dyton mupawaenda
ONCE again, there was controversy and some violent scenes at a football match in this country when the Chibuku Super Cup quarter-final between Simba Bhora and Highlanders at Wadzanai was abandoned after 79 minutes.
The abandonment followed the controversial call by referee Cecil Ngwezere to award Simba Bhora a penalty, a call which the Bosso players and officials disputed.
Attempts to get Highlanders to allow play to resume failed as their captain and goalkeeper, Ariel Sibanda, refused to take his position in goal.
This meant that Ngwezere was left with no option but to abandon the match.
There had been a five-minute stoppage prior to the penalty decision following skirmishes on the terraces.
It was a sad ending to what had until then been a competitive match in which either side had a chance to win and progress in the biggest knockout tournament in the country.
The rules of the competition are very clear that a club which walks off the pitch, and causes the abandonment of a match, will be deemed to have lost that game by a 3-0 scoreline.
The offending club will also not be included in the tournament the following year.
According to the rules and regulations, these sanctions are cast in stone and the offending club do not have the option to appeal.
But, that is only a small part of this saga.
The other part relates to the incident which led to the abandonment of the game.
Footage obtained from ZTN shows that the incident happened outside the box and, as such, the referee should not have given Simba Bhora this ghost penalty.
The television footage also shows that the referee was far away from the incident and this is probably the main reason why he failed to see that the collision happened outside the box.
Some conspiracy theorists are actually saying that this was probably a deliberate act by the referee although this cannot be proved.
What can be proved is that this was not a penalty because the incident happened outside the box and this was a HORRIBLE call by the referee.
The other contentious issue is related to the foul itself.
Replays show that Balakasi is the one who actually had a raised leg and plunged into Muduhwa and this was supposed to be a foul for Bosso and not Simba Bhora.
When Highlanders lost to Simba Bhora in the league match at Wadzanai, their coach Kelvin Kaindu was not happy with the way the match was handled.
For the referees to try and rob his team again, this time in the Chibuku Super Cup, was something which really hit camp very hard.
We agree with those who are saying Bosso should not have left the field but we are also worried by the referees who are determining the outcome of matches rather than letting the better team win the games.
It’s sad that nothing is being done to them when we are having such incidents every week especially in Division One and the PSL.
Online Reporter