The first division match of the Dutch Eredivisie Vitesse-Sparta from Rotterdam was suspended today in injury time because one of the objects that was thrown from the standsa plastic cup with beer, hit the goalkeeper of the visiting team, Maduka Okoye.
The goalkeeper had saved a penalty in the 64th minute and, in the last moments of the match, some supporters launched fireworks onto the grassinjuring a television cameraman.
In discount time, when the score was 0-1, a spontaneous jumped onto the field and faced the goalkeeper Okoyeto which he responded with gestures to leave the field, and then a plastic glass of beer hit the goalkeeper, who fell to the ground.
Referee Rob Dieperink stopped play and, already in the locker room tunnel, the Sparta de Rotterdam players refused to continue playing, so the referee decided to suspend the match.
The general director of Vitesse, Pascal van Wijk, explained to the Dutch chain ESPN that they have images of the people who threw objects on the field and “you can expect a long ban on access to the stadium & rdquor ;.
“It’s a black day for the Vitesse family and true supportersnot for the two or three people who have ruined it & rdquor ;, he added.
The incidents contrasted with the initial image of the meeting, when the footballers of the two clubs lined up in the center of the field in a V shape to represent the word “Vrede”, “peace” in Dutch language.
The Royal Netherlands Football Federation announced that it will offer Vitesse and Sparta Rotterdam three options to determine the outcome: end the game and declare the visiting team the winner, play the remaining seven minutes of injury time or repeat the game in its entirety.