MOSCOW, November 20 (R-Sport) - Fans wishing to attend Russian Premier League matches may have to produce their passport in new rules under consideration after a goalkeeper was injured by a flare thrown from the crowd.
League chief Sergei Pryadkin said he would ask the Russian FA to make the necessary rule changes after Dynamo Moscow stopper Anton Shunin received eye injuries in Saturday's match with Zenit St. Petersburg.
The incident led the referee to abandon play in the 36th minute.
"We want to change the article of the rules on ticket sales in the guest sector. The sale of tickets to RPL matches will be made with passports only," Pryadkin said.
It was unclear if the proposed amendment would also affect home fans.
Russian football suffers from poor attendances every week; some believe putting more obstacles in the way of getting to games will only serve as another disincentive on top of the bad weather and heavy policing.
A Zenit spokesman told R-Sport on Sunday that Dynamo should be handed a defeat by default for Saturday’s match because they had failed to ensure the players' safety, and there have been reports that non-Zenit fans were free to enter the away sector.
Dynamo defended their ticketing policy, saying that Zenit had asked for an extra allocation of seats for their fans and that only people registered as living in or near St. Petersburg were allowed into the sector, a policy Dynamo said both clubs had agreed.
Zenit’s claim to a win default is “absurd from the point of view of the laws of football,” Dynamo added.
The Russian FA is to rule on the issue Thursday.
Police have arrested a female fan they suspect of throwing the smoke bomb that injured Shunin.
