Mamelodi Sundowns hosted Esperance on Tuesday afternoon in the first leg of the Caf Champions League quarter-final, staged at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
It ended 1-0 in favour of the Premier Soccer League defending champions, who scored through Peter Shalulile. After the final whistle, a fight broke out between the fans of both teams. I was intense to the point that the visiting fans were forced to go inside the pitch where the security officers provided protection.
In the middle of the Ugly scene, one brave Masandawana supporter, Siboniso Masango, spotted an Esperance fan desperately clinging to a bar, almost falling from the top floor. He rushed to him and did his best to save him from the life-threatening situation.
Masango has explained how the desperate Esperance fan begged for his life and how the duo was emotional after the situation was dealt with.
That is not what to see at a football stadium‘
“[Tuesday] was just insane; [after the game], I went home and slept just a normal day. I woke up the next morning and only after speaking to my parents, my friends, they asked, do you realise what you did? Only then do I see the video. Someone took the video and you see how high that man was. Only now as the day progressed, do I realise that, okay wow, this is insane,” he told the club's Pitchside Podcast.
“But at that moment, it was just adrenaline, I’m a football fan, that's not what you want to see at a football stadium no matter the differences. The right thing to do at that moment is to help someone. There were people in front of me watching in shock, but I ran because I saw what was happening.
“As he was hanging, it was raining and it was still wet so he was slowly losing his grip. I ran and grabbed his forearm to try help him adjust his grip because he was slipping. In that moment, what he said to me was, ‘Please my brother, I have three kids.’ He thought I was about to finish him off. He pleaded ‘Please my brother don’t do it.’”
‘Bottles were being thrown at me'
Masango has further explained how fellow fans made it hard for him to save his counterpart from falling to, potentially his death. After successfully helping him, they both gave way to tears before leaving the Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
“I said ‘don't’ worry. I won’t let you go.’ The guy could barely speak English. I pulled him up, and we both broke down in tears,” he continued.
“The crazy thing is that as I’m still trying to help this person, I’m being attacked, bottles are being thrown at me. We had a heartfelt moment, and we both cried,” he concluded.
It is interesting to see how the club will deal with the possible hooliganism incidents in future.
