Dark day for local football

Source

For the first time, S-League match is abandoned before kick-off after rival players fight

by Philip Goh Haw Hann

May 24, 2011

SINGAPORE - Eight months after the Young Lions and Beijing Guoan turned their football match into a brawl, another two S-League clubs have dragged the game into the gutter after disgraceful scenes at Hougang Stadium last night.

In an unprecedented move, match officials were forced to abandon the tie between hosts Hougang United and defending champions Etoile FC even before kick-off, after players from both teams started fighting during the warm-up session.

While details were sketchy, witnesses MediaCorp spoke to said the action resembled a gang fight, with players chasing each other and some rushing onto the terraces.

They said Etoile players rushed to the Hougang side of the pitch after words were exchanged between a player each from the two teams over a ball kicked accidently kicked into the Hougang warm-up area.

A scuffle then broke out between the players, which one witness said lasted as long as eight minutes.

New Hougang Member of Parliament Yaw Shin Leong was in the stands.

A Hougang player had to be restrained from swinging a chair at one of his opponents, said another witness.

With training cones and footballs still on the pitch, the players were instructed to go to their respective dressing rooms.

After consulting the teams and the referee, match commissioner A Raamasamy called off the game.

Football Association of Singapore deputy director (marketing and competitions) Ridzal Saat said: "We do not condone any sort of violence, more so anything that is pre-match. We will conduct a full investigation to find out what actually happened. This is something we do not want in our game and, following investigations, any guilty parties, if there are, will be severely dealt with."

This is the first instance since the S-League was inaugurated in 1996 that a match has been abandoned prior to kick-off due to disciplinary issues.

It comes eight-and-a-half months after the fight between players from the Young Lions and Beijing Guoan last season, which resulted in a total of 16 players (six from the Young Lions and 10 from Beijing Guoan) being banned between four and 12 months, or fined.

Observers said last night's fracas could well have been a spillover from a previous altercation at Queenstown Stadium on March 7, when the teams met in the S-League for the first time this season.

According to a report on a Hougang fansite, a "mini-brawl" had broken out after the match, which Etoile won 4-2.

The S-League did not take action then as the clubs dealt with the matter internally.

When contacted last night, Bill Ng, chairman of Hougang United FC, said: "I will conduct a full investigation on our side and cooperate with the FAS fully. I do not tolerate violence and, if any of our players are at fault, we will take strong disciplinary action and will not even hesitate to drop them from our squad.

"The incident today is a pity because we had a good crowd, about 2,000, who wanted to watch a good game."