Thai football chiefs apologised on Wednesday and promised “severe punishments” for wrongdoers after brawls marred the South East Asia Games soccer final against Indonesia in Cambodia.
Indonesia won the under-23 match 5-2 on Tuesday after extra time.
Thailand had reduced to eight players and the Indonesians to 10 in the wake of four red cards and two all-in brawls.
The Thailand Football Association said the incidents at Phnom Penh’s Olympic Stadium had damaged the image of the national team and singled out the involvement of their coaching staff for particular criticism
The first brawl sparked when the referee blew his whistle close to full time.
Indonesia’s players and coaches celebrated thinking they had won the game 2-1.
The whistle was in fact for a free kick, from which Yotsakorn Burapha scored an equaliser which triggered violent clashes between the two benches.
The match sent into extra time, but Indonesia quickly regained the lead, triggering another series of shoves, punches, and kicks exchanged by coaches and players from both sides. Stadium security forced to intervene and break up the altercation.
Indonesia coach Indra Sjafri was in no mood to hold grudges after leading his country to the SEA Games gold medal for the first time since 1991. A feat celebrated by President Joko Widodo.
“The tension of the match was high,” he told MetroTV.
“Let there not be blame on one another. This was a marvellous final
Football enjoys a massive following in Indonesia but the game has endured a miserable eight months.
Since a stadium disaster killed 135 people in the town of Malang last October.
FIFA WORLD CUP
That was followed by FIFA stripping the nation of the right to stage this year’s under-20 soccer World Cup in a row over the participation of Israel.
“Let this be the momentum of the resurrection of Indonesian football,” Sjafri said.
Keo Sareth, secretary general of the Football Federation of Cambodia (FFC).
It was equally forgiving of the ugly scenes.
“We have no problem with them and as the hosts. We have completely and successfully hosted the match,” he said.
“Problems occurred on the pitch will be handled by match officials. They are doing a report to send to Asian Football Confederation (AFC). So they may face penalties in regards to code of ethics and disciplinary.”
There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the AFC