The Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Dr. Patrice Motsepe says they have ‘zero tolerance’ for some of the unsavoury scenes witnessed with spectators in the recent Champions League fixtures.
Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates received massive fines in excess of R1-million of the incidents in their quarter-final clashes against Esperance Sportive de Tunis and MC Alger respectively, with crowd violence and in the one fixture nearly leading to a supporter losing his life, as he hung off the edge the third tier of the stands, before a Masandawana fan came to his rescue.
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Meanwhile, in the Pirates, MCA, second leg encounter, the brawl erupted between the two sides and technical staff before a pitch invasion with sections of the crowd, where security also had run-ins with away supporters who were creating issues in the stands.
“To introduce governance and ethics that is non-negotiable, to say we will take action against you [in CAF is imperative], we will take serious action against you if we find you involved in improper, unethical or corruption, we take serious action,” Motsepe said after the launch of the AGL sponsorship for AFCON.
“I have to respect, the judicial bodies, the appeal board and disciplinary board and sometimes I think the penalties are not harsh enough. I don’t wanna mention any football clubs, but there was a lot of… including in South Africa where there were disturbances by the fans and that is bad.
“Every single club, all over the continent, we’re here to help you but we have to send a serious message that when people come to the stadium, it should be a place of safety, a place of enjoyment, not disturbances and uprising… One of the supporters almost fell down and lost their lives, we have zero tolerance for that…”
When probed about the the incidents and what will happen in future during a separate engagement with the media after the sponsorship annoucement, Motsepe says they are working and engaging with other Confederations around the world in order to figure out ways to make the space a more appealing environment for fans without fear of repeat incidents.
“We need to send a message to all football supporters and fans and spectators on the continent that there’s a deep commitment to make sure that going to the stadium is safe and healthy and there’s a huge engagement that is currently underway within CAF and also talking to other confederations to see what measures they have taken,” he said.
“In different parts of the worlds there have been huge incidents and I’m confident we’ll make progress and we need our young boys and girls and families, mothers and fathers to come to the stadium, knowing it’s a wonderful experience.
“It’s about developing communities, creating jobs and creating a future for our young people, so we’re keeping a focus on this [crowd issues].”
Sundowns and Pirates are in Cairo at present for their second leg semi-finals against Al Ahly and Pyramids respectively.
