DYNAMOS strikers Takesure Chinyama and Rodreck Mutuma had their appeal against conviction thrown out, but their four-match ban by the Premier Soccer League (PSL) disciplinary committee following their violent conduct during the Chibuku Cup final against Harare City in October was reviewed downwards.
BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA
The appeals committee reduced the bans from four matches to three and the players will no longer have to pay the $1 000 fine that had been imposed by the disciplinary committee.
However, they will still foot the costs of the disciplinary and appeal hearings with each player contributing 50%.
After viewing video footage, the appeals committee was left in no doubt that the players had committed acts of misconduct as ruled by the disciplinary committee.
“. . . the reading of the record shows that the misconduct, which the disciplinary committee found proven, was the uttering of insults and charging at the referee and officials,” reads part of the judgment. “There is, therefore, no prejudice to either party which the correction of the verdict will cause. The appeal against conviction is therefore dismissed and corrected to the extent as we have done.”
The committee took into consideration that the players’ action had the potential to incite violence among the fans.
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“Each player is hereby banned from participating in three consecutive PSL or officially sanctioned matches with effect from January 18. The players shall each pay 50% of the costs of disciplinary and appeal hearings and neither player shall participate in any PSL-sanctioned match even after the three-match ban until such player has paid his 50% share of the costs.”
Chinyama and Mutuma had been slapped with a four-match ban each for violent conduct after their team’s 2-1 loss to Harare City in the Chibuku Super Cup final on October 31 last year.
They were found guilty by the PSL disciplinary committee for charging at referee Philani Ncube after the match.
Mutuma was said to be the more vocal and in the process, abused the referee, making references to the reasons why Zimbabwean match officials were fired from Cosafa.
In addition to the ban, the disciplinary committee ruled that the pair should pay a $1 000 fine each of which US$500 was suspended for the remainder of the season on condition they are not convicted of any offence involving any general unsportsmanship conduct.
However, the players, with the assistance of the club secretary, Webster Chikengezha, had in December appealed against both the verdict and sentence arguing the penalty was too harsh and that there was selective application of the law.
Chikengezha, who represented the players, argued that the disciplinary committee decision could have been biased because the committee had caucused prior to the hearing and that the match commissioner was conflicted because he was also a witness.
He also complained that the complainant, PSL, also provided a prosecutor, while the players’ union was not represented.
