Parliament to consider summoning PSL to account for fans’ behaviour

The chairperson of the parliamentary portfolio committee on sport and recreation‚ Beauty Dlulane‚ is to propose on Tuesday that the Premier Soccer League be summoned to explain to the committee what it is doing to deal with incidents of hooliganism at stadiums.

Dlulane said the committee was disgusted by the conduct of fans at the game at the weekend between Kaizer Chiefs and Free State Stars who invaded the pitch and caused havoc.

She said the behaviour of the fans was totally unacceptable.

“We know as the committee that in each match there are plans before the match starts. Therefore‚ we would love to hear from the PSL what is it that is not correctly done now and then in those stadiums. As the chairperson‚ I am thinking that we need to call them [the PSL] to share with us what is going on…Tomorrow at 9.30am we are having our routine meeting but I will propose in the agenda that we must put this item. We cannot just fold our arms. One of our duties is to do oversight in whatever is related to sport. This is uncalled for‚” said Dlulane.

On Saturday‚ Kaizer Chief fans invaded the pitch after their team lost 2-0 against Free State Stars in the semi-final of the Nedbank Cup held at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.

The fans attacked security personnel‚ burned seats on the stands‚ damaged broadcasting equipment and tore apart anything they could get their hands on.

Kaizer Chiefs’ defeat meant that the club will go three seasons without a trophy‚ something which was too much to handle for Amakhosi fans. A number of people were injured during the mayhem. The scenes at the stadium were so ugly that coach Steve Komphela resigned on the same night.

This was not the first time Chiefs fans have behaved badly after a loss. Just two weeks ago‚ fans threw missiles at Komphela after their loss to Eastern Cape side Chippa United.

Dlulane said bad crowd behaviour was becoming a serious problem in South Africa.

“We cannot accept what happened at the stadium. We cannot say that these hooligans were right. People when they are going to the stadium‚ they go to watch the match. The fans [know that] it is either they win or they lose. There is no way that they can do such hooliganism and destroy property.

“This [violence] seems to be a norm to South Africans that those who are complaining for whatever – either service delivery or loss in a stadium – that they must burn and destroy property. I don’t know what went wrong with our people. It is a disgrace. I have never seen people behaving with no integrity like animals…It is really uncalled for‚” said Dlulane.