By Nodley Wright, Staff ReporterVIOLENCE brought an ugly and premature close to the Jackie Bell Knockout semi-final between Arnett Gardens and Tivoli Gardens at the Harbour View Mini-Stadium yesterday.
Supporters of both teams traded missiles in the form of plastic drink bottles, glass bottles and stones which forced referee Clive Wright to halt the proceedings.
The game between the two teams from the People National Party (PNP) and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) strongholds of Arnett Gardens and Tivoli Gardens respectively was progressing smoothly until about the 55th minute.
Tivoli Gardens led 2-0 with goals from Dwayne Richards and Christopher Nicholas. At that time missiles, starting with what appeared to be a bag of water and then bottles, were thrown at Arnett Gardens captain Eugene Barnes who had gone to the touchline to retrieve the ball.
Supporters of Arnett Gardens who were sitting in a separate stand behind the Arnett Gardens' goal responded with similar missiles. The mayhem continued for at least 15 minutes with both sides pelting each other while others fans ran for cover. Police tried to keep the groups apart but not even the discharging of shots in the air quelled the situation.
Players from both teams stood together conversing as they watched in disbelief. Members of parliament for the constituencies in which both teams fall, Dr Omar Davies and opposition leader Edward Seaga, who were sitting together during the game could not save the day.
When the violence ceased, the Arnett Gardens' team bus had two tyres punctured and the car of a Tivoli Gardens' supporter was battered.
"The game itself is irrelevant to what the incident means," said Dr. Davies when it became clear that the game would not be resumed.
"I thought we were on our way back. In fact, just today I was with Mr. Seaga talking about the next match which should be hosted by us," added Dr. Davies referring to the last National Premier League (NPL) match which had to be played at Up Park Camp without spectators.
"There is no problem between the teams or the management. It is just an unfortunate development and I am not worried about the game. What I am worried about is what it means in trying to heal this unnecessary rift between both communities," said Dr. Davies.
Mr. Seaga was also saddened by the incident but blamed KSAFA for what happened.
"I have to blame the authorities because we told them that the situation was such that the tensions are still there and that we should not have crowds present," Mr. Seaga said.
"This time I was shocked to hear that they wanted to play at Constant Spring which would have been worse than this because it is a small, cramped stadium there," he continued.
Seaga said that he wrote a letter objecting to the game being played at Constant Spring and a subsequent compromise was reached as he felt it was a bigger venue and that the opposing spectators would have kept away from each other.
"We did what we had to do. I can't make the decision for them. It is very, very unfortunate. We came here to play football. It was a good game of football. The players are all getting along together, Dr. Davies sat with me. It only takes one person to throw one box to start this whole thing. That is the kind of tension that exists," Seaga said.
KSAFA president Richard Nathan refused to have the blame passed to his association. "The Harbour View venue was not forced upon anybody," said Nathan.
"We initially wanted the match postponed so we could have all the things we wanted put in place but both teams wanted to get the match out of the way as they said they had crucial NPL fixtures over the weekend," said Nathan.
Meanwhile, in the other semi-final, Waterhouse came from a goal down to defeat Duhaney Park 2-1.
After a goalless first half, Jomo Gordon scored to give the embattled Duhaney Park hopes of a victory only to have them dashed by a double strike from midfielder Damion Williams.
RESULTS
Tivoli Gardens 2 Arnett Gardens 0 - match abandoned
Waterhouse 2 Duhaney Park 1
