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GEOFF LONGLEY
Last updated 05:01
16/04/2013
The Crusaders have laid an official complaint with Sanzar following the numerous pitch invaders in their game against the Western Force
The Crusaders want answers after an official complaint to Sanzar over the "disgraceful and unacceptable" pitch invasions which occured during the Super rugby match in Perth.
Five men were taken into custody following the incidents early Sunday morning (NZ time). One forced referee Jonathan Kaplan to halt the match at a critical moment as the Crusaders were building an attack with about five minutes remaining as they sought to overhaul the Force's 16-14 lead.
Crusaders chief executive Hamish Riach said player safety was the prime reason why a formal complaint was lodged.
"It was disgraceful and unacceptable in our view and needs investigating."
Riach was astounded that Crusaders back Ryan Crotty and assistant coach Dave Hewitt, a former All Blacks prop, had to deal with two of the intruders rather than ground security.
"To have four or five people on the ground and to have security staff unable to manage it is an issue," Riach said yesterday.
He said all the invaders came from a terraced standing area at one end of the ground where security was "completely inadequate and incompetent."
Riach said in his 12 years in the role he had never seen anything like the repeated infringements.
Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder was extremely disappointed by the farcial nature of the game's closing minutes.
"It was obviously a really key moment," Blackadder said when the game was halted.
"We got a turnover and we would have counter-attacked and it was about five-on-one. It's poor, it shouldn't happen at this level."
"The crowd needs to be more discplined. It ruined a good game of footy."
Sanzar chief executive Greg Peters also described the invasions as unacceptable and has also called for a full report from match managers and nib Stadium officials.
"It was extremely disappointing and unacceptable behaviour from a small group of idiots in what was otherwise a very good crowd," Peter told news agencies.
"We understand there was about 90 security guards and these idiots were able to invade the pitch."
Peters thought 90 security guards for a crowd of about 16,000 did not seem unreasonable.
He said he could understand the Crusaders feeling aggrieved.
"It's not something we want to see in the game."
"There has been the odd occasion when there have been pitch invasions but there were a number of perpetrators at the weekend which it a little bit worse than normal."
Riach said matchday security was an ongoing issue for every franchise. He said numbers needed to be sufficient and the staff fully trained and competent.
"In this instance it was a complete failure, that's what needs investigating."
He said it did not matter that the Crusaders "were losing by two or had been winning by 50," players and officials deserved to be protected appropriately and not subjected to such incidents.
He said Sanzar had acknowledged the Crusaders complaint and would await the findings of their report. Riach was uncertain what the penalties might be for such breaches.
- © Fairfax NZ News
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/s...nt-with-Sanzar
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Originally Posted by chibi
