Sundowns hero Siboniso Masango rescues an opposing fan as supporters from Mamelodi Sundowns and Esperance clashed after their Champions League game on Tuesday. Photo: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
Image: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
Mamelodi Sundowns fan Siboniso Masango has opened up about the moment he saved the life of an Esperance supporter after their clubs’ clash at Loftus Versfeld on Tuesday.
Sundowns beat Esperance 1-0 in the first leg of the CAF Champions League quarter-finals.
After the game, chaos erupted as a fight broke out in the stands between the two sets of supporters. Videos circulating online show Esperance fans throwing objects and rushing toward Sundowns supporters. Some were seen falling over rows of empty seats in the commotion.
Hanging on a ledge An Esperance fan hangs off a railing during a scuffle in Tuesday's CAF Champions clash between the Tunisian side and Mamelodi Sundowns at Loftus in Tshwane. Photo: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
Image: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
However, during the scuffle, Sundowns supporter Masango can be seen rescuing an Esperance fan, who was dangling off the side of one of the terraces and struggling to hold on, from certain death.
But, the hero Masango didn’t think much about it until he was made aware the next day that there was a video of his heroic exploits doing the rounds on social media.
“I went home and I slept like on a normal day. I woke the next morning and only after speaking to my friends – ‘do you realise what you did?'” he said when speaking to Sundowns' official Pitchside Podcast.
“Only then do I see the video, someone took a video from the bottom and you just see how high up that man was. But only now as the day progressed, I realise ‘Ok, wow. This is insane’. But in that moment it was just adrenalin. As a football fan that’s not what you want to see, no matter the differences, the right thing to do in that moment is to help someone,” he said.
“I ran, there were people in front of me just watching in shock. I ran because I saw what was happening.”
Speaking about the moment he helped the Tunisian fan, Masango said that because it had been raining in the capital on that day, the man started to slip. But as he grabbed him to pull him up, the Esperance fan thought he was being attacked and started begging for his life.
“I said to him ‘no, no don’t worry, I won’t let you go’. I told him ‘I’m going to try lift your bag, as I’m pulling your bag, try to lift up your knees, so you can lift your legs over the barrier’. Did that a couple of times, eventually got it right and pulled him up. Went straight to the back, we both broke down in tears.
“The crazy thing is, even in that moment, as I’m trying to help this person, I’m still being attacked. I’m helping someone else but I’m still being attacked, bottles are being thrown at me.
“But then we went to the back, offered him some water and we both had a heartfelt moment. He was just saying ‘Thank you so, so much’.”
Both clubs have condemned the violence after the game, with Esperance saying they have submitted a complaint to the Confederation of African Football. Sundowns, on the other hand, have apologised for the incident.
“In accordance with our African culture of compassion and empathy (our African culture of Ubuntu) we are required to apologise to Espérance de Tunis and its supporters as the unruly behaviour took place at our home stadium, despite the videos and facts indicating that the Sundowns supporters did not initiate the unruly behaviour.”
IOL Sport