Brawling fans face a ban
Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:08
Spectators involved in an alcohol-fuelled brawl after the Manawatu Turbos' NPC win over Wellington, at Arena Manawatu at the weekend, could be banned from future games if they can be identified.
After replacement back Asaeli Tikoirotuma screamed away for an intercept try to seal the 36-24 win, Wellington and Manawatu fans engaged in a fight on the embankment side of the ground.
At one stage up to 20 people were involved and the ugly incident, which saw some participants suffer bloodied noses and cut lips and took place in front of young children.
Manawatu Rugby Chief Executive John Knowles was to view the footage today, because it wasn't available Sunday, but said certain individuals wouldn't be welcome again this season.
"If we can identify people, we will bring them in, and depending on the severity of it, we will ban them from future games," he told The Manawatu Standard.
"We certainly don't want to have that happening at our games."
In an e-mail to The Manawatu Standard, one patron said there was a lack of security to stop the melee.
"To my disbelief I still don't understand why only two security guards came over to sort it out while you could clearly see two to three more just standing in the infield watching," it read.
"I thought the game was great, but man was the security s..t! I feel for the families who were trapped in this massive outrage, which was caused by alcohol and supporters going too far."
Knowles admitted security had been downgraded recently from 50 guards to about 30, which he insisted was still more than enough because there had been no incidents at home games in recent seasons, except for two streakers last year.
"We've had no problems at all and that's why we thought: 'Hey, do we need to be spending that amount of money on security?'."
Four security guards had been drawn out of the stands to help nab pitch invaders who hurdled the fence to celebrate the win with the Turbos, which made it worse.
A review of the incident was to take place this morning and Knowles said security in that part of the ground could be increased if it was deemed necessary.
Police don't patrol the ground at games because they rely on the venues to have their own security, he said.
Manawatu Turbos Bucketheads co-founder Chris Long said his fan group wasn't to blame, and pointed the finger at another group of Manawatu supporters, who were in the bay next to them.
"I can honestly say it had nothing to do with us... no-one from our group got involved," he said. "It was pretty sickening."
Long said the catalyst for the brawl was a man being struck in the lip by a full beer can, which came from the Wellington supporters, while television footage also showed Wellington fans throwing yellow buckets at the Manawatu crowd.
Arena Manawatu venues manager David Walsh said he had not seen footage of the incident. "I can't comment on it because I haven't heard any reports or seen anything about it."
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