Latest news with #pyrotechnics
Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Sport
- Al Jazeera
Far-right Israeli football fans set off pyrotechnics in Latvia
Far-right Israeli football fans set off pyrotechnics in Latvia NewsFeed Beitar Jerusalem fans sparked chaos in Riga, hurling pyrotechnics and setting off flares during their loss to Riga FC, yet faced no repercussions. Al Jazeera's Nils Adler explores why Israeli clubs like Beitar continue to play in Europe despite fans chanting genocidal slogans and glorifying Palestinian hate. Video Duration 00 minutes 57 seconds 00:57 Video Duration 01 minutes 30 seconds 01:30 Video Duration 00 minutes 47 seconds 00:47 Video Duration 02 minutes 03 seconds 02:03 Video Duration 00 minutes 34 seconds 00:34 Video Duration 00 minutes 44 seconds 00:44 Video Duration 00 minutes 34 seconds 00:34
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Sport
- Al Jazeera
Far-right Israeli football fans set off pyrotechnics in Latvia's capital
Riga, Latvia – Thick black smoke billowed across Skonto Stadium as fans of the Israeli football team, Beitar Jerusalem, defied UEFA rules, setting off several rounds of pyrotechnics. With only one minute played of the UEFA Conference League qualifier match against Riga FC, Latvian fans looked bewildered as a Beitar fan, wearing a black balaclava, nonchalantly threw a succession of fireworks around the stand, causing a small fire and scorching parts of the away stand. A banner displaying the name of Beitar supporters' fan club, 'La Familia', sat draped across the stands. The notoriously racist fan club, which is known for its anti-Arab chants and violent behaviour, has in the past come up against the police in Israel. In 2016, an undercover police operation resulted in the arrest of 56 fans on suspicion of smuggling weapons and violence. On Thursday, one Beitar fan held up an Israeli flag in the home stand, garnering cheers from other Beitar fans, but angry stewards ushered them down the steps and into the away stand. The team, which in its 89-year history has never signed an Arab player, boasts right-wing Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir among its supporters. It is currently playing its home matches in Romania due to the Israel-Palestine conflict, and travelled to Latvia just weeks after fans were filmed chanting 'Death to Arabs' while marching through the streets of Bucharest, where their team beat Sutjeska of Montenegro 5-2. After the Riga game on Thursday, the raucous fans were held inside the stadium perimeter for about half an hour. A solitary home fan shouted 'free Palestine' towards the direction of the Beitar fans gathered behind the gates. 'F**k Palestine', came the response. The game had ended 3-0 to Riga FC, and afterwards, Beitar fans let out their frustration by setting off flares in heavy traffic. Amid the chaos, a number were herded off to police vans by Latvian police. 'Double standards' The chaotic, alcohol-fuelled behaviour displayed by Beitar fans may not be new to European football, but it comes amid the backdrop of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians and led to calls from rights groups for Israeli teams to be banned from European football competitions. The world football governing body, FIFA, has repeatedly delayed its review of a Palestinian bid to have Israel suspended from the international arena over its war on Gaza. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, it took FIFA only a matter of days to suspend Russian teams from all international football competitions. That highlights the 'double standards' shown towards Palestinian lives, Dima Said, spokesperson for the Palestine Football Association and former captain of Palestine women's national football team, told Al Jazeera. She said seeing Israeli football fans being allowed to shout anti-Palestinian chants without punishment around Europe is 'as a Palestinian athlete … one of the hardest things to watch'. 'For me to see that those people who publicly support genocide, who publicly advocate for children to be killed, is something that's very harmful for me as a human being, first, but secondly, as a Palestinian, it should not be allowed,' she said. She also pointed to the fact that more than 200 Palestinian footballers have been killed since Israel's war on Gaza began. On Wednesday, the former Palestinian national football team player, Suleiman al-Obeid, was killed in an Israeli attack on aid seekers in Gaza. Last November, Israeli football fans clashed with apparent pro-Palestinian protesters before and after a Europa League football match between their team, Maccabi Tel Aviv, and Dutch team AFC Ajax in Amsterdam. Videos shared on social media at the time showed Israeli fans chanting racist, anti-Arab songs, vandalising a taxi and burning a Palestinian flag. After the game, when fights broke out, Dutch police arrested people who had retaliated against the Israeli fans, as world leaders made accusations of anti-Semitism. It was an incident that Thomas Ross Griffin, a sports studies scholar and associate professor of postcolonial literature at Qatar University, says demonstrates the impunity with which Israeli fans can act. 'If these were English fans rampaging through the streets, destroying taxis, breaking into property, smashing windows, beating private citizens … there will be condemnation all over Europe, but you attach these fans to an Israeli sporting entity, and suddenly … they're the victims,' he said. Beitar Jerusalem will play their home leg against Riga FC in Romania on August 14.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Aberdeen, Celtic & Thistle disciplined over pyros
