Championship Sunday has become a day of joy and excitement around the English Premier League, but this season’s edition was marred by scary scenes in Manchester.
Instead of all ten matches being played simultaneously, as expected, Manchester United vs. Bournemouth was postponed after a suspicious package was found at Old Trafford.
The match kickoff was delayed for 45 minutes before officials ultimately opted to postpone it following further developments.
The Premier League released a statement to clarify the situation, saying, “The decision to abandon the Manchester United versus AFC Bournemouth match was taken after the police advised of the necessity to deal with a suspect package. The Premier League will seek to rearrange the fixture as soon as practically possible and will advise fans accordingly.
“It is always the last resort to abandon one of our fixtures and while we apologise for the inconvenience caused to fans we are sure, in the circumstances, they will appreciate the need to do so.”
Re-scheduling the match will be tricky due to Manchester United’s involvement in the FA Cup next weekend. A mid-week playing is possible, but would run against the Europa League final on Wednesday.
Greater Manchester Police revealed on Twitter that a controlled explosion had taken place within Old Trafford, but there wasn’t clarification as to whether the package contained a bomb. The device was ultimately determined to not be a viable bomb.
Latest update: A controlled explosion has just been carried out within the stadium by bomb disposal experts at Old Trafford. More to follow.
— Greater Manchester Police (@gmpolice) May 15, 2016
Fans in two sections were forced to evacuate the stadium 20 minutes prior to the game’s scheduled kickoff, while two further sections were emptied afterwards.
The two sides weren’t allowed to finish warmups before being rushed back into the locker room area.
Not a “viable bomb” so was it just someone’s radio so they could listen to another one of the 10 games?
Greater Manchester Police described it as an “incredibly lifelike explosive device” but added that the “device wasn’t viable.”
So, turns out it was a replica bomb being used for training that was accidentally left behind the day before. LOL
“Following today’s controlled explosion, we have since found out that the item was a training device which had accidentally been left by a private company following a training exercise involving explosive search dogs.”
Perhaps there is something to the conspiracy theory afterall…..
Always a sad consideration that sporting events are considered soft targets and viable locations for terrorism, but c’est la vie in these times, I suppose.