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Western Sydney Wanderers Fans Accused Of Trashing 20 Adelaide Oval Seats At The A-League Grand Final

Adelaide Oval Says It's 'No Major Issue' After Western Sydney Wanderers Fans Accused Of Trashing 20 Seats
ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA - MAY 01: Wanderers fans show their support during the 2015/16 A-League Grand Final match between Adelaide United and the Western Sydney Wanderers at Adelaide Oval on May 1, 2016 in Adelaide, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)
Daniel Kalisz via Getty Images
ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA - MAY 01: Wanderers fans show their support during the 2015/16 A-League Grand Final match between Adelaide United and the Western Sydney Wanderers at Adelaide Oval on May 1, 2016 in Adelaide, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)

Western Sydney Wanderers fans have been accused of trashing between 10 and 20 seats at the A-League grand final.

The Wanderers are also facing a premiership deduction of three points next season, after flares were set off in one of the A-League club’s supporter bays at the Adelaide Oval.

The club is already under a suspended sentence after fans ignited multiple flares earlier this season. Flares are expressly forbidden by Football Federation Australia for the very sensible reason that flares are categorised as explosives.

Wanderers fans have been accused of damaging seats at the Adelaide Oval, with an emotive Facebook post showing the damage doing the rounds this Monday and attracting more than 2,200 reactions and more than 360 shares.

"We don't see it as a major issue," Darren Chandler, General Manager Operations and Commercial, told The Huffington Post Australia.

"There's some minor damage to between 10 and 20 seats and that's the extent of it.

"With the 50,000 crowd and the grand final atmosphere and energetic supporters, we knew we'd have some minor damage. This is the only time this stadium has hosted a national grand final at this point in time, and the supporters at the venue were very, very emotional and enthusiastic.

"The soccer supporters do support their team differently."

The Adelaide Oval regularly hosts big-time AFL games which are often sold out, especially the local showdown between Port Adelaide and the Adelaide Crows. We asked Mr Chandler if those matches tended to generate a similar level of damage.

"Not in a concentrated area, no"

Chandler said venue hirers are responsible for damage, which means Football Federation Australia will have a bill on its hands. Whether it passes that bill onto the Wanderers is a question nobody could answer at this stage.

“We shouldn’t let the dumb actions of a few spoil what was a wonderful outpouring of emotion from both clubs,” South Australian Sports Minister Leon Bignell said on Adelaide radio station FiveAA breakfast.

"Ten thousand people came here, they pumped $5 million into our economy and let’s not let the dumb actions of a few spoil what was a wonderful trip to Adelaide for 10,00 Wanderers fans,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Wanderers' fan group, the Red and Black Bloc (RBB), still has this video on its website which we wrote about in February. The video appears to condone unruly behaviour and the lighting of flares.

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