Sanctions Announced for Brawl in Queretaro
The Mexican Federation of Football – FEMEXFUT – announced the sanctions generated by the massive brawl between Atlas and Queretaro fans this past Saturday.
Despite the expectation of the disaffiliation of Queretaro FC, the owners opted to tone down the severity of the punishment and instead decided to ban the executive team of the Club – integrated by Adolfo Rios, Greg Taylor, Gabriel Solares, and Manuel Velarde – for five years from any managerial activity in federated soccer. The league has also forced the club administration to sell the team this year, otherwise, the league itself will be able to reassign the certificate of affiliation.
Mikel Arriola, President of Liga MX, noted that they shied away from disaffiliating the Club altogether so as to avoid litigation, preserve the employment of players and staff, and avoid interfering with the relegation table.
Additionally, the Corregidora Stadium also will be vetoed, and regardless of where the club plays their home matches, they will do so without fans for one year. They also imposed a veto on their supporter groups from attending any games at home for three years and as visitors for one year.
Atlas’ supporter groups also saw a relatively small sanction, as they will be vetoed six months from attending any game as visitors.
The league will also adopt general measures to try to avoid any similar incidents in the future. All barras will be banned from attending games as visitors and their members will have to be identified with an ID card. Also, the league will start adopting facial recognition amongst supporter groups, with the aim of extending this measure to the general public.
One of the main causes of Saturday’s tragedy was the complete lack of action from the private security company hired by Club Queretaro. Because of this, the league has determined to use only public security forces to procure the safety of fans during matches. Moreover, Club Queretaro will have to get the municipal government to guarantee safety conditions within a 3-kilometer diameter around their stadium during home matches.
Many voices demanded the complete abolition of barras, from Mexican soccer. The league’s president justified their existence by saying that all clubs need a “fanatics base”. Instead of their disappearance, Mikel Arriola mentioned that they have to clean up their membership from criminal infiltration. In addition to the facial recognition and compulsory ID cards, there will be a ban in the direct support to these groups from the clubs, with a monetary sanction and one game behind closed doors in the case of infringing this norm.
Many people have felt that these measures are not enough. That Club Queretaro should have been stripped of its membership rights in accordance with the own set of rules laid out by the Federation itself. Article 66 of the Rulebook on Affiliation clearly states that Saturday’s events warranted the disaffiliation of Club Queretaro. Likewise, the fact that the league has opted to maintain the barras, has left many wondering if the league was unable to seize this opportunity to truly change Mexican soccer for the best and avoid any more unnecessary violence in Mexican Stadiums. Only time will tell.
