DEFENDING Castle Lager Premier Soccer League champions Chicken Inn have launched a scathing attack on Midlands referee Thomas Masaa, accusing him of biased officiating in the match they lost 1-0 to FC Platinum on Saturday.
BY FORTUNE MBELE
In a letter addressed to Zifa vice-president Omega Sibanda and copied to the Premier Soccer League (PSL), Chicken Inn secretary Tavengwa Hara said Masaa deliberately ignored the laws of the game and called for his suspension pending investigations over unfair handling of the match.
Hara said they were also concerned over the appointment of match officials, challenging the composition of the Zifa Referees’ Committee.
Chicken Inn allege that Masaa denied them two clear penalties in that match and in one of the incidents opted to give them a free-kick without even consulting his assistant Oscar Bume, who had signalled for a penalty in favour of the Gamecocks.
“Our complaint is on our match against FC Platinum on July 23 2016 at White City Stadium in Bulawayo officiated by Thomas Masaa from Midlands,” he said. “First and foremost, is that the concerned referee be suspended from being appointed to handle any Zifa-sanctioned match, pending investigations, if ever there is need to have such an investigation since what he did does not warrant any investigation, but a ban. What he (Masaa) did is not inept refereeing, but 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 said.
Hara said Chicken Inn did not pay the match officials for the match after Masaa indicated to them he had enough money to take him back to Midlands.
“When confronted, he openly said even if you do not pay the referees’ fees 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),” Hara said.
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Part of the letter also reads: “We have also gathered referees are receiving their appointments from PSL, this means that the referees’ desk is no longer at Zifa, which is a clear administrative offside.
“There is nowhere in the PSL constitution which permits such a scenario and it is wrong, nowonder there is such chaotic and biased refereeing like what we witnessed on Saturday. We urge you to urgently put a stop to this rot by banning the referees.”
