(NY Daily News) An Argentine man was pushed to his death at a soccer game after fans mistakenly thought he was rooting for their team’s rival.
Emanuel Balbo was at the Belgrano match against Talleres when he was allegedly attacked by people of his own fan base, according to The Independent, and tossed over the guard rail.
The man, along with three of his friends, started to attack Balbo, his father told Argentinean station Cadena 3. Witnesses said the man told people Balbo was a Talleres fan disguised as a Belgrano fan.
A horrific story out of Argentina as the Beautiful Game turned Hunger Games with another sad tale of soccer stadium violence ending in catastrophe.
A 22-year-old is dead after someone in his own section mistakenly alerted fans that he was a rival team’s follower masquerading as one of their own.
The young man is seen in a LIVE video trying to retreat from the section, as other fans attempted to get in his way and come to blows with him. Finally, you see the man come to a stadium railing approximately 16 feet above concrete stairs and what happens next is hard to explain. It looks as if the man might have been shoved over the railing, but it also appears as if the 22-year-old may have been jumping down on his own power to escape the mob of fans trying to beat him up.
The man suffered serious head injuries and was deemed brain dead at the hospital before succumbing to massive trauma to his brain and skull hours later and pronounced dead.
Four men have been arrested thus far in connection with the attack.
Officials say deaths related to fan violence at Argentine soccer stadiums is not a rare occurrence either, saying over 40 fans have died since 2013.