Rollers, Gunners condemn violence
Boitumelo Khutsafalo | Wednesday March 23, 2016 13:53
A Rollers supporter allegedly irked Gunners fans when he left the stand allocated to his team and celebrated his side’s lead next to Gunners supporters.
He was apparently stabbed on the face. Gunners chairperson, Phenyo Gothaang said they do not condone such incidents at games. He however said while they did not condone such behaviour, Rollers supporters should have avoided such an incident as it could only be seen as provocation.
“We sat next to Mochudi Centre Chiefs supporters recently at the National Stadium and no such incidents occurred. We also sat with GU supporters and nothing was reported. I think Rollers supporters could have avoided such an incident. You cannot go and celebrate at another team’s stand because that could be seen as provocation,” he said.
Rollers spokesperson, Bafana Pheto also condemned the incident and blamed their supporters for not sticking to what was agreed. He said the Saturday event was sparked by some supporters failing to sit at their designated stands.
“We are currently at a stage where there is no tolerance in our country as far as our support for our teams is concerned. We just cannot sit next to each other without any clashes, especially if another team is winning,” he said.
He said Rollers were allocated the northern stand and their supporters should have stayed there rather than go and celebrate next to Gunners supporters. He said the root cause of most of the violence taking place at games could be alcohol. He said it should be investigated how alcohol still finds its way into the stadium after being banned years ago.
“Most of the people who do such things are under the influence of alcohol,” he said.
He said there were two categories of supporters; those who belong to branches and those who don’t.
“These ones hold meetings almost every week where they discuss challenges and any other issues affecting them including incidents like this one,” he said.
Pheto said such engagements help curb situations like the Saturday one unlike the other category of supporters who never get the chance to iron out such issues because they only go to the stadiums to watch games.