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Mamelodi Sundowns have laid criminal charges against Orlando Pirates in the aftermath of the scuffles that occurred before and during their epic Absa Premiership encounter at Loftus Versfeld Stadium last weekend.
“A police case has been opened against Pirates at the Sunnyside police station [in Pretoria] for damage to property and one for assault on a security officer,” Sundowns’ acting general manager Yogesh Singh told City Press on Friday.
In addition, said Singh, the defending league champions had written to the PSL to register a complaint against Pirates, who he accused of bullying.
The league has not yet responded.
He had a go at match commissioner Mark Lindon whom Singh accused of “allowing Pirates to have their own way in our stadium”.
“Pirates broke the emergency gate and forced their bus into a space where they were not allowed to park.
“Second, they used another dressing room other than the one we had allocated them, which the match commissioner had already inspected and approved.
“We don’t do this when we go to Orlando Stadium [Pirates home ground].
“We sent the letter to the PSL before we even saw the match commissioner’s report.
“Sundowns won’t be bullied by any team in the league – we won’t stand for that,” charged Singh.
He said he was not happy with Lindon’s match report.
“Not everything was noted but I’ll respond to his report on Monday [tomorrow].”
Pirates’ senior administrator, Floyd Mbele, said the club was not aware of any action being taken against them.
“The league will summon us if we have a case to answer,” he said.
“Certainly we are not aware that there is action that has been taken [but] we’ve got our own record of what transpired [last Saturday],” he said.
The PSL, through its spokesperson, Lux September, said they would be guided by the match report but only the prosecutor of the league, Nande Becker, could summon law breakers to answer to any wrongdoing.
The PSL announced late on Sunday that the fan who invaded the pitch had been arrested.
It has since emerged that the 30-year-old man was released on a warning.
The unidentified hot-headed fan – who was dressed in full Sundowns regalia – accosted Pirates’ assistant coach Rulani Mokwena on the Bucs’ bench towards the half-time break.
This led to play being suspended for a few minutes when all hell broke loose between the two opposing benches, with security personnel trying to separate the two camps.
Mokwena is a former member of the Sundowns’ technical team.
Apart from this incident and that of the Pirates’ bus, other separate incidents raised some security concerns, for example, fans who arrived late jumping into unoccupied private suites.
Hapless private security could only watch.
They received back-up from the police only after the pitch invasion incident and towards the end of the first half.
The nasty events from last Saturday were captured on camera and went viral on social media platforms.
A video account of the fracas was posted on Pirates’ official Twitter site. It is taken on their arrival just after 1pm and shows the club’s security and some team members having a go at one another.
Meanwhile, police announced this week that nine people had been convicted of public violence for rioting at the Nedbank Cup semifinal between Kaizer Chiefs and Free State Stars at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban in April.
The group will be sentenced on December 12, police said.
