Romanian Soccer Fan Attacks Player With Sucker Punch After Storming Field (VIDEO)
A fan stormed the field and punched a soccer player and broke his cheekbone during a soccer game between Romanian teams Steaua Bucharest and Petrolul Ploiesti on Sunday.
Steaua Bucharest defender George Galamaz was released late Monday from the hospital after being treated for 15 hours at The Military Hospital in Bucharest.
The fan was identified as 25-year-old unemployed Dragas Petrut Enache, who was charged with committing a violent act and disturbing public order. He was reportedly ordered jailed for 29 days pending trial. After Galamaz was hit, teammates began beating Enache before he was taken away by security staff.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Galamaz’s teammates turned on the encroaching fan, throwing him to the ground and kicking him while he was down.
The Telegraph reported that security personal broke up the alarming moment and arrested Enache, who was not on the field for very long.
The soccer game was later abandoned in the first half after home fans threw flares onto the field. Steaua was in the lead 2-0 at Oana Stadium. According to predictions reported by Romanian news outlets, Steaua will most likely be considered the winner of the game.
Violent incidents in the Romanian sports world are few and far between but Radu Baicu, a Romanian scout based in Ploiesti who runs the Scouting Romania website, says the country's football authorities failed to heed warnings, as reported by Pitchside Europe.
"Last night's scenes should have been prevented, because Petrolul's fans always try to find ways to hurt their bitter rivals," he told Pitchside Europe. "A few days before this match, buses with fans of Astra (the other first division team from Ploiesti) had been stopped and attacked with stones. Nothing happened in that case, not even to lead to better prevention for the match versus Steaua."
"What happened last night is a stain," admits Baicu. "What worries me more is that those who are in charge of Romanian football will not act swiftly and efficiently; will not use this terrible event to enforce the laws and to look after all those that take part in the game."
