An investigation has been launched after footage emerged that appeared to show a team’s away fans being blocked from entering a stadium amid a chaotic clash with police, with one account alleging that supporters were mistreated.
Footage shared by Sergey Kulakov, the general manager of Shinnik Yaroslavl, showed a group of his club’s fans being kept behind barriers outside Vladimir Torpedo’s stadium before a Russian Football National League (FNL) 2 match on Sunday.
Security personnel in riot gear formed a line and officers were seen moving towards the mob before dragging individuals away and into a van in what Kulakov claims was a late decision to block the traveling supporters from attending the match.
“It turns out that in Vladimir you cannot root for the teams that come to their city,” said Kulakov, providing an overhead view of the fractious scenes.
“At least, that’s what the [Torpedo] security officer thinks, who said at the pre-match meeting: ‘We will not let them in.’ The man said [it], the man did [it].”
Kulakov appeared to claim that Shinnik had told him the order was partly made by the Rospotrebnadzor – the Russian ministry for consumer rights and human welfare.
“He said the same thing on the eve of the game, justifying the decision [by saying] the ban [was imposed by] Rospotrebnadzor,” said Kulakov.
“FC Shinnik made an official request [to see] the so-called decision of Rospotrebnadzor, but did not receive it since such a decision does not exist.
“Yesterday, we agreed with the director of the club that the fans would be allowed in as, I repeat, there [were] no decisions [by] Rospotrebnadzor.”
Kulakov added that he had a longstanding “good relationship” with his Torpedo counterparts, but warned that the actions of individual club employees “cannot be called anything other than lawlessness.”
“We will contact the RFU and the FNL on this issue,” he pledged. “Football for the fans.”
Torpedo manager Alexander Akimov, who oversaw a 2-0 defeat for his lowly side against the runaway league leaders, appeared to suggest that Shinnik fans had arranged a procession dangerously near a centuries-old architectural monument that belonged to the club.
“We were waiting for the fans in a normal, adequate manner,” he told newsvladimir. “Law enforcement officers did the right thing to detain them.”
A fan account produced a photo showing an alternative view of the confrontation and said that away fans routinely have their “access blocked” regardless of “whether citizens violate the law or not”.
“Fans of Shinnik go to Vladimir… in an organized group on two buses of about 100 people,” it alleged. “The rest get there on their own.
“Even at the entrance to the city on the buses, they notice that an unknown car is following them. They arrive at a place not far from the stadium and organize a five-to-seven-minute walk to [the ground]. The car continues to follow the fans.
“When approaching the stadium, a policeman with a megaphone suddenly appears and shouts loudly. Some do not notice him, but most of them go to the sidewalk.
“Guest fans reach the stadium, pass through the frames of metal detectors and see the controllers waiting in the territory of the arena. Suddenly, the security forces take the group into a cordon.
“Conversations with the police begin, attempts to find out: ‘What’s the matter?’ They do not lead to anything: the [security leader] shrugs his hands – he has an order to localize the group and he cannot do anything about it.
“Then the security forces pull their first victim out of the crowd. People are outraged… and call on the police to stop the lawlessness. At the same time, they do not commit any violence or aggressive actions in relation to representatives of the authorities.
“Instead of answering, [they] begin to pull people out one at a time in order to shove them roughly into the paddy wagon, where there was not even a light.”
The account claimed that a woman needed an ambulance and about 100 people were taken to an outdoor cage where they were ignored by police in cold and rainy conditions for around three hours.
Small groups of people were then allegedly “interrogated for 40-to-50 minutes”.
“Some are released after drawing up a protocol on an administrative offense, but very reluctantly and only after watching a video from the stadium,” they said.
“Others are transferred to the assembly hall for later, while some are sent straight to the cell.
“[Some] who do not have documents with them are filed with a violation of antiquated measures – they were in a public place without a passport – and a fine of 5,000 rubles [$69] is imposed.”
The account claimed that a bus was forced to leave without fans while another waited, with some supporters only released at 2am and others “awaiting trial”.
League bosses issued a statement saying they were “clarifying all the circumstances of this episode”, adding that the “restrictive measures taken against the guests look excessive at first glance.”
“The Russian Football Union and the Football National League will [announce] all the details of the [investigation] as new information becomes available,” they said.
Blogger Yevgeny Savin, who is the founder and president of Moscow-based FNL 2 club FC Krasava, shared Kulakov’s footage with his Instagram following of more than 775,000 and said: “No one here whitewashes fans and so on, but football without fans, with empty stands, is dull sh*t – and in FNL 2, it is doubly dull sh*t. My opinion.”
