Nkana fan’s beating of coach Chabinga unaccepted
Dear Editor,
NKANA Football Club is one of the club’s in the super division. The team is the current premier league champion and it is known to have the most notorious soccer fans in the country.
The Nkana soccer fans are known to resort to hooliganism in an event of their team losing a game be it at home or away. This kind of hooliganism exhibited by the soccer fans is unacceptable. It kills the purpose of unifying people through sport, particularly football.
One of the Nkana soccer fans last Wednesday jumped the wall fence of Nkoloma Stadium to attack coach Manfred Chabinga. Nkana were then trailing 3-0 in the match against the Zambia Army sponsored outfit, Green. The game ended 5-0 in favour of Buffaloes.
Manfred Chabinga was at the receiving end as the soccer fan unleashed punches on the former. To avoid being outdone, coach Chabinga retaliated and it became a punch for punch affair. The Nkana coach was later red carded for the physical confrontation with the rowdy fan. The soccer fan demanded that coach Chabinga leave the technical bench.
The Nkana soccer fans will never change their behaviour as they were banned from watching the match at the stadium a few years ago. Worse still, the disciplinary action taken against Nkana for the fans’ uncouth behaviour seems not to be too harsh to deter them from being violent.
As though this was ot bad enough, the Nkana fans beat up a referee after a premier league game and they accused the referee of bad officiating against their club. The Nkana fans have not been spared from trading punches with their rival soccer fans.
However, any form of violence by the soccer fans during and after the match is a serious offence which attracts penalty which can be in the form of fine or banning by the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ), the local soccer governing body.
In conclusion, the bad behaviour exhibited by the soccer fan who turned physical on coach Chabinga to vent his anger on the latter is uncalled for. In view of the unbecoming behaviour by the soccer fan, the appropriate action must be taken to deter the would-be offenders.