Police investigating street celebrations after Hamrun beat Valletta in Premier League
The police are investigating spontaneous celebrations that erupted in the streets of Ħamrun as well as a club after the Spartans won a key Premier League match against Valletta FC which took place at the Hibs Stadium.
On Wednesday evening, videos of spontaneous gatherings were reported on social media, showing Ħamrun supporters celebrating and disregarding Covid-19 regulations in the streets and in a club.
The celebrations started after Hamrun Spartans won a game versus their Valletta rivals with a score of 3-0, which cemented their place at the top of the table. The team had not won a match against Valletta for a number of years and the last time it won the league championship was in 1991.
The videos show various supporters celebrating this victory without face masks or regard of social distancing regulations.
Speaking to this newsroom, the police said that they were informed about celebrations in Triq Schembri c/w Triq Mile End and officers from the Ħamrun Police District and the Rapid Intervention Unit immediately went on site to disperse the revellers.
“During these situations, the priority is always to ensure that any groups are separated as quickly as possible.”
The police noted most of the people were in their vehicles and as soon as the police arrived, they dispersed and left.
Further inspections continued in Triq il-Kbira San Ġużepp and any people that were celebrating in their cars were promptly removed and investigations on the matter are still ongoing.
Supporters’ association condemns behaviour but says situation could have been avoided if grounds were opened for supporters
In a statement on its Facebook page, the supporters’ association South End Core condemned these celebrations as they flout Covid-19 regulations.
However, it also noted that the situation could have been avoided if football grounds were open for supporters at limited capacity, comparing the open-air venues to outdoor political gatherings.
“If we had reopened the stadiums in a limited manner and had fans follow protocol, don’t you think there would have been less thirst and demand to celebrate in this manner?” it asked, adding that people would be gathered in an organised manner.
“What is the difference between people watching a game in an outdoor venue and people attending a political activity? What difference is there bet ween people sitting in an outdoor venue and people sitting in an enclosed space like theaters?”
The association put suggestions to reopen stadiums for supporters safely and avoid such celebrations from happening throughout the rest of the league, saying that the upcoming match between Malta and Russia on 24 March can be used as a pilot study.
A similar yet larger scale situation made headlines in the earlier stages of the pandemic in Malta last May when Floriana supporters gathered in a large group on the Granaries in Floriana to celebrated their win of the BOV Premier League championship after a vote in the MFA council confirmed the outcomes of the Maltese football league structure.
Following investigations the police charged four people for organising a banned activity while another 43 were fined for the breaching of social distancing rules.