For the firs time in Romania’s soccer history, a match was suspended because of the violent outbreak in the stands. The match between Rapid and Steaua was suspended last night, at the 72 minute of the play, with a 1-0 score for the hosts. The referee was hit in the head by a lighter.

Incredible scenes happened last night in Giulesti stadium! The match from the 24th stage of the Romanian derby in the First League was suspended because the referee, Alexandru Deaconu, was hit in the head by an object.

Rapid had scored in the 68th minute of the game. Just four minutes later, the hooligans unleashed wrath.

After being hit in the head by an object, the main referee, Alexandru Deaconu, went to the Valentin Alexandru, the observer, and a few minutes later, he seemed to be willing to get pass the incident.

Meantime, the stadium’s announcer told the fans that the game will be suspended at the next similar incident.

Just as he arrived in the area where Deaconu was hit, another object was thrown from the stands. That’s when the referee decided to suspend the match. Steaua’s players rushed to their locker rooms while Rapid’s players, and officials of the club violently asked the referees to resume the game.

Was it premeditated?

Deaconu was not impressed with Rapid’s players, maybe because one of their fans had thrown objects at him. Thus Steaua is going to win this important match by a 0-3 score.

Rapid’s players were furious at Steaua’s team who had “conveniently” left the field, so they tried to enter Steaua’s locker rooms, but were unable to brake the door. Also, it seems that in the chaos following the match, one of the players from Rapid, Nae Manea, had hit Deaconu!

Rapid’s official version is a bit different. They accused Steaua of a premeditated plot. “We will identify the one who threw the objects in the field. There were some of Steaua’s supporters infiltrated inside our stands and they did it.

Our fans had no reason to react that way. We had the advantage…shame on Deaconu, who used to play in the junior team at Steaua. He should have taken 3 minutes of break, then think of suspending the game.

A player was hit by an 8 cm screw last fall in Steaua’s stadium. Deaconu was a referee at that game and didn’t put an end to the game”, said Constantin Zotta.

During the 2005 derby, several incidents, much more severe than the one that occurred last night, have interrupted the game three times, and still, the match went on.

After the game, Rapid’s coach resigned and said this was “the last game at Rapid”. Steaua’s players were isolated in the locker rooms for several hours.