EFA DEMANDS ANSWERS ON POOR REFEREEING
MBABANE – The Eswatini Football Association (EFA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Frederick Mngomezulu has condemned the violent scenes during football league games.
Speaking on the national radio yesterday morning, Mngomezulu made particular reference to the football mayhem that unfolded during the Mbabane derby, where Mbabane Swallows lost 1-2 to Highlanders. Swallows were denied an equalising goal scored by former Eswatini national team player Felix Badenhorst, who was denied a brace when his strike was ruled out for offside by referee Thembinkosi Dlamini in consultation with assistant Zamani Simelane.
The supposedly off-side goal was believed to be the cause of the violence, which resulted in attempted assault of the match officials who were accused of deliberately denying Swallows a legit goal. Swallows fans who were seated in the south stand at Mavuso Sports Ground, descended like an army of wasps onto the pitch, baying for the referee and officials blood. The referees ran for dear life into the dressing rooms tunnel. In the same turmoil, a fan was stabbed in the buttocks while one Swallows fan was arrested by the police amid the chaotic violent scene.While the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) awaits full reports from the match officials before they can voice their reactions and possible resolution to this unsporting behavior, as communicated by Chief Operations Officer (COO) Pat Vilakati on Sunday, the EFA has summoned the PLE and the Eswatini Referees Association (ERA) to a meeting tomorrow.
meeting
“The football association and stakeholders will have a meeting tomorrow (today). These include the various sectors involved in the staging of football including the PLE and referees association. “The first stage will look at the safety precautions; starting with the seating arrangements, the rules of the game and how much people know about these rules. As EFA, we will address this issue immediately and look at the cause of these violent scenes so that such is not repeated. We look at all aspects and make sure that we don’t waste time,” Mngomezulu said. The EFA CEO further highlighted that violence in football games painted a negative picture to the world and the sponsors who invested their money in football development as well as the world football mother body FIFA.
Sympathised
Mngomezulu cautioned fans against taking the law into their hands by attacking officials and further sympathised with football lovers as well as members of the public who were affected by the uproar during last weekend’s derby. Noteworthy is that Mbabane Highlanders were also caught in a similar predicament three weeks ago at the same venue when their fans invaded the pitch to attack referee Mbongeni Shongwe and his assistants after a controversial goal was awarded to Manzini Sea Birds.
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