adminThe soccer mother body yesterday also asked their affiliate leagues and the Zimbabwe Republic Police to crack down on hooliganism following reports of violence that marred the Premiership game between Shabanie Mine and Harare City as well as some Division One and Division Two matches.
Zifa chief executive, Jonathan Mashingaidze, said they were also worried that the local game’s record continued to be blighted by fines for crowd trouble.
Mashingaidze cited the recent US$10 000 fine slapped by the Confederation of African Football on Dynamos as one of the unwanted costs of violent behaviour by fans.
DeMbare fans, from the Vietnam Stand, rained missiles onto the pitch after a number of controversial calls from the second assistant referee from South Africa and the Harare giants will now have to pay an extra US$10 000, on top of the huge bill they incurred, for taking part in this year’s Champions League in which they performed dismally.
Mashingaidze said they had been disturbed to note that there had been reports of violence at Maglas in Zvishavane on two occasions inside a month with the first having taken place in the match between Shabanie Mine and Highlanders.
There was crowd trouble at the same venue again last Sunday which forced the abandonment in the 81st minute of the game between the asbestos miners and Harare City due to crowd trouble as the home side’s fans attacked assistant referee Ephias Mukombe.
“It is regrettable that our fans are taking too long to realise that violence is an ugly fly in our midst. We are just two months away from remembering that 13 precious lives were lost in the National Sports Stadium disaster yet we continue to receive worrying reports of violence from the PSL, Division One Division Two and even some Area zones.
“Dynamos have just been fined heavily by Caf, the mother body was fined by Fifa for the troubles at the game against Guinea.
“So we are not going to take any prisoners when it comes to violence and we also urge the law enforcement agents to be ruthless on these mongrels so that we avoid the pain of mourning the loss of our loved ones again.
We appeal to our leagues to ensure that the clubs responsible shall be made to account for the actions of their supporters and we will not hesitate to order breakfast games or even direct that some clubs play in empty stadiums because we would not want similar scenes to what happened in Port Said in Egypt.
“In fact there are too many examples from which we should be drawing lessons that violence is not wanted in football because it drives away the beautiful glow of the game.
“Fans should learn to accept that their teams can win or lose with dignity and if they cannot accept that then it is unfortunate and it will require ruthless measures.
“Our leagues should therefore come up with very deterrent fines to help stop this madness and show that we have learnt from history,’’ Mashingaidze said.
Online Reporter