FC Groningen reports on its own website that they did not intervene in yesterday’s match against Ajax due to ‘the great chance of escalation’. Riots arose, but the club was afraid of mass brawls if they emptied the boxes. Yesterday, fireworks bombs were thrown onto the field and a ‘fan’ stormed the field with inflammatory texts.
The players had to go inside after just over five minutes yesterday because of fireworks. Dusan Tadic wanted to take a corner, after which smoke bombs were thrown on the field. Then a ‘fan’ also stormed the field.
When fireworks were thrown on the field again after the resumption, referee Jeroen Manschot decided to strike definitively in line with the new rules of the KNVB.
For security reasons, FC Groningen says that it was decided not to intervene. According to the club, the chance of escalation was far too great.
We understand all emotions. We have that too,” he says FC Groningen on their website. “Especially the images of the crying children made a deep impression. Visiting a football match in the stadium should just be fun.”
Traumatic
“The chance of escalation if intervention was enormous, resulting in a possible mass brawl – in which it was estimated that there would certainly be injuries in that case – and the images and memories, especially for children, would have been more traumatic than they are now. case.”
According to FC Groningen, ‘the conscious choice was therefore made to eventually allow the public to leave the stadium in a safe and organized manner’. “Against Ajax, a certain group had a preconceived plan to deliberately stop the match. That is unacceptable,” the club continues.
FC Groningen is still working on identifying the people who threw the fireworks bombs on the field. The club receives help from a special incident investigation team of the KNVB. The man who entered the field (see main photo of this article) was immediately identified and expelled from the stadium.
FC Groningen-Ajax continues without an audience
There are still 81 minutes on the clock in Groningen and no audience is allowed tomorrow. Those remaining minutes of FC Groningen against Ajax will be made up – in an empty stadium – at 3 p.m.