BARCELONA, 29 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The investigating judge of the Competition Committee of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has proposed a sanction against RCD Espanyol of two games without an audience in its stadium, now called Stage Front Stadium and to comply at the start of the season in Segunda, after the pitch invasion last season in the derby against FC Barcelona.
RCD Espanyol assured that the sanction of two matches behind closed doors, without fans in the stands, would be “disproportionate and unfair” and was in total disagreement with the Competition proposal, which comes after more than a month of deliberation and announced that will resort “to all possible instances.”
The sanction proposal, pending ratification by the Competition, comes as a result of what happened on May 14 on matchday 34 of LaLiga Santander, in the Espanyol-Barça derby (2-4), when some 200 individuals invaded the field of play after the clash, when Barça, who had been proclaimed champion of the League in a mathematical way, was celebrating it in the center of the field.
The blue and white club recalls that it has “always” spoken out against any violent act or behavior that could tarnish the image of the entity and its fans. “In this sense, our club has always faced its responsibilities by acting in an exemplary and proactive manner when there have been situations that violated the values of the club and the sport,” he assessed.
“In addition, in the case at hand and as the security forces themselves have recognized, RCD Espanyol had all the means and measures necessary for a match like the one played last May, collaborating from minute one in everything required by authorities and with the security forces themselves”, Espanyol defended.
In fact, the club assures that what happened in its stadium “has no place in football or in society” and announced that they will continue to act in the “most forceful way to eradicate” such behaviors from their facilities.
“We understand, however, that a disproportionate criterion is applied here and inconsistent with other cases that affects the entire club and season ticket holders from all sectors of the Stadium. A sanction that we consider disproportionate by the Competition Committee, applying in our opinion an exemplary aggravating factor that lacks legal foundation or tangible support beyond biased value judgments,” the entity alleged.