Romanian League thread redux ~

So the last thing I wrote on the now deceased thread was about the fact that the Rapid Steaua derby had been called off after 74 minutes because someone threw something at the ref. The upshot of this was that although Rapid were 1-0 up when that happened, Steaua were awarded the match 3-0. The projectile(s) came from a part of the ground that should have had rapid fans in it, but these things aren't very heavily policed (in terms of who can buy tickets), so the theories are that (1) it was a Rapid fan (this one is believed by Steaua fans); (2) it was a Steaua fan in the Rapid end; or (3) it was someone who had been paid by Gigi Becali to stop the match if Steaua looked like losing (Rapid had just taken the lead when the incident happened). (The latter two are believed by everyone else.)

Some extra fall-out from the incident: Mircea Rednic has resigned as Rapid coach. A group of Rapid fans are calling for the rest of the season to be boycotted.

Last weekend, Steaua won away to FC Vaslui, whose president alleged after the game that his players had been paid by Becali to throw the match. Nothing will come of this either. The league seems as bent as a 9 lei note, frankly, and any interest I had had in it has more or less evaporated. There's still a chance that CFR Cluj will win (they won 2-1 away at Dinamo last weekend) but it seems certain to me that Steaua will win it by hook or by crook.

For what it's worth (after 26 matches)
CFR Cluj 59 pts
Steaua 56
Rapid 48
Dinamo, Urziceni, Timisoara 46

Posted by ad hoc 04-04-2008 Go to thread 

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