Emiliano Sala: Southampton fans arrested for mocking death with aeroplane sounds

Southampton football club plans to ban two fans after they mocked the death of Cardiff City striker Emiliano Sala after a minute's silence.

Southampton hosted Cardiff City in an English Premier League fixture on Sunday (NZ time), the Bluebirds' first match since Sala's body was recovered at the bottom of the ocean near Guernsey.

After observing a moment's silence at St Mary's stadium, two fans were spotted making plane gestures towards the Cardiff fans, and stadium stewards had to intervene.

Hampshire police reportedly detained the two men and they face a three-year ban from attending matches at the venue.

"Such behaviour has no place in our game and will not be tolerated at St Mary's," a club statement says.

"Southampton Football Club can confirm that two fans were detained and had their details taken by police during our match against Cardiff City on Saturday.

"The club will continue to work with Hampshire Police to identify any individuals deemed to have made indecent gestures towards Cardiff supporters.

"The club will be taking an extremely firm stance against anyone involved and intends to ban those supporters identified."

Videos on social media show the men pretending to be aeroplanes, while fans could be heard yelling swear words at the pair.

Cardiff boss Neil Warnock.
Cardiff boss Neil Warnock. Photo credit: Reuters

In the end, it was Cardiff who had the last laugh as they beat Southampton 2-1 after Kenneth Zohore's 93rd-minute winner.

On top of that, the win lifted Cardiff out of the relegation zone, while Southampton dropped into the bottom three. 

During all the Premier League fixtures on Sunday, every team wore black armbands as a tribute to Sala.

The 28-year-old Argentine, Sala, died in a plane crash almost three weeks ago, with his body found on Thursday, and Dorset Police confirmed the identification the following day.

Sala and pilot David Ibbotson went missing last month after their plane lost contact with air traffic control en route to Cardiff from Nantes.

The body of Ibbotson has yet to be found.

Sala signed with Cardiff City from French Ligue 1 club Nantes on a £19 million ($NZ36.6m) deal during the January transfer window.

Newshub.