March 4 – Poland’s Ekstraklasa has said that its disciplinary committee will meet this week following fan violence last Sunday at the match between Legia Warsaw and Jagiellonia Bialystok. The match was abandoned after 45 minutes.
“There will be no tolerance for such behaviour (fan violence), which concludes with the match being abandoned,” said Marcin Animucki, a vice president of Poland’s top league, the Ekstraklasa.
Last Sunday was the 24th round of league matches in the Ekstraklasa. The match in question was suspended after 45 minutes by the Warsaw Bureau for Security and Crisis Management. “In Poland we have several million fans who support the Ekstraklasa and their favourite clubs every weekend. This season we have only had severe incidents in Bydgoszcz. In 2013 in 288 matches we only had four where there were marked serious security interruptions ,” said Animucki.
Trouble reportedly began when Legia Warsaw fans held up stolen Jagiellonia banners in an effort to provoke their rivals. A group of orange and yellow wearing Jagiellonia fans gathered at the metal fence dividing the enclosures to vent their anger back.
With Legia Warsaw’s stewards fleeing the scene the Legia fans tore down the metal fence and stormed the Jagiellonia section attacking the fans. After about four minutes of mayhem where the Legia fans clearly had the upperhand, riot police stormed in and restored order.
Footage of the scenes was shot by other fans on phone cameras and later posted on Youtube.
An Ekstraklasa statement said that its disciplinary committee will meet Wednesday to “make decisions regarding disciplinary sanctions and the result of the suspended match”.
Legia currently lead the 16-team league by 5 points and have a game in hand, Jagiellonia are 9th, 19 points behind Legia.
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