Local clubs expressed outrage after the Egyptian Football Association (EFA)’s competition committee announced new penalties for hooliganism on Sunday.

“They should have explained the rules before the beginning of the season,” Ahly football director Sayed Abdel-Hafiz told local media on Sunday evening. “The association doesn’t consider the big clubs in the competitions, like Ahly and Zamalek.”

The EFA has slapped Ahly, Zamalek and Ghazl El-Mahalla with hefty fines following crowd disturbances at last week’s matches. It also announced a home-match ban for Zamalek and El-Mahalla due to fans riots.

“This is ridiculous. Opponents’ fans can attend our matches, sit in our stands and set off fireworks in order to get us punished through home-matches bans. This is unfair,” said Abdel-Hafiz. “If this is the case, citizens should specify their favourite club on their national ID cards.”

Zamalek have lodged a complaint with the association against the new penalties. “Securing the stands is not our responsibility,” said club officials. “It’s the responsibility of the interior ministry.”

“The club doesn’t have any authority to stop crowds and search them for fireworks, so the penalties aren’t reasonable,” reads a statement on the team’s official website.

The aftermath of Egypt’s January revolution, which led to the ouster of longstanding Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, has witnessed a proliferation of football hooliganism – a previously unknown phenomenon in Egypt.