Sundowns pitch invaders face charges
THE PSL has kick-started the process of rooting out hooliganism by laying criminal charges against some of the soccer fans who invaded the pitch and damaged property at Dobsonville Stadium on Sunday.
League representatives and Mamelodi Sundowns officials laid five charges at the Dobsonville police station yesterday in the presence of the media.
This comes after some Sundowns supporters threw an assortment of missiles, damaged property and invaded the pitch after Moroka Swallows beat them 2-0.
Sundowns supporters have been repeatedly calling for the dismissal of coach Johan Neeskens, who has won only one match out of six in the league.
They want club president Patrice Motsepe to replace Neeskens with former Bafana Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane, who is also a former Sundowns player. Motsepe is reportedly in support of Neeskens and wants the coach to be given a chance to turn the fortunes of Sundowns around.
The five charges are malicious damage to property, entering a designated area illegally, throwing dangerous objects, failing to comply with directives from the police and engaging in delinquent behaviour.
Speaking after the charges were laid, PSL media officer Lux September said they decided to engage law enforcement agencies after meeting Sundowns on Tuesday.
"We had a meeting with Sundowns where we viewed the edited and unedited footage from the broadcasters of Sunday's game. We also got photos from print media people who were at the stadium. Sundowns were very helpful in terms in identifying some of the culprits.
"Everything was handed over to the police when we laid criminal charges. The law will take its course. We won't tolerate hooliganism at all," said September.
He added that they have appointed an internal security task team, which includes PSL general manager Derek Blanckensee and head of security Phillip Masimong, to investigate the growing trend of hooliganism. The team has been tasked to look into the throwing of missiles and invasion of pitches at various matches featuring Chiefs, Pirates and Sundowns.
The investigators will also come up with recommendations on how to end crowd violence.
Sundowns legal head Yugesh Singh, who was with Alex Shakoane at the police station, said: "We need to avoid what happened this past weekend."