KRASNODAR, November 7 (Itar-Tass) —— Last Friday’s match of the 30th round of Russia’s youth soccer championship between Terek (Grozny) and Krasnodar is in the focus of a growing row. Toward the end of the second half a mass fight erupted on the pitch and outside it. In the 72nd minute the chief referee, Alexei Amelin, halted play. Inspector Alexei Rumyantsev then ruled that the match should be discontinued altogether.
Sources in the Terek club blamed the unrest on the rival’s striker Spartak Gogniyev, who had scored twice in the match. In the 68th minute Gogniyev was dismissed from the pitch. After being shown the yellow card the player allegedly insulted the judge, pushed him in the chest, and then on the way to the locker room insulted Terek’s fans, thereby triggering a brawl.
The Krasnodar club’s officials said, for their part, that the fight followed when fans forced their way onto the pitch.
“The match at Grozny’s Bilimkhanov stadium was stopped, when the score was 3:0 in the guest team’s favor. Fans and security personnel rushed onto the pitch and started beating Spartak Gogniyev and other players and coaches of Krasnodar. The players and coaches had to seek refuge in the rooms under the stands,” a report placed on Krasnodar’s official website says. It is noteworthy, though, that all remarks about the causes of the incident were subsequently deleted.
On Sunday, on the Krasnodar club’s website there appeared a new statement, which reads:
"As it is known, the match of the 30th round of the youth championship between FC Terek and FC Krasnodar was interrupted in the 72nd minute. Certain events in the second half were the reason. In our opinion, the referee, Alexei Amelin, from Tula, lost control of the game and did not respond to outright rudeness against Krasnodar players by the host team. Spartak Gogniyev, the guest team’s captain, appealed to the referee more than once, trying to draw his attention to what was happening. But all these attempts led to two yellow cards and Gogniyev’s dismissal from the pitch, who later came under physical pressure.
“After the match of the youth teams the director of the FC Krasnodar V.L. Khashig, who had flown in to Grozny with the main players, had a word with Gogniev, who told him he was well.
The general director had no documentary video evidence of what had happened, as all videos of the match were confiscated from the club’s cameraman by unknown persons immediately after the incident. And on the basis of fragmentary information obtained on the spot in Grozny and explanations of the host side the full picture of what happened cannot be recreated.
“Upon return to Krasnodar the club’s chiefs met with Spartak Gogniyev and other employees of the club, who had attended the match and also received a medical report on the health of the football player as at the moment of his arrival in Krasnodar. Our experts managed to recover the full video of the events of the second half, and what they saw differed significantly from the initial idea of the incident.
“We also present written statements by FC Krasnodar staff, who were at the stadium, and the videos and medical reports. We ask the Control and Disciplinary Commission of the Russian Football Union to objectively consider this incident and take appropriate action.
“As for our player Spartak Gogniev, we have talked to him and, taking into considering the wishes of the player, we take the following position: FC Terek must find the culprits, who must present personal apologies to Gogniyev for the outrageous actions that took place at the stadium. Otherwise, the player with the support of FC Krasnodar will reserve the right to apply to a court of law. "
The statement, however, contains no message from Gogniyev, who, according to doctors, suffered fractures of the ribs and nose and concussion. In addition, according to unconfirmed reports, when leaving the pitch after the dismissal, the player not only insulted the judge, but also quarreled with fans of Grozny’s soccer club. The fans eventually attacked Gogniyev, and on the pitch and outside it there flared up a fight. Allegedly, the player was beaten up by police in the rooms under the stands.
Conflicting statements on the official websites of Krasnodar and Terek leave no chance of objectively evaluating the scandalous situation or making any conclusions. The incident will be considered at a meeting of the Control and Disciplinary Commission of the RFU in the near future.