Football match descends into chaos as police use tear gas and seven players sent off

Seven players were sent off and eight yellow-carded during a crunch match in Bolivia where police had to intervene in a mass fight and use tear gas after a second punch-up. Five footballers got their marching orders following a pitch brawl towards the end of the first half between Blooming and Bolivar.

And the match officially became one of the games in South American top tier football with most red cards ever after play had resumed with just 17 footballers, when two more were ordered off in the second half. Trouble flared six minutes from the end of the first half when Blooming goalkeeper Braulio Uraezana rushed to remonstrate with rival Damian Batallani after the Argentinian winger collided with him as they went for the same ball.

Batallani's team-mates saw things differently, calling for a penalty and going to aid the footballer as he lay writhing in pain on the ground by one of the puddles covering the pitch following heavy rain.

Both sets of players ended up kicking, pushing and punching each other in the melee that ensued, with the Blooming goalie among those knocked to the ground before he got back up and used his fists to land punches on rivals attacking him.

Police officers forming part of the crowd control operation ended up having to run across to the goalline area where the mass fight occurred to try to restore peace.

Blooming, with four players red-carded and just seven on the pitch by the final whistle, lost 2-1 to Bolivar who had three sent off. The away side scored their winning goal three minutes into extra time.

The violence continued in the changing rooms after the final whistle with police having to use tear gas to restore order. The post-match press conferences were cancelled.

Amazingly Bolivian press were pointing out today Saturday's match wasn't the worst in the country's footballing history for the most reds ever - the record being eight during a 1999 game also involving Blooming when it beat The Strongest 2-0.

The Bolivian Football Federation confirmed afterwards it was considering sanctioning both teams. Bolivar goalkeeper Carlos Lampe, who also plays for the Bolivia national team, said: "I was concerned about what happened at the end of the game.

"That can't happen. They hit our goalkeeping coach, they got into a fistfight. There wasn't enough security. The two dressing rooms are very close together."

Team-mate Daniel Catano, one of those red-carded, had harsh words for the referee afterwards saying: "There was a scuffle, there was pushing and shoving, but I never hit any of my opponents.

"The referee got carried away by the emotion of the moment and didn't know how to handle the game. It ended up being played in an absurd way, something that hasn't happened in soccer for a long time, with so many players sent off.

One appalled Bolivian football fan reacted by saying on social media: "For these sorts of things we've got the worst football in South America."

The most red cards in a Premier League game is three, although that has occurred several times. Seven weeks ago a referee was slapped in the face after she sent a player off during a match in Colombia.

The incident occurred during a game between Deportivo Quique and Real Alianza at the Chelo Castro Stadium in Aracataca.

In the 66th minute of the match, Vanessa Ceballos approached the substitutes' bench to give a red card to Real Alianza's Javier Bolivar for unsportsmanlike conduct.

As Ceballos produced the red card, Bolivar stood up from the bench and confronted the female official. He then raised his right hand and slapped her in the mouth before he was pulled away.

Bolivar apologised for his actions in a subsequent statement but appeared to deny he had deliberately assaulted anyone saying he had just been trying to remove the whistle from the ref's mouth.

Amazingly Bolivian press were pointing out today Saturday's match wasn't the worst in the country's footballing history for the most reds ever - the record being eight during a 1999 game also involving Blooming when it beat The Strongest 2-0.