Referee gets busy as 17 get booked

Red-card day

A 3-3 draw between Wanderers and Juventud in the Uruguayan first division ended in chaos as the referee, who had already sent off one player, brandished 16 more red cards when fighting broke out after the final whistle.

Tempers became frayed when Wanderers believed they should have been awarded a penalty for a foul on midfielder Gaston Rodriguez near the end of Sunday's encounter in Montevideo, according to media reports.

Punching and kicking ensued among the two teams after the final whistle and the referee, Leodan Gonzalez, red carded eight players from each team.

As violence broke out on the pitch, the trouble spread to the stands at Parque Viera where a fan suffered a cut to the head after being hit by a stone.
The total sent off was 17 after Wanderers had midfielder Diego de Souza dismissed at the end of the first half.

During play, a team can have no more than four players sent off before the match is abandoned.

Juventud president Yamandu Costa said the club's board were looking at sanctioning the team's players who took part in the fighting, Uruguayan daily El Pais reported on Monday.

"Two very different things happened," Costa was quoted as saying in ‘El Pais’. "One is how the match developed which, from a sporting point of view was very good with three goals for each side, and another, after the match was over, when an argument among players finished in a general free-for-all."

Wanderers vice-president Gaston Inda said: "Something got out of hand because during the match nothing had happened, but these are situations we can't allow and we're sorry for what happened."

Midfielder Maximiliano Rodriguez scored twice for home side Wanderers including a late equaliser. Wanderers have 12 points from nine matches and Juventud 10. Penarol lead the Apertura championship with 20 points.