The Yambio Local Football Association (YLFA) on Sunday postponed a game between Napere and Kabas suburbs to Wednesday after unruly fans disrupted the game on Saturday in Yambio, Western Equatoria State.
The association’s deputy secretary, Olal Joseph, told Radio Tamazuj that the fans got enraged after the referee did not award a penalty and started throwing chairs in the air. One of the referees was injured in the melee.
“The intimation started when the center and side referees were far from the ball and the fans started saying there was a penalty. Then words were exchanged between the fans and referees and this was with two minutes left to the end of the game. According to the game articles, once there is misbehavior from the fans, then the game will be considered a 2-0 defeat for the team of the fans which disrupted the game,” he explained. “Those who were arrested are fans of Gangura because we have our security organs who tried to advise the fans who did not listen. That is why we took the case seriously because there were losses and very many chairs were broken. The detained fans will be responsible for the treatment of our referee who got injured.”
Olal added: “My advice to the rest of the teams is that they should sit and talk to their fans before coming to the field because any decision taken by officials of the match must be respected.”
He revealed that the football association has requested more security to protect the remaining games.
32 teams are participating in the Yambio Areas Tournament which was initiated by the state government and funded by the State Revenue Authority.