Fans Excluded to Prevent Potential Ethnic Clash

As a result of a review of security between Football NSW, NSW Police and the Bonnyrigg White Eagles and Sydney United football clubs, the Round 8 NSW Premier League fixture on Sunday 26th April between Bonnyrigg White Eagles and Sydney United is to be closed to the general public and media.

NSW Police had expressed concerns over public safety and order issues likely to result from clashes between rival fans â the Bonnyrigg club being predominantly supported by fans from Serbian backgrounds, while Sydney United are predominantly backed by fans of Croatian origin.

The Australian Open tennis has seen fighting erupting among rival fans of Croatian and Serbian origin in recent years while the 2005 game between Bonnyrigg White Eagles and Sydney United was also marked by crowd disturbances.

With this weekend's game between the clubs marking only their third meeting in 25 years (both teams having competed in different leagues during this time), Football NSW was also keen to avoid negative media scrutiny, felling that the incidents surrounding the 2005 game were sensationalised in mainstream media.

In addition to players and officials, the game will only be open to accredited members of the Bonnyrigg White Eagles Football Club and private box holders - a total of around 250 individuals.

Media groups have also been restricted access to the game, with a match report and photographs of the game to be made available through Football NSW.

The corresponding Round 19 clash between these two clubs at Sydney United Sports Centre will also follow similar guidelines set in place during this fixture.

Explaining the decision to exclude fans from the fixture, Football NSW Media Manager, Mark Stavroulakis stated "excluding fans was a difficult decision to make but we feel that Football NSW and the clubs have done the right thing in heeding the advice received from the Police."

Stavroulakis added that "the image of our game can only be enhanced by this action, a situation underlined by the fact that both clubs will loose income from this decision."