12 Rayo Vallecano fans face punishments for protest that forced suspension of Athletic Bilbao match

File photo: 12 Rayo Vallecano supporters face punishments for helping stop its match against Athletic Bilbao. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Spain’s anti-violence commission has proposed bans and fines for 12 Rayo Vallecano supporters who helped to stop its team’s La Liga match against Athletic Bilbao by throwing paper airplanes and other objects onto the field, forcing the game to be suspended.

One fan was set to be fined 5,000 euros and banned for a year from stadiums. The other 11 were set to be fined 3,000 euros and banned for six months.

The fans, unhappy with club owner and president Raúl Martín Presa, first forced the October 10 match to stop in the 13th minute with the score 0-0. The paper airplanes flew from all three sides of the ground as fans cheered and some held scarves saying, “Presa, leave now.” Rayo’s dilapidated stadium has a wall behind one of the goals, meaning fans can occupy only three sides.

The stadium announcer said seven minutes later that the game would be suspended if the protests continued, after objects such as rubber balls were thrown. It resumed in the 24th but was stopped again shortly afterward. The players and officials left the field and the fans chanted against Presa.

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Both teams returned to the field and warmed up and resumed playing after a 10-minute break. But the game was stopped again just seconds later when more objects were thrown on the field.

It was Rayo’s first league game of the season at home in the left-wing Madrid neighborhood of Vallecas (spelled Vallekas by fans). The previous three home games were played in nearby Leganes because Rayo’s stadium was closed by city authorities over unsafe conditions. Most of the Rayo fans boycotted the games in Leganes.