A riot yesterday by spectators at a soccer match in Rehovot resulted in one soccer player being stabbed to death and his twin brother being badly beaten when he tried to pursue the murderer. A 17-year-old suspect is being held by police.
The tragedy, which has stunned all of Israel, came in the second half of the league game between Maccabi Rehovot and Maccabi Kfar Gvirol. With the score 1-0 in favor of Maccabi Rehovot, the referee stopped the game, charging the Maccabi Kfar Gvirol players with illegally pushing the home team goaltender. Kfar Gvirol fans then jumped over the fence and attacked the members of the Rehovot team.
One of them stabbed to death Mordechai Kind, a member of the Rehovot team. His twin brother. Aharon, who is also a member of the Rehovot team, tried to catch the assailant but was attacked and beaten by other fans of the visiting team.
SOCCER GAMES MAY BE SUSPENDED
Education Minister Aharon Yadlin, who is in charge of sports in Israel, hinted last night that the playing of league soccer games may be suspended for a while. Last year there was an outcry to ban the games for a year because of the rough behavior of the fans. In many cases referees were threatened or even injured and there were reports of players being bribed to lose games. The situation grew worse when hand grenades and detonators were used by spectators to frighten players and referees. Bottles and stones were thrown as a matter of course.
A public commission had various recommendations last year. But suspending the league game was ruled out because of the popularity of the sport which draws thousands of fans to stadiums throughout the country on Saturday afternoons.
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