Monrovia – Clips of fresh videos from Freetown, Sierra Leone showed how the Liberian national football team players came “under attack” from angry Sierra Leonean fans.
The Lone Star of Liberia is in Sierra Leone to honor the second leg of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.
Liberia won the first leg in Monrovia 3 goals to one at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex on Wednesday, September 4.
At the Siaka Steven Stadium, where the re-turned match is expected to be played on Sunday, September 8, Lone Star had gone to do their training in the afternoon when angry fans began throwing stones and physically attacking the team.Â
For a long period, the ugly scene was unattended to by Sierra Leonean police, who arrived several minutes later. Even in one of video clips, the police officers are visibly seen next to the Liberian team’s bus and unruly fans are still hitting the bus with stones.
Before the team left the playing patch, dozens of Sierra Leoneans besieged the parameter. They even stopped the bus from going for the players, who are clearly seen being attacked. In a scrambled video scene, the players are seen dashing for cover toward the bus.
In another of the clips, a Sierra Leonean fan brings down his pants and shows his naked, black backside to the Liberian players and staff, who were trying to get out of the stadium in the bus.
Other friends of this uncivilized supporter, are seeing shouting and gesturing in very unfriendly manners to the Liberian players and staff, who are afraid.
One scene that isn’t shown but one can hear the terrified Liberian players speaking worryingly about it, is their bus driver was struck with a big stone and sustained injury.
A terrified player, Kpah Sherman, who caused the first penalty in the 3-1 win in Monrovia, is heard shouting, “We are under attack at the Siaka Steven Stadium by fans and we are being stoned at our first training session.”
The Liberian players and officials are seen telling their compatriots back home in Liberia and around the world to further share the videos of them under attack in Sierra Leone.
A very worried Bryant McGill, the direct representative of the Liberia Government from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, is seen calling on FIFA to come to their cries for help as the attacks built up.
In one of the videos, Isha Johansen, head of the Sierra Leonean football house, can be seen trying to stop a Liberian player from filming some of the incidents as they happened. Some of the unruly men she has behind her physically attacked the player to forcibly take his phone from him. It seems they didn’t succeed to stop the Liberian player from filming.
