Top 5 worst riots in footballing history

Legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly once said, “People claim that football is a matter of life and death, but I can assure you that it is much more important.”

Such passion is and was regularly common amongst football fans. This fervent behaviour sometimes leads to unsavoury incidents like riots, clashes, etc. Such incidents have plagued football in many places in the world. England, parts of Eastern Europe, Southern Italy and France were especially known for their ultra or extremist fans and hooligans.

South American football is also plagued with shameful incidents especially during derbies in Brazil and Argentina.

Here is a list of top five such incidents which have rocked the world of football in the last 50 years:

5) The Uruguayan Oppression

Danube’s 1-0 victory over Nacional in Uruguyan Premier League was followed by a large scale riot. Fans from both teams invaded the pitch.

This clash continued on the streets leading to large scale property losses. Surprisingly, no injuries or casualties were reported. Inadequate security measures were the main reasons cited for this incident.

The Uruguayan FA chose to temporary suspend the league season as they were not satisfied by the safety measures provided to players. This suspension finally led to the permanent cancellation of the 2008 league season.

4) The Turkish Riots

Turkish fans are supposed to be one of the most passionate groups of football fans. Istanbul is home to three teams namely Galatasaray, Fenerbache and Besiktas with ardent fan following. This has frequently led to many incidences of violence in the city in the past few years especially during derbies with frequent clashes reported between the supporter groups.

Hence, no talk on football riots is complete without mentioning the Turkish football fanatics.

One such major riot took place in 2002 after the title decider between Galatasaray and Fenerbache. After a dour 0-0 stalemate which handed the title to Galatasaray, Fenerbache fans stormed onto the pitch attacking the police officials. Pepper sprays and hose pipes were used to subdue this minor uprising.

The revolters angered by these measures retributed by breaking the plastic chairs and hurling them onto the police. Luckily, there were no casualties in this mishap though many people were injured.

3) The Heysel Disaster

Heysel disaster was one of the incidents that brought to light the rampant hooliganism in English football in 1970s and 1980s. Heysel stadium was host to the 1984 European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus.

But this occasion was marred by the gruesome scenes that took place before the match. This disaster was a combination of amateur handling by the officials coupled with the naïve decision to have a neutral section with both sets of supporters separated by a file of policemen and a poorly constructed wall.

There was a huge amount of banter exchanged between both sets of fans in this neutral section in the build up to the match which eventually led to increased tensions.

Noticing the change in the attitude of Liverpool fans, Juventus fans tried to flee from their Liverpool counterparts towards the wall with Juventus supporters on the other side. This wall crumpled under the pressure leading to the death of 39 Juventus supporters.

The match was played later which Juventus won 1-0 but that would hardly matter. As repercussions of this disaster, English teams were banned for 5 years and Liverpool for 6 years from Europe.

2) Al Ahly Massacre

The ‘Al Ahly massacre’ as dubbed by the media is still fresh in the minds of Egyptian football fans. Egypt has been home to many such unsavoury incidents like the attack on Libya fans in 2006 but none on such a huge scale.

Port Said stadium was witness to this dubious incident in 2012 when a group of politically influenced supporters of Al Masry entered the stadiums with knives, clubs and swords in order to attack their Al Ahly counterparts.

This led to the death of 79 people while many more were gravely injured. The Egyptian league was banned for a year as a consequence of this shameful incident.

1) Lima football riots

Also known as the Estadio Nacional disaster, this took place in the National Stadium in Peru and is termed as the worst riot in football history. On May 24, 1964, Argentina and Peru were playing for a place in the Tokyo Olympic tournament.

Argentina were leading 1-0 two minutes before full time when Peru had a goal disallowed which instigated the Peruvians. A local drunk man who charged down the field , was followed by hordes of Peruvians.

Firing gas cannisters by the security officials only worsened this situation as it caused mass panic. The shutters of the gates were usually shut down during the match. With the gates closed down, there was a huge stampede resulting in the death of 320 people and injuries to around 500 people.