Terengganu fans turn violent, LionXII players and fans stranded for 5 hours at stadium

Terengganu fans turn violent, LionXII players and fans stranded for 5 hours at stadium

SINGAPORE - LionsXII players and their fans from Singapore were stranded for five hours on Saturday after Terengganu fans turned violent over their team's failure to qualify on Saturday for the Malaysian FA Cup final.

According to Bernama about 15,000 rioting Terengganu fans broke glass doors at the stadium and burned an ambulance stationed at the stadium compound. The fans also hurled stones at Terengganu Chief Minister Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman's car outside the stadium.

The Singapore side had won the match on an away-goals advantage after both teams were tied 4-4 to advance to the final.

Updates from the Exclusive Singapore Lions XII Facebook page revealed that two buses transporting Lions XII supporters were damaged after fans threw stones at them.

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The Straits Times reported that Terengannu fans were said to have turned violent because they were unhappy with referee Mohd Amirul Izwan Yaacob's decision to disallow their team's fourth goal by Ahmad Nordin Alias in the 89th minute after he was found to be offside.

Stadium authorities called in Malaysian riot control police, who released tear gas to disperse the rioting fans.

All players and fans were eventually escorted by Malaysian police to their hotel around 4am on Sunday morning.

Channel NewsAsia reported that police chief, ACP Idris Abdul Rafar, declined to comment on the situation, but gave his assurance a full investigation would be carried out.

debwong@sph.com.sg

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