SINGAPORE — Organisers of the 2015 Sultan of Selangor’s Cup have assured Singaporean fans that their safety will be a key priority when they travel up north to catch their teams in action at the Shah Alam Stadium next month.

This comes after the latest incident of crowd trouble at Shah Alam on Tuesday, where Malaysia’s World Cup qualifier match against Saudi Arabia was abandoned three minutes from the final whistle after local fans launched flares and fireworks from the stands. The Asian Football Confederation said a day later that it was “extremely disappointed” with the event, and an incident report was subsequently sent to FIFA.

Abdul Karim Munisar, the tournament’s organising chairman, condemned the fans’ lack of sportsmanship yesterday. “What happened on that day was very uncalled for, and when it comes to sports, we need to show some sportsmanship, and have some discipline. It shouldn’t happen,” said Abdul Karim, who was in town for the ticket presentation to fans yesterday at the Jalan Besar Stadium. “We have been working closely with the police to avoid this situation (from happening again). Over and above all things, we want to focus on the safety of fans.”

While Abdul Karim did not provide details of the safety measures, he said that liaison officers from both Malaysia and Singapore will accompany the travelling Singapore fans.

In spite of the assurances from organisers, some local football fans are still jittery about making the trip to Selangor. “I will be heading over with a whole group of friends. Because of what happened, I am quite fearful,” said Azman Yusof, 37.

“Generally, the home fans there are quite friendly. But there is this group called the Ultras Malaya who are very aggressive and violent.

“While security checks are very thorough for the travelling Singapore fans entering the stadium, I don’t understand why there are still Malaysian fans with flares and water bottles in the stadium.”

Football fan Musbah Hassan has attended all 13 editions of the Sultan of Selangor’s Cup, and the 60-year-old hopes the tournament will be incident-free despite the heated rivalry between the football nations.

“They (Malaysian fans) have thrown objects like water bottles to the section where we were sitting, and hurled vulgarities, and have asked us to ‘go back to your country’,” he said. “But because we are guests, and it is their home at Selangor, so we don’t argue with them. We will still enjoy every game, and I will not fear too much, because there is no point.”

The 14th edition of the Sultan of Selangor’s Cup on Oct 24 will feature a curtain-raiser between the Selangor Veterans and Singapore Veterans, before the Selangor Selection takes on the Singapore Selection. The Singapore team comprising S-League and LionsXII players will be led by LionsXII head coach Fandi Ahmad. ADELENE WONG