SFL Scandal: How Will the Team from Lentvaris That Breaks Opponents' Ribs Be Punished?

2025-05-27 15:19

The SFL league was shaken by a scandal. The organizers of the championships officially announced that they will investigate the acts of violence and racist insults recorded during the SFL A division match between FK "Lentvaris" and "Delamode Euforija".

Meanwhile, the "Delamode Euforija" team, which suffered from the aggressive Lentvaris supporters, published a description of the incident and a video on social media.

"Would you participate in such an amateur football league?

We have been in the Sunday Football League (SFL) since 2007, but today we are also asking ourselves this question.

On May 25, 2025, during the SFL A division match between Lentvaris and Delamode Euforija, acts of physical violence were carried out against two players from our team. There were also racist and degrading insults directed at our team's foreign player and towards the spectators of the match (who came with young children). Below, we provide a chronological sequence of events that led to physical harm. For security and peace, we do not disclose the names of the victims. The participating opponents are referred to by their jersey number.

During the first half, after two goals from our foreign player, with the score at 0-2, tougher micro-duels began. It is understandable, as the teams are competing and neither wants to lose. Around the middle of the first half, insults from members of the opposing team were directed at our foreign player. During the break, the voice of the opposing team's coach/manager could be heard encouraging the provocation of our foreign player to continue.

At the beginning of the second half, a person was already clearly called a "jib**e", it was said that "people like you come here and ah***inat", "pašol na**** where you came from".

When our team captain tried to calm the situation, the opposing players retorted that "jib**e" is by no means an insult. The referee of the match was nearby, and it was requested that he warn the opponents about the insults and calm the developing situation. No response was received from the referee; he simply remained silent. In our club's opinion, the individual was equated to a wild animal and thus degraded, while being discriminated against based on their origin. It is regrettable that the match referee decided at that moment not to warn or discipline the players.

In the second half, the tough competition continued. There were duels and fouls. It is worth noting that no other players on our team were subjected to serious insults after fouls (except for the usual ones, which you get used to disregarding).

At the very end of the match (with the score at 1-3 and about 2-3 minutes remaining), our foreign player successfully broke through three opponents, ran to the opponent's penalty area, and lost the ball near the goal line. An opponent tried to shield the ball with his body as it rolled out of bounds. Our player managed to slip past him and reach the ball, but during the duel both players fell to the ground. According to our players and others who were watching the match, while lying on the ground, the opposing player number 26 kicked our player first. While still on the ground and wanting to protect himself, our player responded similarly. After standing up, player number 26 began kicking our player, who was trying merely to defend himself. Both our team and the opposing team's players rushed to the situation. It seems that the situation was beginning to de-escalate.

However, from the other end of the field, opponents number 10 and number 11 rushed in at full speed (the latter spat while running saying, "oh now it’s your pi*** na***”). Both of them attacked our foreign player. Another member of our team (the victim) courageously tried to intervene between them and calm the conflict. The opposing player number 10 turned to injure our player by throwing punches, but did not hit his target. At that moment, the rushing opposing player number 3 kicked our player in the back. Subsequently, the same number 3 pursued other players from our team but did not strike them. Throughout the situation, there were also insults directed at the spectators.

Soon after the hit to the back, our player began to experience difficulty breathing. An ambulance was called, which took him to the Emergency Department at the Republican Vilnius University Hospital (simply put - Lazdynai Trauma Center). After examination by the doctors, a RIB FRACTURE was diagnosed. In this situation, we are only thankful that there were no internal organ injuries, such as to the lungs. In that case, the situation would have been much more dramatic. We express our gratitude to the paramedics and doctors.

A similar incident happened to our club on September 4, 2022, during SFL A division matches against the same Lentvaris team. Another one of our foreign players was called a "monkey", while the referee claimed he did not hear the statements and therefore could not take any actions. Our mistake, as a club, was that we did not fill out an official statement that time and thus tolerated (and even encouraged) such behavior.

- Also, on December 17, 2023, during the Lentvaris-Viesulas match, the Lentvaris club received penalties for its player's aggressive and brutal behavior on the football field. https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=910851300602139&id=100050318334473&rdid=755XXCVWfGvVTQFw#
- Also on May 13, 2023, the match Lentvaris-Viltis B was terminated due to the aggressive behavior of Lentvaris players and fans https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=776347394052531&id=100050318334473&rdid=Q0vcP1wWROHWELlz#
- Also in 2019, Lentvaris received penalties during a match with FC Vova due to its fans/spectators exhibiting extremely blatant racist behavior
http://www.vilniausfutbolas.lt/.../DK-sprendimai.../5011...

We ask: should violence continue to be tolerated? We say no, therefore we are considering refusing to participate in a championship where individuals cannot control their emotions, leading to verbal and physical aggression. We demand that this time, with all the visual information and testimonies, the strictest personal and team disciplinary measures be applied. We ask for the irreversible disqualification of individuals who perpetrated aggression and to suspend this football club from participating in the SFL and other amateur leagues (it is no secret that players play across several different leagues). It is time to draw a firm line, and we hope this will be done. We are also considering the possibility of contacting law enforcement.

We also want to point out that all these events could have been ATTEMPTED to be avoided if the referee had applied disciplinary measures in advance. This was not attempted. While we understand the difficult work of referees, a principled and strict stance is necessary in such situations. Perhaps referees do not dare to take a stronger and unfavorable decision against this team? In that case, it well reflects the conditions under which refereeing needs to be conducted in this team's matches.

We await a strict, fair, and necessary reaction, not for our sake but for the sake of the entire league: clubs, players, referees, and spectators. Yes, and spectators, because not only players do not want to participate in such matches, but also spectators do not want to bring their families and children into potentially dangerous, violent, and insulting situations,” the team wrote.