Rematch not set yet
The National, Wednesday April 9th, 2014
By HENRY MORABANG
THE National Soccer League management has denied issuing any statement regarding the replay of the abandoned match between host Admiralty and Lae at Bisini Soccer ground last Saturday.
NSL manager Chris Brown said neither his office nor the NSL board had made any decision for a midweek replay in Lae as stated in the media this week.
“It’s a subject for the board to decide on. Whether the match is played at a later date or mid-week is up to the board,” Brown said.
The match between Admiralty and Lae ended prematurely after stone-throwing incident between softball and soccer fans.
Brown said a decision on the aborted match would be made in due course by the NSL management and until then matches would continue as per the schedule for this weekend.
Meanwhile, the PNG Softball Federation has condemned the actions of those involved in the stone-throwing incident.
Vice-president Ralp Tarasomo said from the federation’s perspective, the incident had brought negative publicity for the code.
He said this kind of behaviour was rare with fans from the two codes.
He said it was unfortunate that this one instant had tarnished the reputation of both codes.
Tarasomo, an experienced sports administrator, said they would investigate the incident to find out if the violence was started by softball players or drunk fans.
He said he doubted it was any of the players and would have been fans “enjoying their drink”.
A fan who wanted to remain anonymous called on the softball hierarcy to be responsible for their actions.
“If they are trying to protect their image, and why did they allow the people to bring alcohol into the sporting venues and drink in front of kids,” he said.