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Fans are all over the pitch after the police fired teargas during the FC Platinum-Highlanders match at Mandava Stadium in Zvishavane on Sunday.  Ngwenya(Watch video at www.chronicle.co.zw)

Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
HIGHLANDERS have again condemned acts of hooliganism at their matches and expressed concerns at what they called people masquerading as club supporters to dent Bosso’s image.

Speaking at a press conference held at the club’s offices yesterday following Sunday’s disturbances that led to police releasing tear gas at Mandava Stadium, acting chairman Modern Ngwenya said his club strongly condemns any form of violence.

He also blamed the police for failing to manage the few people responsible for throwing missiles onto the pitch and questioned if any arrests had been made at Mandava Stadium.

“As Highlanders FC, we follow the statutes and laws of football in the country. We follow the Fifa and Zifa statutes. We are subordinate to those bodies. We discourage any form of hooliganism or any act of violence. As a big club, we endeavour at all times to be a role model to other clubs that came after us,” said Ngwenya.

“The game at Mandava was about to end, just some seconds before the final whistle, and skirmishes that were happening outside were dealt with inside the stadium. Instead of dealing with the perpetrators outside the stadium they (police) decided to throw tear gas onto the stand which had been cleared. The game was about to start and the police overreacted by throwing teargas onto the field of play.

“We’ve had skirmishes before at Mandava Stadium, but never before have we had such overreaction from police throwing tear gas onto the field of play. I think there are some better methods of dealing with crowd trouble than that,” Ngwenya said.

The police fired tear smoke at the fans deep into the referee’s optional time causing the abandonment of the match with the two teams deadlocked one-all.

All hell broke loose after the home side equalised from a penalty converted by goalkeeper Petros Mhari triggering some Bosso fans to throw plastic bottles onto the pitch forcing second assistant referee Evans Chabataberi to abandon the touch line for the centre circle.

In the ensuing melee, police unleashed volleys of tear smoke into the crowd triggering a stampede as Bosso fans headed for the exit.

Mhari’s well taken spot kick levelled matters after Bosso had taken a 77th minute lead through a brilliant goal by Tendai Ngulube that was struck with clinical precision from an equally marvellous pass from Simon Munawa.

Ngwenya appealed to football stakeholders to come on board to deal with the issue of violence at stadia.

He questioned police’s wisdom in setting off tear gas when players and other match officials were still on the field.

“It’s unfair for everyone to start blaming Highlanders for what is happening when we’re not in control of some of the issues. Some of the issues are very clear and one good example is the game against FC Platinum where the game was stopped after police threw tear gas onto the field of play that had players and officials inside. I think that basic evacuation process demands that fans, players and referees are safe first before you use tear gas.

“I feel there was some heavy handedness on the part of the police. They should have dealt with the crowd outside, not inside the pitch where there were players. Instead of protecting players, they endangered them. When it comes to what happened at Mandava, we are very disappointed as the Highlanders family” said Ngwenya.

He said the club’s argument on dealing with hooliganism is not a blame game, adding that a collective effort is needed to fish out people masquerading as soccer supporters, while their intentions are to tarnish the image of the game.

Ngwenya also took a swipe at people abusing the Highlanders’ brand by causing skirmishes.

“I just want to take this opportunity to appeal to our supporters, those that love football and those that are bent on soiling our name as Highlanders to desist from acts of violence or hooliganism because it’s affecting us as a club. We are a club that respects the statutes of the game and it should remain that way.

“We want to encourage all football lovers to respect the referees’ decisions whether right or wrong,” Ngwenya said.

@ZililoR