Santiago, Oct 09: Spanish soccer fan dies in match violence. Spanish soccer was left in a state of shock on Wednesday (October 8) after an upsurge in crowd violence left one supporter dead and forced a second match to be abandoned.
A 31-year-old Deportivo Coruna fan, Manuel Rios Suarez, died as a result of injuries sustained in violence after his side's 1-0 King's Cup victory at Santiago Compostela on Tuesday evening. In a later tie at Castellon's Castalia stadium, referee Jesus Tellez Sanchez suspended his match when he was hit on the head by a mobile phone battery thrown from the crowd after he had awarded a penalty to visiting side Valencia. The two incidents came just days after a man attempted to stab rival fans at the fourth division match between Langreo and Real Oviedo. Spanish football has been plagued by a rising tide of violence in recent seasons and the throwing of projectiles, brawls between rival fans, pitch invasions and confrontations with the police have become a common occurrence at matches.


Last year both the Spanish government and the Football Federation promised that they would crack down on football-related violence, but as yet there have been few concrete measures to deal with the problem.


Castellon midfielder Miguel said the incident had overshadowed his team's performance and that he was ashamed by what had happened.


"We have got some great supporters, but these madmen don't represent the true fans, they do not represent sport," he said. "We have to make sure these people aren't allowed back in the stadium, but this won't be easy as we do not know their faces."


Castellon president Antonio Bonet added: "This is nonsense and a very serious thing. It is the first time that a match has been suspended since I have been president of the club."


Bureau Report