In Malawi, Thomson Mpinganjira, the president of Mighty Mukuru Wanderers club, has insisted on hiring the armed Police Mobile Force (PMF) to deal with unruly supporters.
Mpinganjira said this will only be done when his team is playing in Lilongwe, where he claimed supporters in the capital city have bad behavior.
“I am serious about this; any big match to be played in Lilongwe will have PMF officers. What I want is to deal with supporters who always believe in violence,” he said.
Last year, the Blantyre-based team’s players were attacked twice for poor performance.
The first time it happened was when they lost to their rivals, FCB Nyasa Big Bullets, in the FDH Bank Cup. The second time it happened, they lost 1-0 to league rookies Extreme FC.
During the incidents, supporters harassed the team’s captain, forcing him to kneel down and apologise for his poor performance.
“We may stop fans from entering the stadium” – Mpinganjira
Last season, Wanderers fans damaged seats at Bingu National Stadium. This was in protest as they felt dissatisfied with the officiating during their match against the Silver Strikers.
“Supporters in Blantyre were like this, but they stopped so this time around I need to know what it takes to punish Lilongwe-based supporters. If not, I will just ask match organizers that no Wanderers supporters should enter the stadium.
“It pains me to keep on paying huge sums of money on such cases; last year I spent millions paying for what supporters have done,” said Mpinganjira.
As if that wasn’t enough, three Wanderers supporters assaulted a journalist in Blantyre last week while he was filming their match against Kamuzu Barracks. The match ended with a 1-1 draw.
Misa Malawi has since urged authorities, including police and team officials, to deal with the supporters.
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