adminThe Harare giants are now tied on 46 points with Highlanders but they now sit at the top due to a superior goal difference of plus 30 compared to Highlanders’ 28.
The Castle Lager Premier Soccer League disciplinary committee had nullified Dynamos’ 4-2 win over Hwange in which the coalminers played their game without their coaches Nation Dube and Mebelo Njekwa who were assaulted by DeMbare marshals.
Technical manager Tennant Chilumba was away in Zambia.
The league’s disciplinary committee noticed that Dynamos’ marshals Abraham Kwenda, James Dzamu and Simbarashe Zviita admitted to assaulting Hwange’s gaffers before a league match on 6 May at Rufaro Stadium.
The admission of guilty fines which the marshals paid had condemned the Harare giants.
In arriving at the decision for a replay, the PSL Disciplinary Committee had used the 1993 precedence where the Zimbabwe Warriors managed to appeal against a 2-1 defeat World Cup qualifier against Egypt played in Cairo after the late Reinhard Fabisch was hit by a stone before that game. Fifa ordered a replay which was played in Lyon, France.
The disciplinary panel made up of chairman Don Moyo, ex-referee Brighton Mudzamiri and Vusi Vuma had also ordered the Harare giants to pay a $2 000 fine of which $1 000 was suspended for the rest of the season on condition that they do not commit a similar offence.
However, the Zifa Appeals Committee made up of Tererai Gunje, Timothy Sangarwe and Pepukai Mabundu quashed the PSL Disciplinary Committee’s ruling and gave the match to Dynamos on a 4-2.
In their appeal, Dynamos had argued that when they played in the Caf African Champions League against Asec Mimosas in 1998, Memory Mucherahowa was assaulted prior to the match. The game proceeded and although Dynamos lodged a complaint against Asec Mimosas, the result of the match stood and DeMbare lost the encounter.
“Given the foregoing, we find it difficult to justify the nullification of the result of the match. The Appeals Committee was urged not to over rely on the Fifa verdict on the Egypt vs Zimbabwe match when the then Zimbabwean coach, the late Reinhard Fabisch, was assaulted by the Egyptians and a replay was ordered. In our view, and correctly so, the two cases are clearly distinguishable as the Egypt match was not only nullified on the basis of the attack on Fabisch but on the overall conditions prevailing before, during and after the match, including the general behaviour of the Egyptian supporters.
“We have not been told that the conditions at Rufaro were so hostile against Hwange Football Club as to render the staging of a league match impossible. The referee’s report does not state so and we are thus not inclined to buy into the assertion by Hwange Football Club in relation to their reliance on the Egypt versus Zimbabwe match,” read part of the appeals committee’s findings.
However, having nullified the replay decision, the committee found DeMbare guilty of contravening Order 31 of the PSL rules and regulations.
The Harare giants were ordered to pay a fine of $2 000 of which $1 000 has been suspended for the rest of the season on condition that they do not commit a similar offence.
Hwange’s spokesman Burzil Dube was not amused with the verdict.
“This is really sad for African soccer where teams are allowed to get away with such kind of serious issues just because some clubs are more equal than others.
“We will sit down as an executive and map the way forward.
“We will certainly not get anywhere if we just jump to conclusions without looking at both sides of the coin,” Dube said.
In a telephone interview from Harare last night, Dynamos’ chairman Kenny Mubaiwa was over the moon.
“We are happy with this decision. We knew very well that there was no case and that is why we appealed. Now we will continue working hard in our quest to defend the championship and hold on to the top of the log,” said Mubaiwa.
Online Reporter