THERE was trouble on the opening day of the Cypriot football season as rival supporters of Nicosia clubs APOEL and Omonia clashed at the GSP Stadium.
Cypriot football is no stranger to football violence, despite efforts by police and Cyprus Football Association (CFA) officials to stamp out the problem, which has plagued the game on the island for the past 25 years.
The opening weekend of the season on Sunday was no different, as two people were arrested and 10 people injured during violent scenes in the big game between APOEL and Omonia, which ended 2-1 to APOEL.
Trouble had already begun long before the game was set to kick off at 8pm on Sunday.
At around 6pm, and as the APOEL bus approached the stadium, four or five people were seen pelting stones at the bus, causing around £600 worth of damage to the vehicle.
No players or club officials were injured in the attack and police are still looking for the culprits.
Just minutes later, around 100 fans fought with police officers as they tried to barge into the north stand of the ground. As a result of the scuffle, a sergeant was treated by the stadium doctor for minor injuries to his eye.
Officers later arrested a 17-year-old boy, who threw a flag onto the pitch from the north stand while the game was in play.
Police outside the stadium were also busy, as reports came in that a pickup truck carrying four APOEL supporters was causing trouble on the Nicosia-Limassol motorway just outside the stadium.
According to eye witnesses, the four men were seen throwing stones and other objects at rival fans from the truck, which did not have any licence plates.
The truck was later spotted at the stadium car park and the 21-year-old owner of the vehicle was arrested and charged.
At the top of Makarios Avenue, a 55-year-old man reported to police that as he stopped at the traffic lights next to the APOEL clubhouse, around 70 people attacked his car with stones and bottles.
Police estimate the damage to his car at around £200.
A total of nine people, three of them women, were injured during the game as rival supporters hurled objects into their stand.
They were all treated for minor injuries in the first aid room of the stadium and later released.
A report of car vandalism was also made by a club official who told police that somebody had scratched his vehicle with a sharp object as it was parked outside the team hotel.
A CFA source yesterday told the Cyprus Mail: “It appears that we will be enduring yet another season of football violence.”
