adminTHE Premier Soccer League (PSL) has strongly condemned acts of hooliganism at match venues and the behaviour of a faction of supporters at some fixtures.
PSL acting chief executive Mato Madlala said the league is concerned about sporadic acts of hooliganism resulting in violence at Premier Division fixtures.
Madlala said the PSL continues to work closely with the South African Police Service to uproot this unsavoury behaviour at PSL matches.
“We have noted acts of hooliganism from a faction of supporters and this is very concerning to us as the League. We strongly condemn this behaviour. It’s unacceptable and we don’t need this in our football.
“We’ve worked very hard as the League to ensure that we eliminate incidents of this nature at our matches in the past, but recently we have witnessed a few cases where a small faction of supporters have not behaved well,” the Golden Arrows’ boss commented.
The statement comes in the wake of the clashes between supporters of visiting Bloemfontein Celtic and Orlando Pirates on Saturday at the Orlando Stadium.
Towards the end of the match, which Pirates won 1-0, the fans started clashing and missiles were thrown onto the field.
“Football is a family sport and families must feel safe to come to our stadiums and watch the game. As part of our working relationship with the SAPS, we have seen hooligans being arrested, charged and convicted following similar incidents.
“We will continue to work hard to ensure the safety of our fans and to protect our brand against this faction of supporters that is letting football down,” Madlala concluded. — SuperSport
derick.khumalo