Football Violence a thing of the past?

Well, it definitely calmed down back in England - it must be a good 15 years or so since I got pelted with bricks and bottles at the Mackem away match. You hear rumours now and again, but the only violence I've seen in recent years has involved messrs Bowyer and Dyer, fighting over when they should pass the ball.....

Anyway, the point of all this is the usual entertaining Fiver had a report today of some interesting Argentinian game disruption, copied below. Maybe they're just practising before another fruitless attempt to take back the Falklands?

If you want blood, you've got it. No, the Fiver isn't about to grab its air guitar and perform an unforgivable AC/DC tribute in its old school uniform, instead it brings news of events in Argentina, where football violence is more widespread than Diego Maradona's pre-op stomach.

With battles between gangs such as Boca Juniors' 'La 12' and River Plate's 'Los Borrachos del Tablon' (The Drunks at the Bar) as common as Sunday-morning vomit on the streets of Britain, players and officials are expected (OK, asked) to behave in exemplary fashion. But in Tuesday's Libertadores Cup quarter-final between Boca Juniors and Guadalajara, they didn't. Not by a long shot. Which is why Boca boss Jorge Benitez, who spat on an opposition player as the match degenerated into a mass brawl, has been forced to resign.

Trailing 4-0 from the away leg, Boca were eager to score fast but didn't. By the 79th goalless minute, they were in no mood to see Guadalajara forward Adolfo Bautista remind the home fans of the score by waving four fingers at them. So several players jumped him. That sparked (isn't it great the way some stories just tell themselves?) an almighty hoopla during which Boca's Martin Palermo - who famously missed three penalties in a single game for Argentina a few years back - head-butted an opponent in the neck. Of all places.

Fans obligingly joined in, heartily lashing all manner of missiles at the Mexicans. One enraged clown even scaled the five-metre fence to run onto the pitch, punch Bautista and then flee with the help of as-yet unidentified club officials. As police escorted Bautista away, a helpful ballboy rushed up to offer him yet another memento of his trip to Buenos Aires - a thunderous kick in the rear.

Somewhat inevitably, the ref abandoned the match. "The board of directors have decided to accept the resignation offered by Jorge Benitez," Boca president Mauricio Macri stammered today. "The game did not finish in the way we wanted and we apologise ... we may suffer footballing defeats, but it should never be in doubt that we are sportsmen, gentlemen and good hosts." Why, who could ever doubt it?