‘It’s all a circus’

describing Africa’s football controlling body as a circus, after the Glamour Boys were slapped with a US$5 000 fine for the violent conduct of their players during their controversial 0-3 defeat to MC Alger.
Club chairman Farai Munetsi said the decision by the Caf disciplinary board, which met in Johannesburg on Tuesday and fined Dynamos US$5 000, was a sick joke.
The Glamour Boys will view the fine as double punishment after feeling that they were robbed in Algiers where Egyptian referee Fahim Omar made a number of questionable decisions against them.
DeMbare, who were carrying a 4-1 lead from the first leg in Harare, crashed to a 0-3 defeat in Algiers as MC Alger tied the aggregate score 4-4 and won on the away goals rule.
There were seven yellow cards shown to the Dynamos players, and two expulsions, during the first round, second leg tie of the ill-fated Champions League tie in Algiers on April 3.
Defender Guthrie Zhokinyi and midfielder Archie Gutu were expelled by Omar, accused by the DeMbare camp as having been biased, as the Glamour Boys crashed out.
The Caf disciplinary board came down heavily on Dynamos despite the club’s bitter complaints over the conduct of Omar and his lieutenants. According to the standing rules of Caf, once an inter-club match is blighted by two red cards and seven yellow cards, including protests by players to the match officials, it automatically has to be reviewed by the disciplinary board. Dynamos were found guilty of breaching Article 82 and Article 83 (1-3) which dwells on violent conduct of the players.
MC Alger were also slapped with a US$5 000 fine for violating Article 82 and Article 83 (1-2) which deals on entering the field of play.
The two judgments were among the 10 rulings passed out by the Caf disciplinary board when it examined the matches at its meeting in South Africa on Tuesday.
However, Dynamos chairman Farai Munetsi believes the judgment on his club was a circus.
Munetsi felt Caf should have acted on the conduct of the match officials too.
“We are not happy at all with this judgment from Caf,” said Munetsi.
“Why are we being fined? I think the fact that Caf are also fining the other team is just a cover-up for the whole circus in the football. Our football in Africa is just a complete circus and Caf are killing the game.
“This is just a caricature.”
The Dynamos boss also believes Zifa did not help his club while other associations would have taken a militant stance in the case.
The Egyptian FA wrote to Caf to be lenient in their sanctions on Zamalek, which probably saved the Cairo giants from being banned from the Champions League.
“I think Zifa is also letting us down,” said Munetsi.
“We gave our report on what transpired through the head of delegation. And I do not know if they gave our side of story to Caf.”
Zifa councillor Austin Chishanga, who was the Dynamos head of delegation, was critical of Omar and blasted Caf for employing a shadowy syndicate meant to frustrate clubs from southern Africa.
Chishanga claimed that Caf were providing refuge for syndicates of referees to manipulate football results on the continent by favouring teams from the North and West.
His comments also followed similar sentiments by TP Mazembe boss Moise Katumbi who had claimed that there was a plot by North African teams to try and stop the emergence of Southern African club who can dominate the Champions League.
Yesterday, Munetsi added that they would seriously consider whether to play in the Champions League in future.
“If Dynamos pull out from the Champions League, it will not be good for Zimbabwe but we could be left with no choice,” said Munetsi.
“There is no Fair Play in our football and this is why we are calling for teams for the south to form our own alternative Champions League.
A lot of things do not make any sense.
“That’s why some teams are not playing.
“For instances, why should we play a lot of money for our Champion League games to be flighted on television when it should be the other way round? It’s just a complete circus and Zifa need to help us to be heard,” said Munetsi.
The Caf disciplinary committee fined Zamalek US$80 000 following violent clashes that rocked their match in Cairo against Club African of Tunisia.
Analysts were expecting the Cairo giants to be barred from playing in the Champions League for at least two years.
But Zamalek were ordered to play their next two Caf inter-club games behind closed doors. The Egyptian side were warned of a possible one year suspension if similar offences occur.
Club African were fined US$10 000.
The Zamalek/Club Africain game, which was abandoned when the Egyptian side’s effort was disallowed by the referee, caused a diplomatic row between Egypt and Algeria.
With the two countries relations already blighted by problems that beset their 2010 World Cup final qualifier, the fact that an Algerian referee disallowed Zamalek’s decisive strike, which would have won them a place in the next round, proved too much for the home crowd.
Fans invaded the stadium and the referees and the visiting players were attacked.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry was forced to apologise to their Algerian counterparts following the disturbances at that match.
Interestingly, 24 hours later, an Egyptian referee was at the centre of a Champions League match featuring MC Alger and Dynamos in Algiers. Some analysts have speculated that Omar might have been forced to handle this game, in a biased way, to try and not further strain the relations between Egypt and Algeria already soiled by the events in Cairo the previous day.
However, the shocking indiscipline of Dynamos stars, Denver Mukamba and Gutu, which have seen them sent off in the colours of the Young Warriors, have led critics to believe the Glamour Boys were not just a troop of saints in Algiers.