Silver strikers fans irk FAM
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) president Walter Nyamilandu has asked Silver Strikers to take stiff measures to discipline their supporters.
Nyamilandu was reacting to an incident on Saturday at Silver Stadium where a disgruntled supporter, who sat in the VIP Stand, threw a bottle at the Silver coaching panel.
This was during the ceremonial game between Silver Strikers and Blue Eagles to mark the launch of the K20 million (about $80 000) Standard Bank FAM Cup.
The supporter, identified as Buju, angrily flung the object at the bench following a lousy performance from the team.
Defending champions Blue Eagles beat Silver 1-0 to cart home K600 000 (about $2 400).
The incident did not go down well with Nyamilandu, who rushed to the supporter in anger and confronted him.
The verbal war that ensued between FAM president and some supporters lasted for about five minutes.
It took some high-profile people from the VIP Stand and security men to calm the situation.
“It was unfortunate because there was no issue for a supporter to complete the anger by disgracing everybody. We do not want to lose sponsorship because of hooliganism. We cannot tolerate indiscipline.
“We have trust that the Silver committee will sit down with its supporters to avoid this happening again. I talked to Silver chairperson after the game and he has assured me that he will discipline the supporter accordingly,†said Nyamilandu.
Sounding apologetic, Silver chairperson Dr MacDonald Mafuta-Mwale said the team will apologise to Nyamilandu and the sponsors.
“As Silver, we are tired of being in the papers because of bad behaviour from supporters. We have referred the issue to our internal disciplinary committee for action and we will write a formal letter to the FAM president and the sponsors to apologise for what happened.
“Our FAM president needs to be respected. Our supporters lacked respect for him. They were not supposed to exchange words with him,†said Mafuta-Mwale
This is the second time for Silver supporters to misbehave at their backyard this season. On June 3 2012, some supporters drenched in beer Azam Tigers coach Leo Mpulula after a game which Silver won 2-0.
