Dimayor imposed a penalty of almost seven million pesos on Club Deportivo Junior after the interruption of a match due to a dog at the Metropolitan Stadium of Barranquilla.
This incident took place during Date 16 of the League, specifically on April 19, 2024, a fact that not only captured attention due to its uniqueness but also because this same dog had caused a pause in another match of the Barranquilla team previously, in a match corresponding to the 2024 Copa Libertadores.
The sanction to Junior
The Dimayor Disciplinary Committee established the official sanction for the Junior of Barranquilla for the invasion of the dog: “Sanction the Club Deportivo Popular Junior FCSA (“Junior”) with six million five hundred thousand pesos ($6,500,000) for incurring the infraction described in literal d) of article 78 of the CDU of the FCF; in the match played for the 16th date of the BetPlay DIMAYOR I 2024 League, between Club Deportivo Popular Junior FCSA and Club Envigado FC.”
Then it ended with: “This Committee reiterates its pronouncements contained in article 6 of Resolution No. 040 of 2019, article 5 of Resolution No. 043 of 2022, article 3 of Resolution No. 003 of 2024, and in Article 7 of Resolution No. 007 of 2024, in which, when analyzing similar circumstances in which the normal development of the match has been affected, by the presence of a canine on the playing field, and in which It was indicated that this type of episode violates the provisions established by the CDU. Due to the above, the Committee considers that the provision contained in the aforementioned literal d) of article 78 of the CDU of the FCF was transgressed,” said the regulatory body of the discipline in Colombian professional football.
The repetition of this unusual event with the same animal has generated not only economic repercussions for the team known as ‘Shark’, but has also drawn attention to the security and management of events at sports venues.
The established fine reflects the importance of maintaining control and integrity of the matches, avoiding any type of interruption that could affect the normal development of sporting events.
This second incident shows a lack of effective corrective measures after the first episode that occurred days ago, highlighting the need to reinforce security in stadiums to avoid future incidents.
Dimayor, as the governing body of professional football in Colombia, takes these actions not only as punitive measures but also as a call to all clubs to intensify their security protocols.
This particular Junior case has sparked a debate about how teams and stadium managers should prepare to deal with unexpected situations that, although they may seem minor, have the potential to disrupt the normal flow of matches and, therefore, to affect the fan experience and the image of Colombian soccer.
Junior de Barranquilla’s next game
The Barranquilla club will have to face Once Caldas, which is also playing for the classification and is the one with the best score in the standings, for the three spots that are available.
To close the round-robin phase, they will face Deportivo Cali, who will not measure their strength to be able to seek victory at home and thus add the last three possible points of this tournament to avoid relegation.
In the standings, Junior has 25 points in 17 games and is in eighth place, being the last partially classified, but awaiting the results of América de Cali, Independiente Medellín. With Infobae