SHAH ALAM: Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has expressed his disappointment over the action of Malaysian football supporters who threw flares on the pitch during the match between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia at the Shah Alam Stadium last night.
Malaysia’s fourth 2018 World Cup and 2019 Asian Cup qualifying match was stopped in the 88th minute when Saudi Arabia were leading Malaysia 2-1.
Khairy in his Twitter account said he saw for himself the incident which humiliated Malaysia.
“I was at the Shah Alam Stadium . Saw for myself the shameful incident. Throwing flares is wrong. Stadium control failed.
“FAM (Football Association of Malaysia) lost control at their own stadium. Fans throwing flares is wrong. Both at fault tonight,” he said in his Twitter feed last night.
The match was stopped for 30 minutes while awaiting a decision by the championship secretariat.
Meanwhile, a Malaysian fan, Abdul Aziz Jaafar, 45, said he was disappointed with such wild actions of fans which caused the match to be stopped.
He said the people in charge of security at stadiums including FAM should be more sensitive on such matters.
“The situation is dangerous as firing flares and firecrackers may hit other spectators and the players from both sides.
“This is can endanger the safety of those not involved. What is even more disappointing is that security personnel on duty failed to keep the situation from getting out of hand,” he said. --BERNAMA