Live
Audio Only
Mexican first division soccer referees and linesman warmed up for their Saturday matches sporting white shirts in protest of an attack on their chief by a club director.
Fidel Kuri, the owner and president of Liga MX team Veracruz, attacked Edgardo Codesal, the head of the Mexico’s soccer federation FMF referee’s commission, in the VIP box after his team’s 3-1 home loss to Leon on Friday.
Kuri, whose team is nicknamed the Red Sharks, reacted angrily to a dubious 90th-minute red card for Veracruz's Argentine winger Daniel "Keko" Villalva.
No one was hurt in the short scuffle.
The white T-shirts worn by officials before each of Saturday’s three games across the country said "Security and Respect” on the front and the hashtags “Football Without Violence” and “Mexico Without Violence” on the back.
The referees and linesman changed to their standard officiating attire for the matches, but wore white bands around the sleeves.
FMF regulations prohibit players and fans from displaying political or social statements at matches. However, there are no clauses that stop referees and linesmen.
After the attack, Kuri issued a letter of apology to Codesal and the fans of Veracruz. He also said he would accept any type of disciplinary action imposed by the Liga MX and the football association.
"I take this letter to offer a sincere apology to Mr. Edgardo Codesal, because, regardless of my feelings about the actions on the field, that does not justify my reaction and definitely are not the way things are solved," he wrote.
"A simple letter will not be sufficient to amend these actions, but I did not want to spend one more day without expressing my deep regret and I must say that I am sorry for everything that happened."
Saturday’s matches saw titleholders UANL Tigres, who lost their opening match 1-0 at Toluca last week, beat Morelia 2-0. The Monterrey-based team scored twice in less than two minutes through Javier Aquino and Frenchman Andre-Pierre Gignac.
Newsletter
Hola, escribí una carta primero para pedirles perdón y segundo para comenzar a enmendar mi error del día del partido pic.twitter.com/AGFOPkPk6q
— Fidel Kuri Grajales (@fidelkugra)
January 17, 2016
“Hello, I wrote a letter to apologize first and second to make amends my error on match day.”
