Time to rein in unruly fans

Football: The injury to Russian goalkeeper Akinfeev highlights the need for authorities to act swiftly

The goalkeeper was out, lying face down and motionless on the grass, less than half a minute into the match. Russia’s Igor Akinfeev had not been injured by an opponent, but by a flare thrown from the crowd behind his goal.

First-aid responders rushed to resuscitate him and then take him to a hospital in Podgorica, Montenegro. Having treating burns on the back of his neck, doctors later cleared Akinfeev after running a few neurological tests. The goalkeeper, they believed, had been a lucky man not to have suffered worse.

The sport, if we can call it that, resumed without Akinfeev. After deliberating with officials for 30 minutes, the referee decided the Euro 2016 qualifier between Montenegro and Russia must go on.

The scoreless game was abandoned after 67 minutes, however, when a second Russian player was struck, apparently with a cigarette lighter thrown from the crowd. Players and some coaching staff members brawled beside the field, and once more the German referee marched everyone off down the tunnel to the locker rooms.

It was game over because of a mob, a situation that required a quick response from officials. There’s the problem. The world moves at Internet speed, but soccer is still in the Dark Ages when haste is required.

Last Monday evening, UEFA, the organiser of this tournament, reacted.It announced on its website that disciplinary proceedings had been opened against the soccer federation of Montenegro for its spectators’ “setting off and throwing of fireworks and objects” and “for holding a match that did not get played in the full.”

UEFA also indicated it would investigate whether Russian fans in the stadium had set off fireworks and thrown objects. The Russian federation pre-empted this by lodging a complaint that could result in its being given a 3-0 win and awarded three points.

UEFA adopted the customary protocol. It waited for written reports from the referee, Deniz Aytekin, and from its match delegate. It will wait some more for its ethics and disciplinary committee to meet, at a date to be determined in due course. An outcome is unlikely to happen before this weekend.

What’s the rush? After all, fireworks and flares have become a common nuisance at games in Italy, Turkey and Eastern Europe. UEFA usually levies small fines that — given the millions involved in games today — are about as discouraging as a tickle on the wrist. Should it be treated differently because someone was hurt?

Well, yes. In the past, a linesman in Milan’s San Siro stadium was hit as Akinfeev was and knocked to the ground. At another game, a Welsh fan on the opposite side of the field from where a firework had been launched was wounded in the face and was just an inch or two from losing an eye.

How hard can it be to frisk fans for such relatively bulky weapons when they enter stadiums? In Podgorica, the police were on full alert because there had been a predictable buildup of animosity throughout the day.

Sports, in such circumstances, takes on nationalistic overtones, as when Russia faced Poland in Warsaw during the 2012 European Championship. Anyone who witnessed Russian supporters marching like an army toward Poland’s national stadium before the game would have been only too aware of the response it would inevitably evoke from younger Poles.

Riot police were in place throughout Podgorica because of heightened tensions after Montenegro backed American and European Union sanctions against Russia over Crimea and Ukraine. You might think we should concentrate on sports? If only.

Given the buildup, this was never likely to be a purely sporting affair. Russia and Montenegro are tied for third in Group G, far behind Austria and Sweden. But third place counts for something, now that UEFA has enlarged the finals to 24 teams, meaning that almost half of the 54 nations in UEFA will qualify for France in 2016, including a number of third-placed teams.

So Russia’s protest, and its hope for three points, is enhanced after a game where it could not score a goal, even from a penalty it was awarded just moments before the second incident.

“It is such a shame that the actions of the Montenegro supporters spoiled what would have been a very interesting game,” Nikolai Tolstykh, the Football Union of Russia president, told the Russian newspaper Sport Express. “In our view, the game should have been stopped in the first minute.”

UEFA must, in due course, decide where any of this is going. The next keeper hit from behind may not lucky enough to return home with his team.