Now, Sports fans in South Africa are known for being passionate, and sometimes unruly, which occasionally begs the question of which spectators are more likely to misbehave. Following a recent incident in Durban, it appears that it could well be football supporters at the top of the list. But rugby crowds are not far behind, and CGTN's Sias Du Plessis investigates whether this is due to on-the-field antics by the players, or more underlying reasons.

Recent incidents of crowd violence at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban have cast the behaviour of South African sports fans directly in the spotlight. The destruction of broadcast cameras, stadium chairs, and injuries caused have created the impression that football fans are notorious for poor behavior.

MAZOLA MOLEFE SPORTS JOURNALIST "When I started doing this, I went to the stadium for the first time, and I encountered fan violence, 10 to 15 years later, it is still the same old story, and we still hear the same old statements being put out by various authorities and stakeholders, so it is a problem."

That impression extends not only to football, but to South Africans in general.

"I don't think it is football specific, I mean we have seen with service delivery protests in various provinces across the country, so I think it is just the nature of South Africans to use violence to get their point across."

The thing is, football fans might have a bad reputation, but it is rugby fans who are, in fact, the ones behaving badly.

HUGO KEMP BLUE BULLS OPERATIONS MANAGER "What happened at Moses Mabhida was very sad for soccer, but in my experience, which is about 20 years, that's happened about twice here. We do have a few seats broken with soccer and that's about the gist of the soccer damage. Rugby, it is far more worse, with far less people usually."

The referee's actions often lead to crowd violence and in rugby it tends to happen that fans vent anger towards other fans instead of at the match official.

"I think there is definitely a culture. Rugby is just different. If the ref is having a bad game, or the team performs badly, we tend to see that spectators tend to turn against each other. Rather, a Western Province fan and a Blue Bulls fan clashing, rather than the fans clashing against the ref. It is just the frustration is there. I just think it is just a different occasion of it."

SIAS DU PLESSIS PRETORIA "Although footballers tend to show more disrespect to the referee, while rugby players adhere to the referee, it is off the field where it matters most. More damage happens at rugby matches in South African stadia on a consistent basi than the isolated incidents that we saw at Moses Mabhida just a few weeks ago. Sias du Plessis, CGTN, Pretoria."