Velez ground closed after fans fire flares
Reuters - Wednesday 11 May 2011, 01:47
BUENOS AIRES - Argentine championship
leaders Velez Sarsfield had their ground closed on Tuesday after
fans fired volleys of flares during Monday's Clausura match
against Banfield.
Video footage showed fans setting off flares and fireworks
from the terraces of their Fortin ground in the final minutes of
the match when Velez scored their two goals in a 2-0 win.
"The club received the notification from the AFA (Argentine
Football Association)," Velez vice-president Julio Baldomar told
TyC Sports.
The Ministry of Security, which has also been investigating
a death reportedly by flare at a rock concert in Bahia Blanca
last week, ordered a probe at Velez.
"The flares could not have been taken in (to the ground) in
flags or drums because there were so many," prosecutor Martin
Lopez Zavaleta told TyC.
"We confiscated fireworks boxes in the ground which remains
closed so Velez will not be able to play there on Thursday."
Velez are looking for another ground, likely to be River
Plate's Monumental stadium or Boca Juniors' Bombonera, to stage
Thursday's first leg of their Libertadores Cup quarter-final
against Libertad of Paraguay.
The ground was suspended for a match in March due to crowd
trouble before a league match with San Lorenzo, one of whose
fans died after clashes with police outside the ground.
The match was also suspended and played behind closed doors
at the Bombonera a month later.
Velez hold a four-point lead over second-placed Godoy Cruz
in the Clausura championship and are Argentina's only remaining
team in the Libertadores Cup, South America's equivalent to
Europe's Champions League.