MOSCOW, March 12, Oleg Bogatov. Teams E.V. .V.A. and The Ones, after a mass brawl that occurred after the end of the Winter Cup match of the Khimki Football League (HFL), were removed from the competition, the tournament and league championship were suspended, law enforcement agencies are investigating, said the organizer and head of the Khimki Football League Andrey Pivarchuk.
Earlier, the media reported that on February 21, after a match in an 8×8 football tournament held by the HFL and ending with a score of 6:2 in favor of E.V.V.A., a mass brawl broke out on the field, in which about 30 fans of the losing team took part. During the clash, insults of a national character were also heard, a number of E.B.B.A. players. suffered serious injuries, including a broken jaw. It was also reported that the victims recorded their injuries and filed statements with the police department of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs in the city of Khimki.
«»After the fight, both teams were disqualified and do not take part in the championship and the Winter Cup of the HFL, law enforcement agencies are investigating. The fact is obvious, there was a massive fight on both sides, in which five to ten fans of one of the teams took part. One referee, of course , could not separate them. Both teams are young, hot, mischievous, the guys are 19-25 years old. We are not judges in the sense of clearly saying who caught who first. There was no fight during the game, it all started after the whistle. Apparently, someone said something to someone, someone answered, they grappled, other players and fans ran up,” Pivarchuk said, commenting on the situation.
“It’s good that another match was going on at the same time — it ended, and the players of these teams helped break up the fight. Someone wrote that about 30 fans of one team ran onto the field, this is not so, the majority were players of other teams who broke up the fight. Team E «.V.V.A., a number of whose players were injured, contacted us the next day with a statement about withdrawal from the competition. And the second team was disqualified by us. The police are continuing the investigation because the injuries are serious,» the agency's interlocutor added.
Pivarchuk noted that all league competitions have been suspended. «Because of this incident, it was decided to suspend the matches. We have about 500 people playing, and now they are deprived of this opportunity. I can say that in the matches of the E.V.V.A. team there were also many episodes before when one player got into trouble and was sent off. I pulled up the statistics, in 60 games they have eight red cards. And The Ones have one. I’m not defending anyone, we don’t know who started it first. But in any case, both are to blame. It’s impossible for some It’s up to the judges to decide the episodes, but two hot teams met,” noted the head of the HFL.
“»The decision to suspend the competition was made in order to finally sort everything out. This was made by the department of physical culture and sports of the Khimki city district, because we held the games on the fields under the jurisdiction of the organization. I hope that after all the nuances are clarified and the proceedings are completed we will be allowed to participate in the matches. Because everyone wants to play and closing the league because of two teams is probably not very good or correct,” added the head of the HFL.