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Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
Dynamos skipper Murape Murape and striker Rodrick Mutuma on Sunday filed a police report against referee Darlington Shonhiwa accusing him of verbally abusing them during the Harare derby between champions Dynamos and Caps United that ended 1-1 at the National Sports Stadium.The ageless Murape, one of the long serving servants of domestic football, opened the scoring for the Harare giants before Malawian, Gerald Phiri equalised for the former cup kings.
In a telephone interview from his Harare base yesterday, Murape told Chronicle Sport that Shonhiwa constantly abused him, shouting at him using unprintable words.
“After the match I tried to reason with him but it got even worse and we were then left with no option but to make a formal police report. Referees are the custodians of the match but if they behave in a thuggish manner corrective measures must be taken and we will do that,” he said.
Murape said so abusive was the referee that he would even boast that there was nothing they could do.
“Football must be the winner at the end of the day, that’s all I want. It was a derby yes and emotions were naturally high but that is certainly not an excuse to insult us like he did. If players constantly complain, its better to ignore them than to hurl insults. The referee also has his cards, use them not your mouth,” he said.
Chronicle Sport is also reliably informed that in 2013, Shoniwa once handled an Under-17 match involving Dynamos and Caps that ended up with an exchange of blows as supporters questioned most of his decisions.
Efforts to get a comment from Shonhiwa were fruitless yesterday but the case is expected to go to court this week.
derick.khumalo