Uruguay to tackle violence in football stadiums

Montevideo, April 10 (IANS) Uruguay’s police will submit a list of names of violent fans to the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) for the clubs to ban their entrance to stadiums.

“It is necessary to deprive them of the right to enter,” said Sports Minister Liliam Kechichian.

A security committee formed by the Uruguayan Interior and Sports Ministries met Monday with AUF and delegates from the football clubs to discuss about the measures to take against violence in stadiums, reports Xinhua.

“We will ask the clubs to appoint a person responsible for security and also to evaluate the consequences of not having the necessary conditions” to guarantee security, said Kechichian.

So far, the clubs delegated the security in the stadiums to their own groups of diehard fans called ‘barras bravas’ .

Kechichian affirmed, “if the teams do not appoint a person and there is nobody to talk with, the games could be played without the presence of the clubs’ supporters.”

The minister said “these ‘barras bravas’ should not exist anymore, we have to eliminate them.”

Meanwhile, Jorge Vazquez, Interior vice minister, admitted that it is “difficult” for the clubs to ban the boisterous fans from the stadiums.

Violence among the ‘barras bravas’ have occasionally affected the Uruguayan football, where five people have been killed in the last two decades.

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