Russian second division side Torpedo Moscow have been forced to play their next home game behind closed doors after fans threw snowballs and shouted racist slogans during the team’s last match, Russia’s Football National League said Wednesday.
Torpedo’s match with Dynamo Bryansk will be played in an empty stadium March 20 and the club will pay a $1,700 fine, the FNL said on its website, citing a Russian Football Union disciplinary committee ruling.
During Torpedo’s 1-0 defeat to Alania Vladikavkaz on Monday, a group of fans pelted Alania’s Ivorian left-back Dacosta Goore and other players with snowballs and shouted racist abuse, as well as lighting flares and setting off smoke bombs.
Goore was substituted at half time, but Alania coach Vladimir Gazzaev said this was because of injury.
This followed an incident in September when another Ivorian, Khimki’s Wattara Boligibia, was racially abused at Torpedo’s Eduard Streltsov Stadium.
“These so-called fans are our club’s shame. You can’t give yourself up to herd behavior and provocations,” Torpedo president Alexander Tukmanov said on the club website Tuesday.
“Support is important, but you can’t call shameless rioting in the stands ‘support.’”
In response to the news, fans on Torpedo’s official web forum promised to watch the next game from the top of nearby buildings and trees.
Alania fans reportedly shouted anti-Moscow slogans during a confrontation with police before the game, earning the North Ossetia-based club a $340 by the Russian Football Union for “offensive” chanting in the stadium.
Alania’s winning goal was scored by Hungarian striker Tamas Priskin, making his debut for the second-tier club since joining from English side Ipswich Town last month.
Alania lead the Russian second tier by two points from Mordovia Saransk in the second of two automatic promotion spots, with Torpedo 16 points off the lead in eighth.
