Club rugby violence rears its head again in Boland

The spectre of club rugby violence reared its head again on Saturday when the West Coast League match between Saldanha Bay and St Helena Bay was called off due to a mass brawl, with one spectator sustaining head wounds after being cut with a broken bottle top.

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Having kicked off the hostilities with three yellow cards in the first half, the two clubs - who were involved in a similar incident for a second time this season - conspired to have the match called off in the 50th minute with St Helena leading 13-9. Two players, Saldanha's replacement prop and St Helena's hooker, were sent off for fighting. But upon leaving the field, the two once again got into another scrap, which was joined by members of the public including Saldanha's captain, who was apparently part of security on the day because he was serving a suspension from being sent off last week.

The resultant free-for-all ended up with a visiting spectator (Saldanha hosted the game) sustaining cuts to the head from a broken bottle top, according to St Helena chairperson Edmund Williams.

"The spectator was taking a video of how the Saldanha spectators were throwing bottles at our players," said Williams. "When they saw it, they went to him, beat him and stabbed him in the head with a bottle top. But I think he's OK."

As ever in these situations, who was at fault is a he said, he said affair, with both clubs set to submit their reports to the Boland Cavaliers Rugby Union on Monday.

St Helena are already in hot water with authorities, having been found guilty and punished because their supporters were deemed to have attempted to attack a referee in the corresponding fixture between the two