Ban unsporting laser in sport venues: Kalusha Bwalya
Lazarus Sauti
Zambian soccer icon Kalusha Bwalya has urged clubs to educate their
supporters to practise the spirit of fair play by not bringing lasers to match
venues.
This comes after Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa had lasers shone
in his eyes when they played to a 1-1 draw with Esperance in a CAF Champions
League match in Tunisia recently.
Bwalya said, “I saw the incident, it is not fair for anybody to be
subjected to all those things by the fans who want their club to be in a
position of advantage.”
Use of lasers by supporters to distract opposing players is a violation of
human rights and sporting rules.
Bayern Munich’s Sports director Christian Nerlinger shares the same
sentiments and notes, “Laser points are not acceptable. It is a major
disturbance and an impossible thing to do.”
Accordingly, sports authorities should act very fast and ban unsporting
lasers in sports venues and because of this, Bwalya thinks it is the
responsibility of sports clubs to educate their fans about the dangers of using
lasers to distract other players.
He noted: “Personally, I think clubs must educate fans. Use of lasers is
not good for football. Therefore, football clubs must help us stop them from
coming to our stadiums.”
Sadly, the use of lasers to disturb opponents is not only happening in
Africa; it is also happening in Europe and other parts of the world.
This means policy decision makers in sports should join hands and fight
very hard to stop the use of lasers.
For this to be successful, clubs from different sporting codes should act
by ejecting patrons caught with lasers.
More so, they should ban these unscrupulous fans who point lasers at
players during games from future matches.
Furthermore, sport administrators should work with ground authorities to
identify any such behaviour, remove any offenders from venues and seek to have
them prosecuted.
To promote the spirit of fair play in sport, authorities should put lasers
on the list of banned items and religiously ensure that they are not allowed in
sports venues.
A tough stance is also needed to ensure that this sort of madness should
not be tolerated because the practice of directing laser beams at players is
incredibly dangerous.
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