By Sulayman Bah
Gambia has incurred a total D1, 259, 841.57 in football fines for crowd trouble beginning from 2007 Foroyaa Sport can reveal.
The West African nation yesterday got slapped with a latest fine by the world football governing body for crowd trouble.
The setback came after Scorpions fans pelted objects at the Gambian team over their first-leg defeat to Angola with a highly crictised defensive formation.
Gaffer Tom Saintfiet had to be sealed by riot police as fans aimed at the Belgian and his players in the aftermath of the game, our above picture shows.
Considering it was a World Cup preliminary qualifier, the matter reached FIFA disciplinary committee’s desk after the incident was featured in the match commissioner’s report.
This is not the first time Gambia is being slapped with fines after the first in 2007 between the Scorpions and Algeria during the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Gambia ended 2-1 winners in that duel but the narrow victory was later marred by off-the-pitch clashes among players in which Lamin Conateh (Babaye), Abdoulie Corr and Assan Jatta incurred suspensions for fighting with Algerian players in the tunnel.
In another recent downside, Gambia Football Federation were asked to pay a US$5,000 fine by the Confederation of African Football after fans threw ‘missiles’ on the pitch during what was a 0-0 draw with Mauritania in 2016.
These aforesaid fines total to US$25,000 including the 10,000 CHF newest fine translating as D1, 259, 841.57 Gambian dalasis.
