Argentina ban away fans to curb violence

The Argentina FA (AFA) has banned away fans from all first division matches for the rest of the year in a bid to curb crowd violence which has played havoc with the championship.

The decision was announced in a statement after a meeting of the AFA executive committee late on Tuesday and two days after the Independiente-Racing Club clash became the latest game to be halted by crowd trouble.

Earlier, the Buenos Aires provincial government announced that the weekend's derby between Racing Club and San Lorenzo would be played behind closed doors in La Plata, around 60 km from Buenos Aires.

Argentine football is facing a crisis after a series of incidents. Sunday's match at Independiente was called off by referee Horacio Elizondo in the 64th minute as Racing fans in the away section clashed with riot police, who used rubber bullets and tear gas.

It was the third match to be called off because of crowd trouble since the season began in August.