AS Roma’s Champions League match against Dynamo Kiev was suspended at half-time on Wednesday after Swedish referee Anders Frisk was hit with an object thrown from the stands and left the field with blood dripping from his forehead.
As Frisk blew the whistle to end the first half, he observed Roma’s newly signed French defender Philippe Mexes pushing down Dynamo striker Maris Verpakovskis and expelled Mexes.
Mexes had to be restrained as he walked off the field and an upset Roma fan hurled an object — which TV replays showed appeared to be a coin or cigarette lighter — at Frisk just before he was to descend into the tunnel leading off the field.
Upon being hit, Frisk dropped to the ground and had to be helped down into the locker room by his fellow officials.
The announcement that the game was suspended came after about a 45-minute wait.
Dynamo led the Group B match 1-0 at half-time courtesy of Serbian defender Goran Gavrancic’s 30m free kick in the 28th minute.
”Frisk suspended the game because he wasn’t in condition to continue … he was seriously hurt and because his security was not guaranteed,” Uefa delegate Andre Francioli was quoted as saying by the Ansa news agency.
”Now Uefa’s disciplinary commission will decide what will happen.”
For 45 minutes after Frisk was hit, it was still unclear if the game would continue. Players stood around bewildered on the field and some fans began leaving the stadium while the referee was tended to in the stadium’s infirmary.
Neither Frisk nor any of his fellow officials appeared on the field again.
Frisk was escorted by police to his hotel several hours after the match was suspended, Ansa reported.
Roma was already playing without striker Antonio Cassano, who was removed from the roster for the Champions League match after pushing down a defender in Roma’s 1-0 league win against Fiorentina on Sunday.
”Certainly these are things that should not happen. We’re all sad for a game to end like that,” Roma coach Rudi Voeller said in an interview with Sky TV.
Voeller appeared visibly shaken by the latest incident to disrupt his brief tenure in charge of Roma. A former star player for the club, Voeller was called in as an emergency replacement for Cesare Prandelli when Prandelli resigned to be with his ailing wife two weeks before the season began.
”Nothing like this has ever happened to me. We’ll await the decision by Uefa,” Voeller said. ”What more can I say? These are things that shouldn’t happen. We’re going to have to change certain things. We can’t go on like this.”
The confusing scene was reminiscent of the Roman derby played between Roma and Lazio at the same Stadio Olimpico on March 21.
That match was suspended when a false rumour that a police car had fatally struck a boy outside the stadium spread throughout the stands, which later set off widespread chaos and violence.
Roma received a two-match home stadium ban for the derby chaos and played their last ”home” games of the season in Palermo, Sicily.
The team could now be hit with a lengthier ban by Uefa.
Frisk was also the referee in the Champions League match between Roma and Turkish side Galatasaray at Olimpico in March 2002 that ended in a massive brawl and ensuing suspensions.
Rome mayor Walter Veltroni called the latest incidents at the city’s main stadium ”a shame for Roman sport”.
”Six months after the derby episodes have come more grave acts that offend sport, that hurt the city,” Veltroni was quoted as saying by Ansa. ”It’s not wrong refereeing; there is no sporting polemic that can justify these acts of violence.” — Sapa-AP