By FELIX  MALUNGA –
THE Chipolopolo Soccer Fans Association (CSFA) has said the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) decision to fine Zambia $10,000 (about K116,000) for crowd trouble is a wake up call to the local supporters.
CAF fined Zambia over unruly behaviour by the fans during the African Nations Championship (CHAN) and Africa Under-23 Championship qualifiers in Lusaka.
CSFA chairperson, Yotham Mwanza said the fine was a reminder to the Zambian football fans on the need to behave in a certain way whenever there were international games.
Mwanza said it was unfortunate that Zambia was fined because of the fans’ ill behaviour and that the onus now was on CSFA and other stakeholders to educate the fans on how they should conduct themselves during games.
He said despite the fine being heavy, the punishment could have been worse, hence the need for the fans to behave well during international matches.
“It (fine) could have been worse. CAF could have fined Zambia heavily or even have the stadium banned from hosting international matches. So the onus is on us to educate the fans that this is not good,” Mwanza said.
The CSFA chairperson also appealed to the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) to beef up more security  around stadiums whenever there were international matches.
“FAZ should hire more security personnel to man the stadium both inside and outside. FAZ needs to beef up security to be equal to the task,” Mwanza said.
According to a summary of the decisions made by the CAF disciplinary board on September 20, FAZ will be required to pay a fine of $5,000 after the local fans invaded the pitch at the end of the 2016 CHAN qualifier against Namibia at Nkoloma Stadium.
The Chipolopolo fans stormed the pitch to celebrate Zambia’s 6-5 penalty shoot-out victory over Namibia’s Brave Warriors after the two teams had tied 3-3 over two legs.
CAF also hit FAZ with another $5,000 bill after the fans threw an assortment of missiles during the Zambia Under-23’s Senegal 2015 Africa Under-23 Championship qualifier against Ivory Coast at the same venue.
During the match which Zambia won 4-3 on post-match penalties, the fans became agitated and threw missiles on the Nkoloma pitch after Botswana’s first assistant referee Oamogetse Godisamang signalled a goal kick instead of a corner after the ball came off an Ivorian player.
Despite the match being briefly halted after the fans threw objects on the pitch, Zambia went on to qualify to the Senegal finals which also act as Olympic Games qualifiers.