PSL needs to jack up crowd control measures

Incident at Orlando latest warning to officials to act against unruly supporters

I had the pleasure of going to Old Trafford to watch the Manchester derby in 2013, an experience one can never forget.

What caught my eye the most was how the supporters of both Manchester United and Manchester City did not cross paths before and after the game.

The only time I saw City supporters was inside the stadium, in their little corner that was allocated for the travelling contingent.

Knowing how intense a derby of that magnitude can be, security made sure to keep supporters apart.

City won the game 2-1, so you can imagine how the upset United fans would have reacted if they had bumped into travelling supporters outside the stadium celebrating a win.

Football is, after all, a game of emotions, so chaos would have certainly erupted if things were not so well organised.

I am aware that we are not in England, but the Premier Soccer League (PSL) can learn so much about how supporters need to be controlled at match venues to avoid incidents that we’ve seen from Orlando Pirates supporters at the weekend and in February.

What happened at Orlando Stadium on Sunday – when Sundowns supporter Johannes Maseko was beaten up so badly that he ended up in Baragwanath Hospital – is a disgrace and the culprits should be arrested.

If the PSL does not see this as a sign to act against supporters who are out of order, then our football is going to the dogs. People will get injured or die at the stadium.

Just look at how casually the case of Pirates supporters who vandalised and invaded Loftus Stadium in their side’s 6-0 defeat to Sundowns in February is being handled.

It’s actually embarrassing that, with visuals from that match, no one has been punished, fined or banned from going to the stadium.

Are we waiting for another Ellis Park disaster to happen before we can act swiftly and start putting action plans together? Speeches mean nothing if victims are no more.

While we wait on the disciplinary committee for an outcome from that match, Pirates should have dealt with the culprits from their side to send out a clear message to the perpetrators that unruly behaviour has no place in the beautiful game.

It’s their name that is being dragged through the mud.

Systems need to be put in place for supporters to be banned and for clubs to play behind closed doors if need be. Not all the supporters are culprits, but a lesson will be learnt.

The PSL really needs to wake up and realise that this is getting out of hand, because their reputation as a top league is on the line. If it continues, numbers will keep dropping at the stadium and we’ll keep wondering why