Cambuur fans suffer burns as fireworks set off during Dutch league match

Dutch side SC Cambuur has said fans suffered burns, hearing damage and eye injuries after visiting Feyenoord supporters threw fireworks during a league match in Leeuwarden in the Netherlands province of Friesland.

The match on Sunday was halted for about 20 minutes in the first half when fans in the away section lit large numbers of red flares and threw fireworks.

Some were aimed towards sections of the ground containing Cambuur supporters, while one exploded on the pitch just a few metres from Feyenoord goalkeeper Tjark Ernst.

“Our own goalkeeper had a flare fired at him and only just managed to avoid it,” said Feyenoord general manager Robert Eenhoorn, describing the incident as “simply terrible”.

Cambuur said in a statement on Monday that five fans were confirmed to have been injured and that the club would work with the authorities to make sure those responsible were caught.

“It should be clear that setting off and firing fireworks is completely unacceptable and has no place in a football stadium whatsoever,” the club added.

Leeuwarden Mayor Foort van Oosten also condemned the incident and promised an investigation, while the Dutch football association said it would revisit its protocols for incidents of disorder.

The game resumed despite the injuries to the supporters, but it would have been abandoned if a player or match official had been hit.

“That doesn’t feel right,” Jan Bluyssen, KNVB manager of professional football competition affairs, told Dutch news agency ANP.

“We need to examine whether the protocol is still appropriate and how we might want to adjust it.”

Feyenoord won the match 5-2 to maintain their unbeaten start to the new league season, while newly promoted Cambuur have lost all three of their opening matches.