Supporters of English Premier League football team Leicester City have expressed their disappointment after the club banned the use of ‘clappers’ inside King Power Stadium.
As the Leicester Mercury newspaper reports, the club withheld around 500 of the cardboard clappers from more than 500 fans ahead of last Tuesday’s Uefa Champions League match against Belgium outfit Club Brugge.
The fans unable to use the clappers were positioned closest to the away fans and Leicester made the decision in the interest of safety.
The Mercury reported that the club’s message to supporters read: “Dear supporter, we are writing to advise that due to the behaviour of a small number of individuals, the distribution of clap banners in Block L at King Power Stadium will regrettably be suspended for the foreseeable future.
"The football club places the safety of its supporters among its highest priorities and, with that in mind, we have been left with little alternative than to remove the clap banners from Block L."
Leicester defied all odds last season to win the Premier League title and the team’s success owed much to their excellent home record. The atmosphere generated by supporters is considered among the best in the league and fans have been left disappointed by the club’s decision to ban the clappers.
Cliff Ginnetta, chairman of Leicester’s official supporters club, told the Mercury: “I sit in the L Block section. It’s the noisiest part of the ground and it’s fair to say the fans are incredibly passionate. But we are not hooligans. There are women and children in L Block as well as pensioners.
Ginnetta admitted that he had seen fans throwing the clappers but insisted that nobody’s safety has ever been put at risk. “Yes, I’ve seen people throwing them around, but it’s nothing particularly malicious. They are pieces of cardboard after all – how much damage are they going to cause?”
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