The Secretary of State for Youth and Sports and the President of the Portuguese Professional Football League this Sunday refuted the incident that happened to two fans during Saturday’s match between Estoril Praia and FC Porto (1:1) of the I League.
“This child and his father were the victims of unacceptable intolerance by a group of opposing fans. Such incidents cannot occur in our stadiums. We also cannot tolerate attempts to normalize intolerance in sports,” he responded. João Paulo Correia, via the social network Twitter.
In addition, the Secretary of State for Youth and Sports assured of action against offenders: “The Office for the Prevention and Control of Violence in Sports will act against the behavior of the fans concerned. We will continue to fight relentlessly.”
On Saturday, a video was posted on social media and various media outlets showing a man with a small child on his lap, both wearing FC Porto jerseys, being insulted and allegedly spat on by Estoril fans. a situation that forced the aforementioned Porto fan to move away from where he was sitting on the bench.
In view of this situation, the President of the Portuguese Professional Football League (LPFP), Pedro Proenza, also asked for “joint reflections”, emphasizing that “no one” can be absent from this discussion.
“The scream of a terrified child clinging to the arms of his father in a football stadium should be enough to make us … STOP !!!,” Pedro Proenza wrote on Facebook.
The LPFP leader insisted on “firmly and forcefully rejecting all acts that constitute attacks on all those who build the spectacle that football should be” at a “moment of restoration” of competition and in which it is intended to “bring families back to the sports scene” .
“We must be relentless in defending these values, but we are sure that change begins in each of us, in thinking about what sport and citizenship are. These reflections will form an essential part of this path. and demand the means and conditions to make it effective,” Proenza stressed.
This is the second time in a week that both the Secretary of State for Youth and Sports and the LPFP President have regretted the incidents that happened to fans in League I stadiums.
Exactly one week ago, the child was forced to take off the Benfica jersey at the Famalican stadium, as he was with his father on the bench with most of the local fans.