The Lima Soccer Riot Argentina-vs-Peru
On May 24,1964 one of the most bizarre events in sports history has occurred. The match of Peru-vs-Argentina was to see which team would go to The Olympics in Tokyo (Kennt 83-85). The Lima soccer riot is on record as one of the worst disasters in sports history, it resulted in a death toll of around 300 people and 500 injured (“The 1964 Lima Soccer Riot”). The start of the riot happened when the referee fouled the ball that would tie the game. The game decided who went to the Olympics and who didn’t. When the referee had disallowed the goal for dangerous play (Kennt 83-85). The riot was triggered when well-know football fan, Matias Rojas, nickname ‘ The Bomb’” was attacked. He had rushed onto the field to attack the referee, but his attempt was foiled when forty policemen and two dogs attacked him and dragged him of the field. The violent crowd after seeing Rojas manhandled like that surged forward to attack the referee and policeman (Kennt 83-85).The frightened police over-reacted and threw tear gas at the enraged crowd. Which had caused the crowd to panic and try to get away. (Kennt 83-85)
The referee call had started the…show more content… There were many deaths during the Lima Football Riot. Most of the deaths happened near the south end of the stadium a section that made up of the lower priced seats (Soccer Fan Script; 263 Died). The number of the death rate go from 263-340 most of said deaths were made up of women and children who were trampled by the fleeing fans (Soccer Fan Script; 263 Died). One of the many victims was an eighteen month year old girl whose father held above his head to prevent her from being suffocated. The father though was pushed lost his grip and the toddler was crushed by the thousands of fleeing fans (Kennt 83-85). The Lima Football Riot was responsible for many deaths. The deaths of the people in the Lima football riot impacted on many
