Saturday, 2 April 2016 | MYT 8:40 PM
Not again! Unruly fans bring shame at FA Cup quarters
BY T. AVINESHWARANTHE STAR
Perak's Vokhid Shodiev (right) fight for the ball with Kuala Lumpur's Leonardo Moriera during FA Cup quarter-finals (2nd leg) match between Kuala Lumpur and Perak at Selayang Stadium in Kuala Lumpur. FAIHAN GHANI/The Star.
IPOH: The ugly side of Malaysian football has resurfaced.
On Friday, two fans were hurt after the FA Cup quarter-finals, return-leg match between Perak and Kuala Lumpur at the Selayang Municipal Council Stadium.
Despite repeated warnings and punishments meted out by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), there are still those bent on bringing shame and disrepute to the game.
Perak team manager Datuk Shahrul Zaman Yahaya feels that the national body should call off the whole thing because of the increase in the number of hooliganism cases.
“I have come to a point where I feel that it may be better to ask FAM to cancel the Super League and Premier League. Is it worthwhile if a sports event that is meant to instil sportsmanship and unity is turned into a battlefield?
“Looks like there is no end to this phenomenon because, in the end, all they want is to exact revenge on each other,” said Shahrul in a press statement on Saturday.
Two-time winners Perak qualified for the semi-finals after defeating the City side 2-0 on aggregate.
The return-leg match was marred by off-field incidents after the final whistle. It was believed that unruly fans had thrown stones from outside the stadium into the stands.
Shahrul believes that the bad blood between the two sets of supporters sparked off the violence.
Fireworks and explosion were heard near the away team fans’ section a few minutes before the match ended.
Shahrul claimed that the fans bore grudges and there was a fierce rivalry at almost all the venues during match days.
“The question is ... is this our culture?” he said.
It was only last month that the Perak FA were handed a suspended one-match empty stadium ban and fined RM25,000 for crowd trouble outside the Perak Stadium in Ipoh after a 1-0 Super League loss to Selangor on Feb 16.
Last year, the FAM disciplinary committee fined the Perak FA RM140,000 and ordered their team to play four Super League home matches behind closed doors because of fan disturbance.
