Zifa, government to assist clubs in dealing with crowd trouble

Zimbabwe Football Association president Dr Philip Chiyangwa in commending Highlanders for its efforts to rid itself of crowd violence says policies will be put in place to assist clubs to deal with the scourge.

In a statement on the Association’s website Chiyangwa said of Highlanders:

They have done the best that they can to minimise hooliganism, violence and pitch invasion in the short term; and completely eradicate it in the long-term future. Violence and its frequency at Highlanders matches is not unique to this period. The occurrence of hooliganism and violence at matches involving Highlanders is now lesser compared to past years, however, we are now advocating for zero hooliganism tolerance, hence the stakeholders meeting we had with Minister Makhosini Hlongwane, to try and curb acts of violence, bearing in mind the limitations that Highlanders face. Highlanders uses the following to condemn and discourage violence:

Weekly press conferences
Road shows
Radio & Television campaigns;
Social media campaigns
Pamphlets &
Direct engagement with their fans

Their Acting Chairperson – Modern Ngwenya has represented Highlanders very well in all meetings; PSL, ZIFA and the Latest we had with Minister Makhosini Hlongwane. Ngwenya, ably assisted by his Chief Executive Officer, Nhlanhla Dube, articulated issues of concern that are causing violence at Barbourfields and we took them into account hence we resolved to assist in the following ways:

The government will come up with a policy that will ensure that we have adequate police details at no cost since clubs cannot hire requisite police details because of the prohibitive costs involved.
Clubs should hire an empty stadium; hence clubs should have full control of the following: advertising, kiosk or any food outlet, vendors etc.
Any referee who is deemed to have been bribed or does not do their job professionally will be suspended or banned forthwith
ZIFA will help clubs to deal with any political malcontents who use clubs to push their own vendettas.
Ensuring that all perpetrators of violence at stadia are arrested and charged.
A policy shall be formulated to make sure that football laws and the laws of the country are not at variance.
No alcoholic beverages or beverage containers of any kind will be allowed into the stadium
All football fans entering match venues must be in possession of acceptable form of identification (National ID, Passport or Driver’s licence)

Highlanders have had two matches end prematurely this season after fans reacted to what they deemed poor officiating.