Organisers clarify stone-throwing incident

By ROBINSON LEKA
THE Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Champions League group A Local Organising Committee clarified that a stone-throwing incident during the opening round in Port Moresby was caused by people from outside the Sir John Guise Stadium and not spectators inside.

Sunday’s match between Hekari United and Eastern Suburbs saw stones thrown at referee Veer Singh and his assistants following a decision made on a penalty awarded to Hekari.
The disruption led to Singh halting the game to report the incident to the technical officials on the ground before resuming the game. LOC official Paul Isorua told The National that incident was isolated and was not caused by from fans within the stadium.
“The stones were thrown from outside of the fence where there were people,” he said.
“Otherwise, the crowd in attendance was well behaved and this is not the type of behaviour you will see from football fans in PNG.
“Our fans can get rowdy at times but it’s mostly through shouting.
“This is not only in PNG but everywhere.
“We will still take precautions and LOC will step up security and focus on that.
“Police will be at the games.”
Isorua said apart from Sunday’s incident, there were no other disturbances or problems at the stadium.