Peruvian Soccer Players Drug Opponents, Slip Them Tranquilizers

I’m really starting to wonder if there’s a translation for the word “sportsmanship” in South America.  A couple weeks back, we brought you a story about the president of Bolivia kneeing an opponent in the man zone during a friendly exhibition.  Today, we have a story from another soccer match in South America — this time in Peru — that may be even more messed up.

According to a report we read over at Deadspin, players from the Peruvian soccer club Sport Ancash drugged their opponents from Hijos de Acosvinchos prior to a match that was supposed to promote the top tier of soccer in Peru.  That’s right, I said drugged.

The story goes that Acosvinchos accepted what they thought to be a friendly gesture from the Sport Ancash coach prior to the game.  The coach gave the Acosvinchos players a drink — which was supposedly in a beaker yet they still drank it — and told them it was an energy drink.  Some of the players started going down like sacks of potatoes minutes later.  Turns out the drinks were the exact opposite of an energy drink and contained tranquilizers.

We hear about teams playing pranks on one another and little tid bits of unsportsmanlike behavior all the time, but doing something like that is inexcusable.  If someone had turned out to be allergic to whatever was in the drinks or hurt them self badly when they collapsed I doubt anyone would be laughing.  Deadspin has a video explaining the incident, for those of you who understand Espanol.

By the way, is it wrong if I start referring to this act as a “Peruvian roofie?” Yes? Fine, I won’t do that.