Football: Away fans banned in Argentina after supporter death

BUENOS AIRES — Away supporters have been banned from attending games in the Buenos Aires province following the fatal shooting of a fan on Monday night.

It was the third time this year a supporter had been killed during football-related violence.

The Lanus fan was killed in a stadium in the La Plata area when he was hit by a rubber bullet fired from point blank range by a policeman during the Estudiantes-Lanus clash.

Local government officials have imposed the ban but it has yet to be rubber-stamped by the country’s football federation (AFA).

“We will no longer admit visiting fans to stadiums in the province of Buenos Aires until such time as AFA and Aprevide (Agency for the prevention of violence in sport) guarantee there will be no more violence,” the district minister for security Ricardo Casal told Del Plata radio station.

The ban only applies to stadiums in the Buenos Aires province and not to those in the capital city itself.

It means away fans will still be allowed to attend games at Buenos Aires’s two most popular teams River Plate and Boca Juniors, whose clashes have been notorious in the past for violent confrontations between fans.

Seven of the top division’s 20 teams hail from the Buenos Aires province.