Malaysia 'dog' chant riles Singapore football fans

Singapore fans have been left feeling angry and hurt after being labelled "dogs" by Malaysian spectators during their weekend AFF Suzuki Cup win, a report said on Wednesday.

Video posted on YouTube shows thousands of Malaysian fans chanting "Singapore itu anjing" (Singapore are dogs) during Sunday's group game in Kuala Lumpur, when Singapore beat the defending Southeast Asian champions 3-0.

Singapore's New Paper, describing the chant as "vile", said footage of the incident had been viewed nearly 200,000 times online.

"Frankly, we are angry and hurt. But we were the minority... there were just about 1,000 of us there," one fan told the newspaper.

Another said: "You had more than half the stadium calling us dogs. How else would we feel?

"The chants started even before the Singapore team went onto the pitch to warm up."

Tensions are often high at matches between the Asian neighbours, whose regional teams play each other in the Malaysian Cup.

"They can't even beat 'dogs' in soccer, so what does that make them?" commented one Facebook user, according to the New Paper.