Spanish soccer was left in a state of shock on Wednesday after an upsurge in crowd violence left one supporter dead and forced a second match to be abandoned.

A file photo of Kompostela's San Lazaro stadium.

A 31-year-old Deportivo Coruna fan Manuel Rios Suarez, died as a result of injuries sustained in violence after his side's 1-0 King's Cup victory at Santiago Compostela on Tuesday evening.

 In a later tie at Castellon's Castalia stadium referee Jesus Tellez Sanchez suspended his match when he was hit on the head by a mobile phone battery thrown from the crowd after he had awarded a penalty to visiting side Valencia.

 The two incidents came just days after television pictures showed a man attempting to stab rival fans at the fourth division match between Langreo and Real Oviedo.

 Spanish football has been plagued by a rising tide of violence in recent seasons and the throwing of projectiles, brawls between rival fans, pitch invasions and confrontations with the police have become a common occurrence at matches.

 Last year both the Spanish government and the Football Federation promised that they would crack down on football-related violence, but as yet there have been few concrete measures to deal with the problem.

 The last such tragedy in Spanish football occurred five years ago when Real Sociedad fan Aitor Zabaleta was stabbed in the heart by a member of Atletico Madrid's radical group of supporters prior to the UEFA Cup tie between the two sides in the Spanish capital.

 Spanish media lamented the state of what is universally referred to as "el deporte rey" (the king of sports) in their reports on Tuesday evening's incidents.

 GRIM SPECTACLE

 "Horror" was the banner headline on the front page of sports daily As, while Marca commented "what should have been a night of celebration was converted into a grim spectacle because of savage aggression and the actions of a madman at Castalia."

 Deportivo president Augusto Cesar Lendoiro voiced the sentiments of many of those in the game with his comments on hearing of the fan's death.

 "Maybe we in the world of football haven't yet come to realise that none of this makes any sense," he told reporters. "There is no earthly reason for things like this to happen.

 "What should have been a celebration for two Galician football teams ended with the death of a person and the destruction of a family."

 There was similar indignation from those involved in the match at Castellon in which referee Tellez Sanchez was attacked before calling the game off seven minutes from time with the score at 1-1.

 Castellon midfielder Miguel said the incident had overshadowed his team's performance and that he was ashamed by what had happened.

 "We have got some great supporters, but these madmen don't represent the true fans," he told reporters.

 "We have to make sure these people aren't allowed back in the stadium. Given the way we played we probably deserved to win the game, but given what happened to the referee we deserved to lose."

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