The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports |
| Roma awarded 3-0 walkover win against Cagliari Posted: 24 Sep 2012 08:33 AM PDT ROME, Sept 24 — AS Roma have been awarded a 3-0 walkover win for yesterday's match at Cagliari after the game was called off for security reasons, Serie A said in a statement today. Cagliari club president Massimo Cellino was also referred to the Italian football federation's prosecutor for possible further sanctions after calling on supporters to defy an order from local authorities to play the game behind closed doors. Cagliari have moved to the Is Arenas on the outskirts of the Sardinian capital but authorities ruled last Thursday that the renovated stadium was not ready to host Serie A games despite recent improvements. The Sardinians had previously been forced to play their opening Serie A home match against Atalanta behind closed doors. On Saturday, Cagliari issued a statement slamming "the bureaucratic difficulties and the collective disinterest of the authorities". They invited fans to watch the Roma game, saying the stadium was safe. Cagliari's city government responded by postponing the game. Cagliari had played at the Stadio Sant'Elia from 1970 until late on last season when they abandoned the dilapidated arena due to disagreements with the local authorities and growing safety worries. They staged their remaining home games last season in Trieste, around 1,600 kilometres from their base and closer to Belgrade than the Sardinian capital. — Reuters |
| Outrage and disbelief after Real-Rayo game abandoned Posted: 24 Sep 2012 08:00 AM PDT  Technicians try to get the lights back on after a power failure on half of the pitch at the Teresa Rivero stadium in Madrid. — Reuters pic Several commentators said the farcical scenes of a handful of workmen trying to fix severed cables on the roof of Rayo's ground as groups of officials waited below in the semi-darkness yesterday made the Spanish league look like a "banana republic".  Fans wait outside the stadium for word if the match would go ahead. — Reuters pic "Four or five guys working and 100 more standing watching," columnist Roberto Palomar wrote in the sports daily Marca. "Where have we seen this before? In Spain of course. "The image of the workman who, without taking the cigarette from his lips, was trying to fix the cables together with a bit of sticky tape is the metaphor for the banana republic of the league. "Crazy kickoff times, atrocious debts, falling attendance in the stadiums, sabotage at a game that was declared high risk, clubs that do not meet the most basic requirements to take part in a professional competition," added Palomar. "There are local leagues that are better organised." Real initially said they did not want to risk another lighting failure and would prefer to play the match today at 1500 GMT before reluctantly agreeing to a 1745 start. The game was due to kick off at 1930 yesterday but thousands of fans were still waiting outside the locked and darkened arena as workmen toiled to fix the lights. Rayo president Raul Martin Presa told Spanish television that unidentified people had cut some of the cables, and when it became clear they could not be repaired in time the game was abandoned. Alfredo Relano, a columnist for the As sports daily, said the incident was yet another blow to the image of Spain, noting the match would have been televised in 150 countries. "We are facing a new kind of crime: football terrorism," Relano added. "The police must find the culprits and bring them to justice." Cristina Cifuentes, the central government's representative in Madrid, told Spanish radio today that initial investigations appeared to confirm the lights had been sabotaged. "Officers are attempting to recover fingerprints," she said, adding they were also examining closed-circuit television footage to try and identify those responsible. — Reuters |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: Sports To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan