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Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
How MINE Football Club have filed a grievance over poor match officiating with the Premier Soccer League (PSL) about a week after Highlanders also lodged a similar complaint.
The ambitious gold miners, sitting fourth on the league table with 22 points off 13 games, cited some questionable calls in five matches.
In an official complaint addressed to PSL chief executive officer Kennedy Ndebele, How Mine said although they did not have a tendency of questioning the referees’ integrity, their complaint was informed by numerous dubious officiating calls that heavily impacted on their results.
The gold miners felt they were subjected to obvious injustice in the following matches; the 2-1 away win against Dongo Sawmill at Vhengere Stadium, 0-1 loss to Dynamos, the 2-1 win against Triangle United, the 2-1 victory over ZPC Kariba and the 1-1 draw against Highlanders.
They claim to have been denied a penalty against Dongo Sawmill when Limited Chikafa was fouled from behind in the box.
Instead, coach Luke Masomere was fined by the PSL for his post-match comments that questioned the refereeing.
Against Dynamos at Barbourfields Stadium, How Mine were trailing 0-1 and Morris Kadzola headed in what they thought was the equaliser, but he was flagged for offside denying the gold miners a point.
The miners also complained about poor officiating in their identical 2-1 wins against Triangle United and ZPC Kariba.
However, it was the questionable officiating by Masvingo-based referee Arnold Ncube during their 1-1 draw against Highlanders at Barbourfields Stadium last Sunday that finally forced How Mine to lodge a formal complaint with the league.
In one of the incidents, Ncube let Highlanders midfielder Simon Munawa off the hook for a crude double-footed challenge on a How Mine player.
With How Mine seemingly headed for victory, Ncube awarded Bosso a 72nd minute penalty, having adjudged that striker Thomas Chideu had been brought down by the miners’ defender Nelson Tachi.
It was rather a harsh penalty for the miners as it appeared as if Chideu was the one who had fouled the defender. Knox Mutizwa stepped up to score his third goal of the season and salvage a point for Bosso.
“As How Mine FC, we will never question the integrity of match officials but we feel there are too many blunders which are being done by match officials which are affecting results and it hurts most when such errors are done in high profile matches.
“The reason why we’re raising these issues is because we have hope for improved officiating in the remaining 17 matches. We believe football should be the winner at the end of it all,” wrote How Mine’s vice-chairman Alpha Matumbura.
“Most of the times complaints come when you lose but there are instances when we’ve won and officiating is just below par. Imagine which position we could be sitting at had that goal against Dynamos stood and we won against Highlanders? Questionable officiating is not fair on the sponsors, players, coaches and supporters because you begin to wonder why incompetent officials spoil the show. Football is a show which everyone should enjoy.”
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