Senegal disqualified after a riot breaks out during football match

19 October, 2012

Disqualifying Senegal from the African Cup of Nations hasn't gone down very well with most football fans, but the harsh decision has been made to send a strong signal that no non-sense would be accepted when it comes to discipline.

SENEGAL HAS been disqualified from the African Cup of Nations after riots broke out during a match played between them and Ivory Coast. The action came after Senegal supporters set the stands on fire in anger, as they felt that their team, which was trailing 6-2 on the aggregate, wouldn't feature in the African Cup, scheduled from January 19- February 10 next year.

The game, being played at Dakar had to be called off in the 74th minute. It was an embarrassing moment for the national football team of Senegal, as their fans created ruckus by throwing chairs, firecrackers and bottles, etc.

There is mixed reaction among the Senegalese supporters about the disqualification. One such supporter, in this AFP video said, “When you consider the attitude of the supporters, I think disqualification is justified, because it is for the first time Senegal has played in their own country, where supporters have behaved in that way. I think there will be a penalty against the Senegal team as well.”

But not all the supporters were happy with the punishment, as another supporter said, “The Confederation of African football should not have disqualified Senegal. It would have had an impact if Senegal would have qualified for the African cup of Nations, but thank god, the disqualification stops in the African Cup of Nations 2013.”

But, this is not how supporters should take defeat, they should take defeat graciously, which the Senegal supporters failed to. Though, one has to give credit to Confederation of African football, who by their stance of disqualifying Senegal has showed that they are not going to take any non sense from anyone, when it comes to a football match. Discipline is a must for fans as well as football players.