and that people in Buenos Aires (where the sanction was taken at the AFA) do not know about real passion.
So he thinks that the brick thrower was just showing his passion for Central which sounds daft and marks him as ready for a psychiatric clinic.
But at the AFA, people were no wiser and again showed their friendship with hooligans.
Club to blame
Rosario Central should have been closed to the public until the brick thrower is found and handed over to the courts to be prosecuted for trying to kill somebody.
That should be difficult after all this time, but it is the Rosario club’s fault. At the moment the brick was thrown, the individual should have been found — there were plenty of police — before restarting the match.
Throwing objects at people on the field has happened before in Rosario and at other clubs and does the AFA really believe that whoever it was will be cured when he can go to the match again after the one-match suspension.
Unless justice is imparted properly, this will always be a dangerous country. Alfaro also asked how many drunk or drugged people go into stadiums and there is no control.
Last week, a headline in a paper read ‘The AFA starting campaign against violence in soccer’. Could that really be true? This columnist never believed it, but read on. Apparently the AFA’s campaign is for teams taking the field carrying flags with slogans against violence in soccer.
###########