A former top-flight footballer in Germany and Turkey has allegedly been involved in a fatal shooting that reportedly killed a 24-year-old and injured four others earlier this month.
Sezer Ozturk, who played for Turkey’s two biggest clubs, Fenerbahce and Besiktas footballer, has been named by Turkish media as the protagonist of the alleged deadly incident on September 19.
Local sports broadcaster NTV Spor detailed that witnesses who have already come forward have claimed that Ozturk became involved in a fight during a case of road rage.
The outlet said that the 35-year-old opened gunfire on a group of people near Istanbul’s northern district of Sile, claiming that unverified video footage appears to back up its report.
Yıllarca menajerliğini yaptım. Dünyanın en adaletli ve duygusal insanıdır. Birini aç görse uyuyamaz cebindekini verir. Gidip mahallede insanlara saldırmaz zarar vermez. Ayıptır linç etmeyin. Hak hukuk adalet lütfen. Önce ne olduğunu anlamak lazım. #sezerozturkpic.twitter.com/iwMPuZTzP8
The dead victim has been named as Halil Ibrahim Genc, with police said to be on the hunt for Ozturk after he allegedly went on the run following the incident.
Ozturk was born in Velbert, Germany and was a graduate of the Bayer Leverkusen academy that has also produced the likes of Chelsea star Kai Havertz and Bayern Munich’s Leroy Sane.
He joined Nurnberg before a switch to Manisaspor in his parents’ homeland of Turkey.
His most successful spell was at Fenerbahce, where he won the Turkish Cup in 2012 and 2013.
The former Turkey youth international never officially announced his retirement, although he has been without a club since 2015, when Besiktas released him.
Boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya has ramped up his spat with Dana White, taunting the UFC boss over fighter pay and blasting him for “accusing me of faking a virus that killed almost 700,000 Americans”.
Former six-weight ruler De La Hoya retired after being beaten by Manny Pacquiao in 2008 but caught the boxing bug again and was set for a meeting with ex-UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort this month.
The 48-year-old pulled out after contracting Covid, with Belfort instead pummeling Evander Holyfield – who is 10 years older than De La Hoya – on a September 11 card in Hollywood, Florida.
Long-time nemesis White has constantly bickered with De La Hoya through the media, and the president supremo clearly didn’t buy the Mexican-American’s excuse when he replied to a tweet that he fired out.
Hey @alexvolkanovski you just won a brutal battle for @ufc and made 1/20 of what you’re worth. @danawhite have some fucking respect for yourself and these fighters and pay these warriors what they deserve
STFU U crack head. Faking that u had Covid and robbing me of watching u get KTFO by @vitorbelfort you should win an academy award for your hospital performance.
“Hey, Alex Volkanovski,” De La Hoya began, tagging the Australian featherweight champion after his title defense win over Brian Ortega at UFC 266 on Saturday.
“You just won a brutal battle for the UFC and made 1/20 of what you’re worth.
“Dana White, have some f*cking respect for yourself and these fighters and pay these warriors what they deserve.”
“Shut the f*ck up, you crackhead,” fired back White. “Faking that you had Covid and robbing me of watching you get knocked the f*ck out by Vitor Belfort. You should win an Academy Award for your hospital performance.”
The accusations have echoes of the claim by heavyweight contender Dillian Whyte, who is now in line to face Tyson Fury for the WBC belt if the Gypsy King gets past Deontay Wilder next month, that Alexander Povetkin had faked Covid to put off their boxing rematch.
Whyte was KO’d by the Russian in August 2020, with their second meeting delayed before the Jamaican-Brit got his revenge in March, stopping him in the fourth round and sending the veteran into retirement.
Belfort’s camp also seemed to suggest they were skeptical about the claims made by De La Hoya, who was predictably unimpressed by White’s response.
“That’s all you got, Dana White?” he asked in a separate tweet late on Monday.
“You’re accusing me of FAKING a virus that killed almost 700,000 Americans to avoid a fight?
“You pathetic piece of sh*t. You’ve never even laced up the gloves.
That’s all you got @danawhite ? You’re accusing me of FAKING a virus that killed almost 700,000 Americans to avoid a fight?? You pathetic piece of shit you’ve never even laced up the gloves. And you completely ignored my original point I made about UNDERPAYING YOUR FIGHTERS
“And you completely ignored my original point I made about underpaying your fighters.”
Teasing White further, De La Hoya, who was raised in a boxing family in a tough East Los Angeles neighborhood and won Golden Gloves and Junior Olympics titles before his gold at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games and move into the professional ranks, retweeted a photo of White as a boxercise instructor.
