THE Authority for the Prevention and Combat of Violence in Sports (APCVD) will send the information it has about attacks in two games, one of them in the Women’s Football League, to the Public Ministry (MP), the entity announced today.
At issue are the sending of “crime news” to the MP about incidents that occurred in the game between Vitória de Guimarães and Racing Power (2-1), from the Women’s League, and in the meeting between Águias de São Mamede and Necessidades Futebol Clube, from the 2nd division of the Barcelos popular football championship.
According to the APCVD, in the match of the sixth round of the Women’s League, a competition organized by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), and “given the public dimension and the repercussion of the images disseminated in the media, relating to attacks between a sports agent and a member of the refereeing team”, a criminal offense of a public nature is at stake.
Therefore, the entity “will send to the Public Prosecutor’s Office all compiled information that appears useful for the pursuit of justice, taking into account the competence of the judicial authorities in investigating criminal matters”, of the events in Camp No. 5 of the Academia do Vitória de Guimarães.
On Sunday, a few hours after the game ended, the Portuguese Association of Football Referees (APAF) reacted to the incident, which it considered “extremely serious”, involving a push given by a Racing Power director to the fourth referee, and demanded an urgent response in disciplinary matters.
“APAF demands that the competent entities act with maximum speed, firmness and rigor in the investigation of all facts and in the application of exemplary disciplinary sanctions, proportionate to the seriousness of the acts and truly dissuasive of future violent behavior”, said the organization in a statement.
The situation happened in the women’s I League game between Vitória de Guimarães and Racing Power (2-1), after the main referee expelled the president of the visiting club, Mariana Duarte, who, on her way out, violently pushed the fourth referee.
“We are facing an extremely serious episode, which constitutes an intolerable attack on the physical integrity of those who are responsible for ensuring compliance with the Laws of the Game. This type of behavior has even more serious contours, when it comes from those who perform responsible functions and who should be the first to set an example of respect, discipline and fair play”, also highlighted the referees’ association.
Still on Sunday, Racing Power’s management acknowledged its president’s push, but said that it must be “framed in the full context in which it occurred, and cannot be dissociated from the events that preceded it”.
In today’s statement, the APCVD also reported to the MP the involvement in the attacks in the game between Águias de São Mamede and Necessidades FC, in the third round of the 2nd division of the Barcelos popular football championship, a competition organized by the Barcelos Popular Football Association.
The APCVD reported “aggressions involving sports agents” in the match played at the Cova de Enchate Sports Complex in Barcelos, and will therefore also send “all the information” it has to be analyzed by the MP.
