Daily Times

Footage of cricket fans trading punches is circulating in posts viewed thousands of times that claim it was filmed at a match between Afghanistan and Pakistan at the Asia Cup in September 2022, when clashes broke out between supporters.

However, the video surfaced online in June 2019, when Afghanistan and Pakistan cricket fans brawled at a World Cup match in England.

“Pakistan vs Afghanistan cricket fan fighting 2022,” reads a Facebook post written in English and Bengali shared on September 8.

The footage shows cricket fans at a stadium trading punches and hurling objects at each other.

The video racked up thousands of views in similar Facebook posts here and here.

The posts surfaced as Pakistan cricket chief Ramiz Raja slammed “hooliganism” that broke out following a match between Afghanistan and Pakistan on September 7 at the 2022 Asia Cup, which was hosted by the United Arab Emirates.

Rising tempers shifted from the field to the stands, with videos circulating of Afghanistan fans ripping off seats and throwing them at fans in Pakistan shirts.

However, the posts circulating online show an old video.

Keyword searches and reverse image searches found the footage in an article about Afghanistan and Pakistan cricket fans scrapping at the World Cup in 2019.

The report by British tabloid The Sun from June 30, 2019, reads: “Shocking new footage emerges of Pakistan and Afghanistan fans brawling during Cricket World Cup”.

The video shared in misleading Facebook posts (left) corresponds to The Sun’s video (right):

The report says the clashes took place on June 29, 2019 at Headingley Cricket Ground in Leeds.

The footage and screengrabs from it were widely shared online at the time, including here and here.

Pakistani journalist Murtaza Ali Shah tweeted footage of the brawl taken from a different angle.

The violence, which spilled out to the outside of the stadium, was sparked by the flying of a banner over the ground reading “Justice for Balochistan”, AFP reported at the time.

The game’s governing body said: “We do not condone any sort of political messages at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.”