Wild brawl ends with 12 red cards

Rio de Janeiro: A Brazilian sports tribunal has begun investigating a wild brawl in a second-division state league match that ended with 12 red cards.

Votuporanguense was awarded a 2-1 victory over Fernandopolis after the match was abandoned by referee Marcio Henrique de Gois. The chaos began when the winning team`s striker was brought down by Fernandopolis` goalkeeper with just three minutes remaining in the match, Xinhua reported. The keeper was shown a straight red card by the referee, sparking fury from both sides with flying kicks and punches traded by almost every player on the pitch. One Fernandopolis player suffered a suspected broken arm and vowed to press police charges. The Sao Paulo football federation issued a statement Monday night saying the matter was under investigation with a hearing scheduled by the state`s sports justice tribunal next Monday. Votuporanguense football director Valter Pereira did not rule out taking action against his club`s own players. "I`m going to watch a replay of the incident and decide what to do," Pereira said. "But you can be sure that we are going to take action." IANS