A Full Blown Riot In Tajiki Football Game

Well, I never expected to write my first piece on Tajiki football on a negative perception, but on Thursday, the Central Asian country of 6.5 M asked for it. To be specific – fought for it.

A recent league game between FK Istaravshan (home team) and Energetik Dushanbe was suspended due to riot instigated by the players on the pitch. With nine minutes remaining, an equalizing goal that was believed to be an offside by the Energetik players was allowed by the referee.

This obviously backfired as the players rounded him up for an answer. The referee unimpressed and annoyed by the whining, ended up dismissing two of the Energetik players for dissent. Perhaps, could it be the wrong move in that situation?

He found that out quickly as players started pushing him around, hurling the occasional punches and kicks towards him. Soon, players of both teams were involved. And few minutes later, the home fans were seen rushing on to the field to join in the melee. In the video below, you could see how one fan is sprinting towards the players, as if it involved him. One could also note the cops walking around watching the fracas in astonishment. What else could do they? Who would want to be caught in between all that?

The game ended up with a 1 – 1 draw and no word is out on the disciplinary action taken by the Tajikistan FA.

One thing is definite though, the manner in which the person recording the video was enjoying the whole disturbance, one could assume that the fans enjoyed the aggressive atmosphere that the game bought about that day.

Here is the video: