Breathalysers for Bosso matches?

IF new Highlanders Chief Executive Officer, Nhlanhla Dube had his way, intoxicated fans should be subjected to breathalysers and if found to be drunk barred from entering Barbourfields Stadium as a possible measure to contain crowd trouble.

A breathalyser is a device used for estimating blood alcohol content from a breath sample.

It is usually used by law enforcement officers when there is suspicion that a driver of a motor vehicle is drunk and could pose a danger to other road users.

For the umpteenth time crowd trouble rocked Barbourfields Stadium when Highlanders played Dynamos a fortnight ago, fuelling debate on how misconduct by fans can be nipped in the bud.

And Dube believes barring intoxicated fans from stadia is just one of the many ways to stop acts of violence by unruly football supporters.

"As a club we believe that the issue of crowd trouble must be looked at as a problem that needs to be confronted by all stakeholders.

Using breathlysers is just one of the many options to deal with the problem. We can get to a point where we say if someone is at a certain level of intoxication then they must not be allowed into a stadium. "It's a process that all stakeholders must work on together," said Dube.

It's not unusual for fans to go on alcohol binging before a match and the drinking sometimes starts as early as 10am on match days.

Although alcohol is not allowed in stadiums it is readily available and is a high sought after commodity with individuals that sell it inside the stadium making a killing, especially when big teams such as Highlanders, Dynamos, Caps United and FC Platinum are playing.

Highlanders will also start training and deploying more marshals to control its fans.

"We are going to be resuscitating our marshal programme, firstly by looking at the number of marshals that we deploy for our home matches and add more if need be.

"We must also make sure that they are properly trained to deal with crowd trouble," he said.