Perhaps it is only by settling their differences in the ring for once and for all that these two might put their feud to bed.
Valentina Shevchenko has quoted iconic Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky while reiterating her defense of the UFC’s ring girls after former lightweight king Khabib Nurmagomedov called them “useless”.
The 29-0 retired Russian made his comments at a press conference to promote his Eagle Fighting Championship, dubbing the girls who typically appear between each round “the most useless people in martial arts”.
The remarks led to a mixed response among figures in the sport, including jibes from bitter foe Conor McGregor and a reaction from Shevchenko in which she said that it was “so not right” to talk about the girls in such a manner, calling them a “huge part of any promotion”.
Following her fourth-round TKO victory over Lauren Murphy at UFC 266 on Saturday, the Kyrgyzstani-Peruvian made a point of approaching the ring girls and posing with them for a photo.
“Beautiful women are a decoration of any event. I want people to know that, and no one has the right to say that they are useless because they’re at the place that they have to be,” Shevchenko said after her victory.
“They were here at the beginning. You [can] come to any event [and] you will see beautiful women. A man, everyone enjoys it – it’s kind of like beautiful, right? This is a decoration.”
On Monday, the 33-year-old took to Instagram and doubled down on her message by posting the snap with a quartet of ring girls and writing: “Beauty will save the world.”
Literary great Dostoevsky originally came out with the enigmatic line in a bid to encapsulate how beauty transcends aesthetics.
Perhaps the most famous of all ring girls, Luciana Andrade, was clearly impressed, leaving a love heart for Shevchenko and replying: “It’s the women supporting women, for me.”
Presenter Laura Sanko also approved, adding a string of clapping hands, while Valentina’s sister – UFC fighter Antonina ‘La Pantera’ – also showed her support.
Pornstar and devoted MMA watcher Kendra Lust responded by telling Shevchenko: “Love this.”
Others left memes and comments about Nurmagomedov, with one writing: “Khabib has just left the building.”
Some argued that the Dagestani’s remarks, in which he spoke of how he had felt uncomfortable being near ring girls at an event he attended with his legendary late father, Abdulmanap, have been blown wildly out of proportion.
“It’s the opposite,” said one, responding to a suggestion that Nurmagomedov would be annoyed by Shevchenko’s post.
“Everyone blew up once Khabib shared one opinion – and you’re all still talking about it.”
Gymnastics star Simone Biles has claimed that black women “have to be greater” and said that their achievements are “dimmed down” even when sporting records fall by the wayside.
A four-time gold medalist at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, Biles endured a turbulent time at this summer’s Tokyo showpiece, briefly looking as if she might walk away empty-handed as she dealt with personal struggles.
The elastic-limbed 24-year-old eventually secured a silver medal in the team event and bronze in the balance beam final, and she has now suggested that she believes she has to considerably out-perform white athletes to earn the credit she deserves.
“As a black woman, we just have to be greater,” said Biles, speaking to writer and poet Camonghne Felix for New York. “Because even when we break records and stuff, they almost just dim it down – as if it’s just normal.”
Felix, who is a former speechwriter for Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic Party politician and governor of New York from 2011 to 2021, clearly agrees with Biles.
“I have a theory that if someone were to try and account for the exact amount of labor black women have forcefully and freely contributed to the US economy and culture, if America had to match us cent for sweat drop, it would be a number so great it would bankrupt all of this country’s resources,” she wrote.
“And if we’ve done it right, in the next generation, there will be no mules. We’ve done enough – the world will have to meet us on our terms.”
Biles is said to have been inspired by best-selling book ‘The Subtle Art of not Giving a F*ck’ as she has faced the pressures involved in her sensational career and being under the spotlight.
Before tying with Shannon Miller as the American female gymnast with the most medals of all time, Biles thought about leaving the sport when disgraced team doctor Larry Nassar hit the headlines for an appalling campaign of sexual abuse.
“I should have quit way before Tokyo, when Larry Nassar was in the media for two years,” she admitted, speaking after addressing the US Senate over the FBI’s handling of the Nassar case. “It was too much.
“But I was not going to let him take something I’ve worked for since I was six years old. I wasn’t going to let him take that joy away from me. So I pushed past that, as long as my mind and my body would let me.”
When she was asked whether she would alter any aspects of her gymnastics journey, Biles replied: “No, I wouldn’t change anything because everything happens for a reason.
“And I learned a lot about myself — courage, resilience, how to say no and speak up for yourself.”
