SPORTS

Rowdy Maccabi fans thrown off flight

October 21, 2004 13:14 IST

About 200 Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were thrown off a homeward flight on Wednesday after several rowdy fans were involved in a fracas with the cabin crew, according to media reports in Israel.

The supporters were left stranded at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport after the captain of their Turkish Airlines flight decided to depart for Istanbul without them as local security personnel intervened.

The flight eventually departed two hours late after all the fans' luggage was removed from the aircraft when the captain ordered all the Israelis on board to be taken off the flight.

"We are stuck in Holland. The plane has left and there is total disarray," Tom Vaknin, a supporter told fan website hamaccabi.com.

"There was some commotion on the plane and then they decided on collective punishment and took all the supporters off," he added.

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Other fans told ynet, the web site of mass circulation daily Yedioth Aharonoth,
that the fracas erupted when one of the fans was left without a seat. The ensuing fracas saw one of the stewardesses knocked to the floor, they said.

Maccabi's supporters had little reason to cheer after their team was outplayed in a 3-0 drubbing by Ajax Amsterdam in Tuesday's Champions League Group C clash. They are expected to arrive back in Tel Aviv on Thursday.

Despite the disappointment of the result, Israeli soccer fans are generally well behaved when traveling abroad with their clubs and alcohol abuse is rarely a problem.

Source: REUTERS
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