THE HAGUE, 24/05/07 - Football federation KNVB no longer wants to host matches with Moroccan teams. A friendly between the Dutch national football team for players under 21 and Morocco got completely out of hand on Tuesday night.
The match in Tilburg was won by Morocco 2-0. After the final whistle, hundreds of Moroccan fans pulled down advertising hoardings, demolished the goal posts and threw plastic seats at stadium officials, resulting in a number of injuries. The match had already been halted twice in the first half when Moroccan supporters climbed over the fences around the pitch.
Following the disturbances, KNVB is considering banning matches with Morocco for the next five years. "Their supporters apparently cannot behave themselves," a spokesman said to public broadcaster NOS. "It is not the first time they have spoiled a Moroccan match in our country."
After the match, the centre of Tilburg was also vandalised. Twenty-five arrests were eventually made, according to the police.
The Party for Freedom (PVV) supports KNVB but proposes continuing 'friendlies' against Moroccan teams, but without Moroccan spectators. PVV has asked Home Affairs Minister Guusje ter Horst and Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin how it could happen that there were scarcely any police in Tilburg even though Moroccan fans in the past two years vandalised stadiums in Utrecht, Arnhem, Kerkrade and Amsterdam. __________________ People should not be afraid of their governments, Governments should be afraid of their people
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