Hooligans do battle on the Spanish capital's streets, with one man dying in hospital after being dragged from a freezing river.
A football fan has died from a heart attack after firefighters pulled him out of a river suffering from hypothermia and head injuries.
The Deportivo La Coruna supporter, identified only as "Jimmy" by the club, was discovered amid clashes before the Spanish side's match at Atletico Madrid. Dozens of rival fans from hardcore 'ultras' groups fought near Atletico's stadium, throwing firecrackers, chairs and sticks.
A hospital spokeswoman said the 43-year-old had died just after 2pm local time after efforts to resuscitate him failed. Eleven other people were treated for injuries, including a female police officer with a fractured hand. Police said 24 people were in custody and that they were all from radical fan groups from the two clubs, as well as from Madrid-based clubs Rayo Vallecano and Alcorcon. A total of 100 troublemakers have been identified, according to a police tweet.
They named the radical groups, who often organise fights among themselves, as Riazor Blues (Deportivo), Frente Atletico, Bukaneros and Alkor Hooligans.
Spain's professional football league, the LFP, said they wanted to call off the match but were unable to contact football bosses in time.
The country's sport minister, Jose Ignacio Wert, has lined up an urgent meeting with the sport's anti-violence commission on Monday. Both club presidents spoke to the media to condemn the violence. Atletico president Enrique Cerezo said the clashes had "nothing to do with football". "I repeat that neither Atletico nor Deportivo have anything to do with these incidents, they are organised by radical groups who have their histories and their accounts to settle," said Mr Cerezo. Deportivo president Tino Fernandez said the club would support the family of the dead man. "We want to express that we strongly reject violence. At the moment we don't know the details and it is tragic news," said Mr Fernandez. "The clubs need to act so that these things don't happen anymore. "Our position is well-known and we have to lament what has happened. We are at the disposition of the family."
http://news.sky.com/story/1383215/fan-dies-in-madrid-ultras-football-violence
It has nothing to do with football. Football is just an excuse to release all the frustration and anger that western men have nowadays. Today's world, at least in western countries, is very different from what it used to be centuries and even decades ago. Ancient societies were much more violent than the current ones: men always had a war to go to fight or they had to restore their lost honour by killing someone... , etc. Nowadays, however, there are few wars in Occident and we don't fight a duel to restore our honour. So what's left? Football. Tyler Durden (character from Fight Club) said:
ReplyDelete''We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off."
There's another film which depicts very precisely the motives of hooligans: Green Street Hooligans. One quote of the main character in the film, Matt Buckner:
‘’I've never lived closer to danger, but I've never felt safer. I've never felt more confident, and people could spot it from a mile away. And as for this, the violence? I gotta be honest - it grew on me. Once you've taken a few punches and realise you're not made of glass, you don't feel alive unless you're pushing yourself as far as you can go.’’
So, this violence is actually an attempt to free one’s rage towards the world, and develop linkages between other football fans and feel alive by experiencing fear and wrath but it isn’t about football or any other sport. Football isn’t violent, you may get angry or disappointed because your team lost or towards a referee but there’s a huge difference between screaming in a stadium and beating another person just because he supports a different team.