James Kilner
30 September 2024 5:01pm
Members of a Russian ice hockey team have been jailed after they “humiliated” Federal Security Service (FSB) opposition players by beating them up during a match.
A mass brawl erupted between the “Tough Guy” team and the FSB’s “Phantom” side in far east Russia when two players clashed, video footage shows.
The brawl, which took place in March, involved all 12 players throwing punches at one another and tussling on the ice.
As an FSB attacker and the opposition defender wrestled each other to the ground, individual fights broke out as other Tough Guy players started throwing punches at the opposition team.
Brawls are commonplace in ice hockey, considered to be one of the most popular sports in Russia, but after this match the FSB reportedly ordered the arrest of the opposition players.
‘Hooliganism’ charge
Baza, a Telegram channel with close connections to the Russian security services, said that five players from the Tough Guy team were detained immediately and charged with “hooliganism”, which carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years.
The Tough Guys team was also disqualified from the ice hockey tournament, the channel added.
“A brawl during a hockey match is a common occurrence and, as a rule, guilty hockey players are usually punished with penalty minutes on the bench,” Baza said. “But this game was special. Immediately after the competition, five Tough Guy players were arrested.”
Two more Tough Guy players were detained last week and ordered to surrender their passports as they were considered a “flight risk” ahead of their trial.
FSB team ‘humiliated’
The case has proved controversial in Russia, splitting sports champions and fans over whether the hockey players should have been detained.
Newsbox24, a Russian news Telegram channel, said the arrests were absurd after a “standard” ice hockey brawl. “If you go into the rink against an FSB or police team, should you also prepare to be imprisoned in case you win?” it said.
Reader comments under the Newsbox24 post said the FSB team had been “humiliated” and had acted in a cowardly manner by allegedly ordering their arrest.
Other people, though, were more protective of the FSB team.
Yulia Chepalova, a three-time Olympic cross-country ski champion, said that the Tough Guy players should be ashamed for brawling with the FSB, but that criminal prosecutions were taking retribution too far.
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