More Rioting Sports Fans

[Agent 47]

Apparently there was some big soccer game on Saturday, called The Champions League Final.

Naturally, there was a riot...

Fans celebrate the victory of Barcelona riot

Fans of FC Barcelona rioted, celebrating the victory of their football team in the Champions League. As reported by the Barcelona newspaper El Periodico, in clashes between the feverish youth and police injured 132 people, including 37 policemen.

Most victims were on-site assistance. According to the Associated Press, 11 people including one policeman were hospitalized.

Festive celebrations in Barcelona continues to midnight Sunday, May 29. In the city center - near the Plaza Catalunya and Las Ramblas - gathered more than 50,000 people. Toward the morning aggressively minded young men began throwing bottles and stones at police, provoking them to use force. Under pressure from the guards fans scattered throughout the adjacent streets, incidentally destroying shops and bus stops.


http://www.newspepper.su/news/2011/5/29 ... lona-riot/

[ChrisOH]

[sports fan voice]

Oh, but don't you understand, Agent 47? Sports bring people together and teach them all about teamwork, loyalty, respect, yada yada yada -- sports can only be a force for good in the world, there can't possibly any negative side to them!

[/sports fan voice]

[Safety]

Over 200 million more people watched the Champions League Final than the Super Bowl, so there are bound to be riots.

[Skul]

"99% of sports fans aren't like that."

[abitagirl]

I guess it is true that sports builds character. I see just what kind of character!

[Agent 47]

Oh yeah. And unfortunately for sports fans, riots like these are not just isolated incidences.

Here are the very same sports fans, at it again, doing exactly the same thing this time last year...

Barcelona Football Fans Riot After Victory
May 18, 2010

Spanish football fans have clashed with police on the streets of Barcelona while celebrating their side's title win.

After FC Barcelona clinched the domestic league title, La Liga, thousands of supporters spilled onto the city's streets.

But the celebrations turned ugly in the early hours of the morning as fighting broke out between police and fans.

Riot police baton charged supporters and fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowds.

Fans responded by throwing bottles and stones and setting fire to advertising billboards.

The rioting came after Barcelona finished three points ahead of arch-rivals Real Madrid.


http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World- ... 3494?f=rss

And again, the year before that, in 2009...

Riots as more than 100 Barcelona fans are arrested as they celebrate VICTORY in Champions League
28th May 2009

It's a scene reminiscent of the dark days of football hooliganism - riot police trying to subdue violent football fans, even resorting to firing rubber bullets to control them.

But what makes these images so shocking is that the fans had seen their team Barcelona WIN the Champions League final against Manchester United - and should have been celebrating.

Spanish police arrested 119 people in Barcelona in the early hours of this morning as thousands took to the streets to mark last night's victory.

The jubilant scenes turned ugly when rioters began overturning barricades and throwing cans, bottles and stones at police, who responded with rubber bullets.

Meanwhile four were KILLED in Nigeria when an outraged Manchester United fan drove his minibus into a crowd of celebrating Barcelona supporters.

A police spokeswoman in the town of Ogbo said 10 people were injured and the driver was arrested. 'The driver had passed the crowd then made a U-turn and ran into them,' she said. Both teams have large fanbases in the African nation.

In Barcelona television pictures from the centre of the city showed violence flaring among the 150,000 fans, who had watched on television as their team stormed to a 2-0 win in Rome.

All over the city fans set rubbish containers alight and smashed windows, signs and traffic lights.

Police fired rubber bullets in an effort to disperse crowds in the city's main square and down its most famous thoroughfare, Las Ramblas, shortly after 2am local time.

A total of 153 revellers were injured, with some taken away by ambulance.

The arrests were for public disorder, damages and threatening police officers. Police also had to break up several fights between drunken fans.

Police estimated 150,000 fans gathered in the city's Catalonia Square to watch the match, the third time the team has won Europe's top club competition.

Two weeks ago police arrested 45 people in the same area of Barcelona in violence following the team's victory in the King's Cup final against Bilbao.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldne ... eague.html

And again, in 2003...

Fans riot as Barcelona lose
20 Jan 2003

Louis van Gaal still has a tenuous hold on his job as Barcelona coach despite angry fans storming the directors' box after their side's 4-2 defeat at home to Valencia.

The former Holland coach, in his second stint at the club after a spell in charge between 1997-2000, had a two-hour meeting with club president Joan Gaspart in a locked dressing room after the latest debacle.

Barcelona went 2-0 down in 26 minutes before pulling a goal back. Valencia's Santiago Canizares was sent off in the 43rd minute but his side added two further goals before Patrick Kluivert replied in the last minute.

Barcelona directors and their guests were then forced to flee in various directions as hundreds of angry supporters broke windows and blocked the normal exit routes and doors.

The incident will increase pressure on the Spanish federation to close the Nou Camp, particularly as the behaviour of Barcelona fans is still under scrutiny following the match against Real Madrid last month, when Real players were pelted with various objects ranging from a pig's head to whisky bottles.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... -lose.html

And on and on it goes.

This has been going on for years.

Rioting is a way of life for these people!

[i_like_1981]

And on and on it goes.

This has been going on for years.

Rioting is a way of life for these people!

You're certainly right. I don't remember these events personally, but in the 80s there were several stampedes at football grounds which resulted in many deaths - the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 killed nearly 100 people. There was another one somewhere in Europe in 1985 that killed a few dozen people - caused by British fans. Us Brits have a rather bad reputation in Europe for being a load of sports hooligans and it's hard not to see why. I find the idea of a punch-up over a football game rather absurd, but when people start dying because of the rowdy behaviour of other fans... that's just beyond words. NOBODY should lose their life over something so trivial as a football game.

Best regards,
i_like_1981

[ChrisOH]

Here in the States, there was a notorious baseball-fan beating a couple months ago:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2 ... actor.html

Just another "sports builds character" example....

[i_like_1981]

Here in the States, there was a notorious baseball-fan beating a couple months ago:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2 ... actor.html

Just another "sports builds character" example....

"Sports build character... sports bring people together... sports teach people the concepts of teamwork and cooperation." Yeah, looks like it. How many articles like this are we going to have to bring up on here before the sports fans finally realise that their games cause as much division as they do unity?

Best regards,
i_like_1981