FA Johor to tighten inspection at stadium

The FA of Johor will be tightening inspection at entry points in stadiums in Johor to weed out spectators using fake tickets.

Its president Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim said this had to be done to avoid a situation like what happened at the Tan Sri Hassan Yunos Stadium in Larkin during the match between Johor Darul Takzim (JDT) and Kelantan on Wednesday when the number of spectators exceeded the stadium's capacity.

"We will be firm in this, if their tickets do not bear serial numbers, it means they are fake," he told reporters here today.

He said the association was leaving it to the police to investigate the sale of fake tickets and would also enlist their help to have police personnel present at ticket sale counters and stadium gates to nip the problem.

Elaborating further, Tunku Ismail said initial findings indicated the number of Kelantan fans in the Wednesday match had far exceeded the quota permitted as only 100 tickets had been made available for Kelantan supporters.

This had caused the start of the match to be delayed by 40 minutes as an overlap in seating of fans of the two sides had to be sorted out to avoid untoward incidents, he said, adding that 800 policemen and Rela members were deployed that night to ensure the safety of spectators.

He added that the association was prepared to be sanctioned by the FA of Malaysia (FAM) over what happened at the stadium (on the night of the JDT- Kelantan match).

FAM secretary-general Datuk Azzuddin Ahmad yesterday was reported to have said that FAM was waiting for the match report to decide on its next course of action on the turn of events in that match.

On another matter, Tunku Ismail was all praise for newly-appointed Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin over the latter's stance to come down hard on those involved in match-fixing.

He said in this respect, the FA of Johor was the first state FA in the country to set up an Integrity Committee to tackle the scourge.

"Win or lose is secondary as long as our players do not get involved in this scourge," he said.