Appalling scenes of violence as the Boca team bus is attacked by River fans.

Quote from Splinter

Unbelievably shameful behaviour from these hooligans who, as usual ruin things for everyone else.

... especially for the Boca players! Good grief. What next, bodyguards?

Sadly, the pictures of the violence beamed throughout the world won't come as a surprise to anyone.

They should just cancel the game.

I'm glad.

Feel sorry for all the decent fans who have lost out, especially financially. However I think it was the only decision they could make.

The football clubs need to sort this out as they know who's behind it all.

Tim Vickery the BBC Latin America football correspondent was spot on when he said last night it's all down to corruption in this country.

Argentina is still years behind....and not only when it comes to football hooliganism.

This obnoxious episode is not casual. From at least 35 years ago many politicians and sociologists support the idea that those who destroy buses, menace people and act as barbarians are a legitimate protest to the current establishment or "order of things". What we call "garantismo" is a well teach theory among some schools of law, sustaining the idea that barbarian attitudes must not be punished, as they are legitimate. This explains that the 30 or 40 detained persons have been released in hours.

As an argentinean, Shame to us! . We deserves all this mess.

What do you think the solution to this is Carlos?

I think the real problems in this country lie much deeper than just a few so called 'football fans' smashing up a bus.

Quote from UK Man

What do you think the solution to this is Carlos?

I think the real problems in this country lie much deeper than just a few so called 'football fans' smashing up a bus.

I agree that the real problem in this country lies much deeper, of course. But the first thing that I would suggest that, despite all fear of reactions, we must punish the barbarians. In this country, since the last dictatorship (1976-1983), the police and the Army has been degraded and considered the only evil that we have. And therefore, the respect for the Law has been neglected.

I would say, sadly, that democracy had not provided the country of the values that we had before Peron's era. A proof of this is the one sided punishment to the military which has made the repression, but the other ones, the guerrilla warfare leaders, are now free and also were well paid with indemnities. Perhaps you do not know that those people, during a Constitutional government (1973-1976) had attacked several military insititutions, killing many civilians as well, and nobody thought the they also deserved punishment. This is a fact that I know because at that time I was 30 years old, and saw all the atrocities that they made on innocent people.

When I was a student briefly living in England, football hooliganism was a big problem there. But I don’t recall any suggestions that organized crime was behind it. Here, people are saying last weekend’s events weren't simply the bad acts of individuals.

Football hooliganism in the UK was more a reflection of the gang culture at the time . It has almost disappeared as the game has become more gentrified.

But In Argentina , the Barras Bravas are controlled by local delinquents many of them in the illegal drug wholesaling business . Many club owners are genuinely scared of them and give them free tickets to keep them "controlled". I sometimes feel that the club owners are quite happy with this situation and have no real intention of getting rid of the Barras...

It is a cop out in one sense, yet the thugs who indulge in this kind of violence will be denied the opportunity to repeat their performance if the game is in Spain. The fans will be denied the chance to see the team in person, but perhaps paying this price could give the gangs pause next time? Or would the perpetrators and their backers have too much to lose if they are forced to give up that control?