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IT’S all getting nasty, everyone is catching feelings and a learned fellow called Tawengwa Hara seems to have triggered it all with a protest letter that was very high on emotion.
Hara is a lawyer – the finest you can get in Bulawayo according to some – but my learned friend may have failed to control his emotions in the aftermath of Chicken Inn’s 0-1 defeat to FC Platinum last weekend.
The Gamecocks secretary felt his team got screwed up by Gweru-based referee Thomas Masaa and wrote a protest letter to the Premier Soccer League and Zifa.
Hara was fuming, even threatening to write to Fifa asking for action in the local league to be suspended until anomalies regarding the appointment of referees were addressed.
Yes, he was that angry.
One of Hara’s accusations against Masaa is that the referee awarded Chicken Inn a free kick, overruling his assistant who had signaled for a penalty.
Hara might be learned but an extra lesson on the rules of the game will do him no harm.
My learned friend, the man in the middle is the boss, just like Lifa Ncube is the chief at the Gamecocks; he can overrule his assistant.
And the title assistant referee captures is it all doesn’t it? He or she is there to assist.
I was not at White City that Saturday but I can humbly submit that Hara could have made his team’s complaint without mudding the waters.
In my opinion, which is always honest, there was no need for him to play the regionalism card or seemingly drag FC Platinum into the after-match drama.
“What he (Masaa) did is not inept refereeing, but (the act of) someone who was on a mission, who did actions disregarding the laws of the game in order to achieve his mission. He was biased against our team and clearly favoured the team from his home province,” Hara charged in the letter.
And he justified his team’s decision not to pay Masaa saying: “When confronted, he openly said … he was given enough money to take him back to Midlands and we shall not speculate what he meant by that.
“After hearing such utterances as a club we withdraw the paying of referee’s fees until we hear from you about their payments (we hold on to their payments and after all we cannot glorify such biased refereeing by paying their fees).”
Now this is worrying, very worrying.
Who confronted the referee, Tawengwa? Are FC Platinum on to something when they accuse you, my learned friend, and Mlungusi Moyo of invading “the playing field to remonstrate against the match officials”? Can we really have a situation whereby home teams that feel hard done by referees withhold payments because they “cannot glorify such biased refereeing by paying their fees”?
As it turns out FC Platinum also have issues with the way Masaa handled the tie in question.
In reacting to Zifa vice-president Omega Sibanda’s rather bizarre statement that he “witnessed” the penalty box incident Chicken Inn raised, the Zvishavane side all but confirmed that Masaa was pathetic last Saturday.
They claim the referee failed to send off a Chicken Inn player for a second bookable offence and also failed to act when Rahman Gumbo allegedly abused the assistant referee.
Clearly Masaa had a horror show but the emotions raised have shrouded a genuine case that should lead to the suspension of the match official.
However, as my last submission, Hara has a point when he calls for the setting up of a proper referees committee.
No matter how much Kenny Ndebele tries to justify it, the PSL cannot appoint referees because the match officials belong to Zifa.
Let Zifa handle their business Big Kenny while you take your hefty self to other matters that urgently need your experienced attention.
Sir exits the scene!
Sir is social media commentator and writes this satirical column in his personal capacity. Feedback: [email protected]
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