Chennai: With a sizeable number of people from Northeast residing in Chennai, clashes between Chennaiyin FC and North East United attract a large fan contingent at the Nehru stadium. During one such high-intensity clash between Chennaiyin and Highlanders on Thursday which the home side won 3-0, a video has surfaced of a few of the spectators “teasing and harassing” a bunch of NEUFC fans of which some happen to be women.
The video posted on Twitter has drawn flak on social media and has been condemned by both team owners. North East United owner and Bollywood actor John Abraham slammed the incident and said the team stood by the fan who was “victimised”. “It’s deeply disturbing to me when sports becomes an unsafe or unharmonious place for anyone. Everything I have taken back from the sport has been only positive, from learning to play with people who are different, learning to take a loss with a sense of sportsmanship, winning with humility,” Abraham said.
“To the girl who was victimised by these insensitive and thoughtless people, ‘we stand with you and you will never feel alone you must’ve felt at that moment. I will personally meet you and make sure you are OK.” “To the ‘fans’ who troubled her, I’ll call you fake fans because I know that Abhishek or myself would never condone this behaviour from our own true fans. I will find you and make sure you are punished and apologise for your behaviour,” Abraham said.
“Chennaiyin FC has a very strict and firm policy against racism and any unbecoming behaviour in the stadium. The club strongly condemns any such act. We are looking into any such incidents and will take strong action against it,” Chennaiyin said in their official Twitter handle.
