The Dutch football association had ordered a section of the stadium closed for the misconduct
FC Groningen does not agree with the settlement proposal that a professional football prosecutor submitted to the club on Tuesday. The prosecutor had ruled that club was to pay a fine of 17,500 euros and to keep the enclosure reserved for ‘Groningen fanatics’ empty during the following ‘Derby of the North’ against SC Heerenveen on April 10. As reported by RTV Noord.
The settlement proposal was made because in the home match against Ajax on 26 January, several torches and smoke pots in Section F were fired from the North Tribune. The game had to be stopped briefly because a smoke pot had been thrown on the field and was disrupting play.
The club does not deny that fireworks were set off at the time, but does not agree with the settlement proposal. FC Groningen believes that enough measures have been taken to prevent incidents by, among other things, identifying and punishing the firework-lighting offenders.
Image (generic and not of FC Groningen fans) via Pixabay user Eugeniu. License here.
