Fiery fans cost Amakhosi a packet – again

THE poor form of Kaizer Chiefs has been a sore point with their fans and their latest show of riotous behaviour has cost the club R100 000 in fines imposed by the Premier Soccer League’s disciplinary committee.

PSL prosecutor Zola Majavu announced on Tuesday evening that Chiefs have copped punishment after their fans threw missiles at coach Molefi Ntseki.

The incident took place as Ntseki left the field at Mbombela Stadium after the 1-0 Premiership loss to TS Galaxy on August 20.

This was the second time in four months that angry Chiefs supporters hurled missiles at a coach.

In May, Arthur Zwane – now Ntseki’s assistant – was pelted with objects after Chiefs lost to SuperSport United in Rustenburg.

Mysteriously, Chiefs were let off because the PSL did not charge the club for yet another show of riotous behaviour by their fans.

When announcing Chiefs’ punishment this week, Majavu said: “I can confirm that the Kaizer Chiefs Football Club appeared before the PSL DC to answer two charges of misconduct relating to the missile-throwing incident, otherwise known as spectator misbehaviour, in their fixture against TS Galaxy.

“They pleaded guilty as charged, and they were subsequently convicted.

“After listening to the deliberations on sanction, the PSL DC ruled as follows: Kaizer Chiefs was fined a monetary amount of R100 000, of which R30 000 is suspended for 24 months on condition that during the period of suspension, they are not found guilty of the same offence.

“Effectively, they were directed to pay R70 000, together with the cost of the sitting (of the DC), which would be administratively completed by the league and added on to the R70 000 fine.

“They were further directed to send a written apology to the league and the sponsors, and to carry that apology on their website.

“The DC also made several recommendations, which would be contained in a written ruling.

“Those will be shared first with Kaizer Chiefs, and it will be up to Kaizer Chiefs to elect whether to implement them or not. And they will also have a choice to publicise those recommendations.”

In September last year, Chiefs were fined R200 000 following unrest caused by supporters at Danie Craven Stadium after their 4-3 penalty shoot-out victory over Stellenbosch in the MTN8 quarter-finals, with half of that amount suspended.

On that occasion, the DC found that the PSL did not have enough security on duty, and fans were able to invade the playing field.