A SHOCKING brawl during a junior league football match in Paraguay resulted in 36 PLAYERS, including both teams and substitutes, being dismissed.
In the final minutes of the clash between Teniente Farina and Libertad, ref Nestor Guillen handed out two red cards, one to a player from each team, but the pair ignored him and continued their feud on the field.
Moments later the row raged out of control, with players from both teams and all the subs getting involved.
Hernan Martinez, president of Teniente Farina, said: “Many of the players that were on the field and on the substitutes’ bench, everyone went on to the field to try to control their team-mates and even the players from the other team.”
Rather than trying to stop the brawl, scared match officials left the pitch in fear.
Martinez added: “The referees didn’t even stay on the field. As soon as the fighting broke out they went to the dressing room.
“They ran through the tunnel to their dressing room. They weren’t able to see anything that happened.
“But in the report, to more or less wash their hands of the responsibility, they expelled all 36 players.”
Visiting Libertad club president Sixto Nunez claimed the match officials had avoided their duties in fleeing the scene.
Nunez said: “The referee needed to take better care of the boys. He should have made sure that the two dismissed players were completely off the field.
“Instead, the officials left the field and when the players were all leaving together that’s when the fighting started again.”
The players, who were all automatically suspended, await censure from the league’s disciplinary committee.
Source: The Sun
