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Soccer fans clash during Sunday match in Java heartland
Fans of PSIS Semarang and PSS Sleman were involved in fisticuffs that caused several minor injuries, during a heated match on Sunday that served to underline Indonesian soccer’s persistent problem with hooliganism.
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Medics tended to the injuries of soccer fans involved in a clash during the heated match between PSIS Semarang and PSS Sleman at Jatidiri Stadium, Semarang on April 2, 2023. (Courtesy of Tribunnews.com/Franciskus Ariel Setiaputra)
F
ans of Central Java soccer club PSIS Semarang and Yogyakarta’s PSS Sleman were involved in a violent clash with one another, causing several to sustain minor injuries, during a heated match on Sunday that served to underline Indonesian soccer’s persistent problem with hooliganism.
According to tribunnews.com, members of home side PSIS Semarang’s supporter group, SneX, were involved in fisticuffs with visiting fans of PSS Sleman during the break at half-time, when the match at Jatidiri Stadium was still tied at 2-2.
What started off as a battle of soccer anthems between the supporters of each club gradually turned heated; PSIS fans seated in the northern tribune and PSS fans in the eastern stands started throwing objects into each other’s seating sections.
Things then took a turn for the worse when PSS fans began climbing over the stadium guardrails and onto the other stands, resulting in a physical clash with PSIS fans and a panicked rush in the audience fleeing the stadium.
The start of the second half of the match was temporarily postponed as a result of the clash, before the match was resumed and finally ending in a 5-2 win for the home team.
Several fans were reportedly injured and received medical assistance before being taken to a nearby hospital. No severe injuries or deaths were reported so far.
Sr. Comr. Basya Radyananda, head of the Central Java Police’s operations bureau, said the clash erupted as a result of a number of fans becoming too emotional. He said, however, that the incident did not descend into a full-blown riot.