Aberdeen, Celtic and Partick Thistle have been disciplined by the Scottish Professional Football League for their fans' pyrotechnic displays at the end of last season. The two Premiership clubs will have to reduce the number of fans by 200 if there is a repeat of the "unacceptable conduct", while Championship outfit Thistle would face the closure of a stand after their display was also followed by a pitch invasion. It follows an investigation by the league into "large-scale, organised and illegal pyrotechnic displays" at the games between Aberdeen and Celtic, Celtic and St Mirren, plus Ayr United v Partick Thistle. 'Rangers in talks with Betis' Mendy' - gossip Who has your Premiership club brought in & let go? - summer 2025 "All three clubs have been found to have breached SPFL rules in failing to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that their supporters did not engage in "unacceptable conduct" at those matches," the league said in a statement. "The clubs were also found to have failed to identify or take proportionate disciplinary measures against the supporters responsible for the pyrotechnic displays and, in Partick Thistle's case, also against those who carried out the pitch invasion." The invasion led to a two-minute delay in the Premiership play-off quarter-final second leg at Somerset Park on 9 May, while a similar delay was caused by Thistle fans using pyrotechnics and throwing them on to the pitch. The pyrotechnics display by Aberdeen fans during their 14 May match against Celtic led to Sky Sports "having to issue an apology for interruptions to the broadcast following the display, which caused significant smoke clouds to form within the stadium". Celtic supporters carried out pyrotechnic displays in the north-east corner of Celtic Park during and prior to the final league game of the season at home to St Mirren on 17 May. "These incidents caused a health and safety risk to fellow supporters, players and those working at matches; as well as a significant inconvenience to thousands of supporters at the matches and fans watching these games at home," the SPFL added.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Aberdeen, Celtic & Thistle disciplined over pyros
Aberdeen, Celtic and Partick Thistle have been disciplined by the Scottish Professional Football League for their fans' pyrotechnic displays at the end of last two Premiership clubs will have to reduce the number of fans by 200 if there is a repeat of the "unacceptable conduct", while Championship outfit Thistle would face the closure of a stand after their display was also followed by a pitch follows an investigation by the league into "large-scale, organised and illegal pyrotechnic displays" at the games between Aberdeen and Celtic, Celtic and St Mirren, plus Ayr United v Partick Thistle. "All three clubs have been found to have breached SPFL rules in failing to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that their supporters did not engage in "unacceptable conduct" at those matches," the league said in a statement."The clubs were also found to have failed to identify or take proportionate disciplinary measures against the supporters responsible for the pyrotechnic displays and, in Partick Thistle's case, also against those who carried out the pitch invasion."The invasion led to a two-minute delay in the Premiership play-off quarter-final second leg at Somerset Park on 9 May, while a similar delay was caused by Thistle fans using pyrotechnics and throwing them on to the pitch. The pyrotechnics display by Aberdeen fans during their 14 May match against Celtic led to Sky Sports "having to issue an apology for interruptions to the broadcast following the display, which caused significant smoke clouds to form within the stadium".Celtic supporters carried out pyrotechnic displays in the north-east corner of Celtic Park during and prior to the final league game of the season at home to St Mirren on 17 May."These incidents caused a health and safety risk to fellow supporters, players and those working at matches; as well as a significant inconvenience to thousands of supporters at the matches and fans watching these games at home," the SPFL added.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
📸 Fed up with waiting: Bundesliga fans go wild at friendly
German professional football is back. That means not only football, but also fan chants, beer showers, and of course, pyrotechnics. While fans of the second and third leagues were already able to enjoy these things again this weekend, one Bundesliga club simply couldn't wait any longer for the first official match in two weeks. So Borussia Mönchengladbach celebrated its 125th club anniversary with a big pyrotechnics show at their home stadium during a friendly match against FC Valencia. The fans are surely more than ready for the new season now. And besides the fact that the Foals were able to defeat the Spanish first division team 2-0, there's more good news. A pyrotechnics show at a friendly match usually doesn't cost a single cent in fines. This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here. 📸 Pau Barrena - 2025 Getty Images
