Brawling Afghanistan and Pakistan fans face World Cup bans as ICC investigate plane fly-over

Brawling Afghanistan and Pakistan fans face World Cup bans as ICC investigate how a plane trailing a political message evaded air traffic control to fly over Headingley

  • Fans of Afghanistan and Pakistan clashed before their match at Headingley
  • Saturday’s match saw ugly scenes which blighted a thrilling World Cup clash
  • The ICC could permanently ban fans that were involved in the brawling
  • They are also investigating how a political plane was able to fly over the ground

The ICC could permanently ban cricket fans who were involved in fighting at Headingley and are investigating how a plane was able to fly over the ground trailing a political banner.

Ugly scenes around the Leeds ground blighted Saturday’s thrilling match between Pakistan and Afghanistan and prompted four arrests.

The ICC have publicly reiterated they take a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to crowd disorder and insiders have told Sportsmail the first step will be to ban those fans who were detained from future games at this World Cup.

The ICC could permanently ban cricket fans who were involved in fighting at Headingley

They are also investigating how a plane evaded air traffic control to fly over the ground

They are also investigating how a plane evaded air traffic control to fly over the ground 

The fly-past plane trailed a political message which read 'Justice for Balochistan'

The fly-past plane trailed a political message which read ‘Justice for Balochistan’

Yet it is understood a wider investigation into the violence is underway, and could lead to permanent bans.

There is also concern about how a plane carrying a ‘Justice for Balochistan’ banner evaded air traffic control and flew over Headingley. It is thought to have sparked the trouble.

Footage of the mass brawl shows fans of both teams punching and kicking one another and using steel barriers and flagsticks as makeshift weapons.

There were reports many of the fans involved had been trying to gain entry without tickets, but others were evicted from the ground during Pakistan’s victory.

An ICC statement said: ‘We will not tolerate this type of behaviour and will take action against any anti-social behaviour that spoils the enjoyment of the majority of fans.’

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk