Friendly abandoned due to ugly scenes in crowd
A FOOTBALL match in England was abandoned yesterday amid crowd trouble.
English Premier League team Burnley had been playing German club Hannover 96 at their Turf Moor stadium in a pre-season friendly.
But the fixture was anything but friendly and had to be abandoned at half-time on police advice.
The first half had seen trouble break out among the section of fans supporting the German club.
According to reports, seats at the stadium were ripped up and thrown, with the visiting fans surging and taunting Burnley fans in the Cricket Field Stand.
Burnley had taken the lead in the first half, with Ben Mee firing the Premier League side ahead. But the match continued to be blighted by outbursts of trouble.
At half-time, police tried to restore order as stewards moved the Burnley fans out of the Cricket Field End.
However, when the players did not emerge for the second half it became clear the game was in danger of being put off.
Te n minutes later it was announced the match had been abandoned.
Officials said it was due to the “extreme risk” to the safety of supporters.
After the game was abandoned, Burnley manager Sean Dyche said he felt the right decision had been made.
He reportedly said: “We went on police advice.
“The referee came to see me and said he wanted us in the room just to get a feel for our general thoughts.
“I made it clear. It comes down to safety. The police decided to call it off and we support that. “We understand that. “It’s important what the team do, but it’s not as important as people coming to a football match. You want safety.
“It’s a shame what has happened but it’s done, it’s as simple as that.”
Fans took to social media last night to express their disgust.
Sebastian Schmidt wrote on the official Burnely FC Facebook page: “As a supporter of Hannover 96, I can only apologise for those idiots today in your home stadium.
“Only a minority of us behave like this. I hope nobody has been seriously injured. “
It’s not the first pre-season friendly to descend into chaos this year. Last week, Celtic travelled to Sunderland for a friendly match and trouble flared.