On March 5, Mexican soccer fans watched in awe as a brawl broke out between Querétaro Football Club and Atlas Football Club fans at Estadio La Corregidora, Querétaro, Mex. Violent acts, which began after the 62 minute of play, left a reported 26 people hospitalized with three in critical condition.
The Liga MX suspended the match and postponed other soccer matches this week. In a video response to the violence, Liga MX president Mikel Arriola expressed solidarity for the victims and condemned rioters.
“It is a situation of serious violence that worries us, occupies us and forces us to act energetically against those responsible,” said Arriola. “I want to express my deep solidarity with the families of those who were injured and state that we are very attentive to their health through the reports of the Civil Authority of Querétaro.”
Throughout various social media platforms, users shared graphic images and videos of the chaos. Videos depicted fans bleeding on the concrete perimeter surrounding the field while others showed how the brawl continued outside of the stadium.
“We have been given the task of trying to identify the patients we have in the videos,” said Martina Pérez Rendon, Querétaro’s secretary of health. “We identified three who are in serious condition even if the images may show otherwise. At the moment, we do not have any deaths.”
Despite the government releases, some witnesses present at the game reported seeing deceased victims. Some reports cited TV Azteca reporter David Medrano who made a Twitter post alleging that 17 victims had died. He also shared a photo that appeared to show the death of one Atlas fan.
Authorities of Liga MX gathered on Tuesday and talked about sanctions for the parties involved in Saturday’s events. The Mexican Football Federation ordered for the banning of fans from any games played by Querétaro F.C., including its female and youth teams, until March 2023 and fined the team $70,000 USD. Superfan groups, known as “barras”, are also banned from the matches, and club owners must now sell the team before the end of the year. Atlas F.C. also faced punishment with its fan groups being banned from its away matches for six months.
This is not the first time that a major incident has occurred in a soccer match in Mexico. In 2017, a match between Tigres UANL and C.D. Veracruz saw fans of both teams brawling, and in 2014, fans who attended a tournament match between Atlas F.C. and C.D. Guadalajara also caused disorder on the field and in the stands.
The Querétaro-Atlas riot brings the conversation on soccer culture in Mexico to a forefront. Images from the match revealed the illegal actions of various fans, including bringing weapons and beating attendees to the point of unconsciousness.
While the games from the Liga MX faced postponement, other games from other leagues went on as scheduled, such as the Major League Soccer match between Los Angeles F.C. and the Portland Timbers on Sunday. Fans who attended the evening game shared their thoughts on the Querétaro-Atlas episode.
“It’s really sad, but I think that it’s a lot of the culture that’s in play around the fan culture,” said Jeff Veyscy, a Portland Timbers and Manchester United fan. “I think that a lot of it was built up by pre-match incidents on social media, and that’s a very hard place to get into.”
One common criticism highlights the lack of security at the stadium. Images from the match showed police being overwhelmed by fans who stormed into the field and breached barriers meant to separate people from the rival teams.
There also came the belief that both the fans and the organization of the team share in controlling the atmosphere of the game. Los Angeles F.C. and C.D. Guadalajara fan German Lopez said he felt a mixture of anger, sadness and disappointment when he heard about the tragic incident.
“I think it’s everybody’s responsibility,” he said. “As a fan, you have a responsibility to be supportive, but not out of line. As an organization, you have a responsibility to make sure that it’s a safe venue for the fans and even [a] league maker has a responsibility to everybody to make sure that they’re putting the right sanctions in place. In case stuff like this happens, people are sanctioned the right way, and it doesn’t happen again.”
Eric Wachs, a fan of Los Angeles F.C., pointed out that accountability needs to be taken among fans.
“At the end of the day, I think people have to be responsible for their own behavior,” he said. “I don’t know if there was a lot of alcohol involved, and I don’t know what the actual argument was about, but ultimately, you can have any of these institutions put up all these different regulations to try and keep fans from doing certain things, but it’s an individual’s decision to fight with another fan.”
Liga MX soccer matches are expected to resume on Friday with Queretaro F.C. playing against Club Necaxa. This match will be played at Estadio Victoria, Club Necaxa’s home venue, behind closed doors.