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Bosso slams football hooligans

Sport
DESPITE apportioning blame on the police for causing the abandonment of the Castle Lager premier Soccer League match against FC Platinum at Mandava on Sunday, the Highlanders leadership has called on its fans to respect decisions made by match officials and abstain from hooliganism.

DESPITE apportioning blame on the police for causing the abandonment of the Castle Lager premier Soccer League match against FC Platinum at Mandava on Sunday, the Highlanders leadership has called on its fans to respect decisions made by match officials and abstain from hooliganism.

BY FORTUNE MBELE / Mukudzei chingwere

Highlanders supporters
Highlanders supporters

Addressing journalists yesterday, Highlanders acting chairman Modern Ngwenya said the police were responsible for the abandonment of the match in optional time after firing teargas canisters on the field of play when it was not necessary.

“I take this opportunity to appeal to our supporters and to all those that love football and those that are bent on soiling our name as Highlanders that they should desist from acts of violence and hooliganism because it is affecting us as a club,” Ngwenya said.

“May I also hasten to say that as supporters, we should accept the referee’s decision. The referee’s decision is final and should be respected. Once we understand that we don’t have any problem. This I am saying to our own supporters, our members and to those notorious people who masquerade as Highlanders fans. In any game of football there is a win, there is a draw and a loss. Whatever result we have let’s accept it. Some decisions that referees make are painful, but no matter how aggrieved you are as a supporter or player never take the law into your own hands.”

Ngwenya insisted that the law enforcement agents were at fault for causing the premature end of the match when FC Platinum had equalised through a penalty by goalkeeper Petros Mhari after the Bulawayo giants had gone into the lead through Tendai Ngulube.

“We discourage any form of hooliganism. As a big club we endeavour to be a role model to other clubs. Unfortunately, there are some factors that are beyond our control that are happening and disturbing the flow of the game. Yesterday’s (Sunday) game was about to end and the skirmishes that happened outside were dealt with inside the stadium.”

Ngwenya said the police overreacted and were heavy-handed in dealing with the situation.

“Instead of dealing with the perpetrators of violence outside the stadium, they (the police) decided to throw teargas canisters onto the pitch when the game was about to start. The police overreacted by throwing teargas onto the field of play which was clear. They were a few missiles that were thrown and we have had skirmishes at Mandava before, but never before have we had such overreaction by the police. I think there are some better methods of dealing with crowd trouble,” Ngwenya said.

Highlanders are awaiting judgment over a case in which their rowdy fans caused the abandonment of the league match against Dynamos at Barboufields Stadium a few weeks ago.

FC Platinum have called on the authorities to ensure an end to violence at football matches.

The platinum miners’ president George Mawere, who had brought his 12-year-old son was among those that had to run for cover.

Midfielder Gerald Takwara’s mother was also in the stadium so was the father of the Moyo brothers Kelvin and Elvis. The miners’ club chairman Evans Mutombeni condemned violence saying it was high time football authorities stepped in to stop the rot.

“Violence does not have a place in our game all fans must learn to respect match referees’ decisions and continue cheering their teams, even when chips are down,” Mutombeni said.

“Grievances about referees are handled by club executives and match commissioners and there are provisions for such.

“We need to say No! to hooliganism as soon as yesterday, otherwise we will be talking of loss of lives if hooliganism continues unabated. It is supposed to be a family sport where we bring our children and loved ones, but what happened yesterday (Sunday) was very unfortunate.”