Things almost turned even nastier as one irate fan got up close and personal.

It would be easy to dismiss this letter as the casual venting of one irate fan, who has followed the league since 1969.

However they refused to comment if his addition was a good or bad choice in order to avoid swamping themselves from irate fans of either side.

Their last home game, a 4-1 defeat on Sunday, concluded in a shower of paper debris tossed by irate fans.

One irate fan ran to courtside and ripped his poster to shreds.

It continued yesterday with irate fans on radio talk shows and in Internet chat rooms.

Those irate fans, however, may be mollified if the committee continues to deal consistently with all such offenders.

The taking of the second penalty was delayed for some minutes after an irate fan ran onto the field to remonstrate with the referee.

Instead, he suggested it was due to a "variety of pressures" including abuse directed towards Little and his family by irate fans.