AFC Leopards chairman Dan Shikanda has defended the supporters of the team after their league tie against Kakamega Homeboyz was abandoned due to crowd trouble at Bukhungu Stadium on Sunday.
The volatile Kenyan Premier League encounter ended prematurely just 34 minutes from the off after fans invaded the pitch to protest a contentious call made by the referee.
All hell broke loose when Kakamega Homeboyz custodian Farouk Shikalo handled the ball outside the box and the ref waved play on instead of sending him for an early shower.
Police officers were forced to lob teargas to contain the ugly scenes where the enraged fans assaulted match officials.
Homeboyz had taken an early command of the proceedings through Hillary Otieno by the time the encounter was called off.
In an exclusive interview on Monday, Shikanda vindicated AFC Leopards fans and placed the blame squarely at the feet of" incompetent" match officials.
"Fifa rules are very clear. Any goalkeeper who handles the ball outside the area receives a straight red card. But in our case, the referee waved play on. Unless the rules have changed then the referee's decision was unfair and that is what got the fans annoyed," Shikanda said.
Shikanda also called out their hosts for failing to beef up security around the facility in line with the set rules.
"We can't take the blame for the chaos that erupted on the pitch. Any fixture involving AFC Leopards is a highly volatile match and the home team must ensure there is adequate security to keep rowdy fans at bay.
"I noticed that there were only eight policemen deployed to man the stadium although we were told more could have been in civilian clothes. A heavy presence of uniformed police officers is necessary to intimidate potential troublemakers. The number of officers deployed at Bukhungu was too small for a crowd of between 8,000 to 10,000 spectators."
Shikanda said the incident was spontaneous given the fans produced a knee-jerk reaction. He said their fans always accepted defeat in honour as long as the referees fairly handled the entire game.
"I acknowledge the fact that referees are human beings too but some decisions are out of hand. Both the referee and the linesman provoked the fans by making contentious calls. Where in the world going? Have you ever seen a linesman throwing stones at the fans?"
"Our fans traveled in 34 buses from Nairobi to go and support our team. There is no way we could have invested all that to go and have the match abandoned. We have no problem at all when we lose matches fairly. We were thoroughly beaten by Bidco United in Nairobi sometime back and our fans never caused any trouble."
