CAPS United’s defence in their submissions over the abandoned Chibuku Super Cup quarter-final clash against Shabanie Mine was described by the ad hoc committee that dealt with the issue as lame and poor, with the Green Machine found liable and kicked out of the tournament.
By Sports Reporter
According to the judgment released by the Premier Soccer League, Caps United admitted that their supporters threw missiles onto the pitch, but also made an attempt to blame Shabanie for the abandonment of the match.
After being found guilty, the Green Machine were kicked out of the competition, whose semi-finals will be played at Barbourfields Stadium tomorrow, and were also ordered to pay a $2 000 fine, as well as costs related to the sitting of the ad hoc committee. Before even the committee sat, it was clear that Caps United would lose this case, as it was widely agreed that the missiles thrown at assistant referee Thomas Kusosa came from the bay housing the Green Machine fans.
Caps United desperately tried to exonerate themselves without success.
“Caps United Football Club, in their submission, admitted that, indeed, their supporters threw missiles aimed at the second assistant referee when he raised the offside flag penalising their player whom they felt was not offside,” the committee reported.
“Caps United, however, tried to also blame Shabanie Mine Football Club supporters for also throwing missiles aimed at the second assistant referee, as they felt he had awarded Caps United a goal. We find this defence to be lame and a poor attempt by Caps United not to take full responsibility for the behaviour of its supporters.”
The referee, match commissioner and the police all nailed Caps United.
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“There is corroborated evidence presented by the match referee, the match commissioner and the police in that missiles were thrown by Caps United supporters occupying the stand opposite the VIP stand and one of these missiles hit the second assistant referee, Thomas Kusosa, injuring him,” they said.
“While we applaud the swift reaction by the Caps United technical team and the police in calming the Caps United supporters, this could not save the match, as the die had been cast the moment the match official was injured.
“We do not believe that it was unreasonable on the part of the referee to abandon the match as a result of the missile throwing and injury to Thomas Kusosa and the security concerns raised.
“There was no evidence submitted to suggest that the referee did not exercise his discretion properly even though his assertion that the match venue resembled a war zone was clearly an exaggeration. The point to note is that but for the conduct of the Caps United supporters of injuring the assistant referee, the match would not have been abandoned.”
In the first round, the Yadah v Chicken Inn match had to be abandoned too after the latter walked out in protest at the referee’s decision.
They were eventually thrown out of the tournament for causing the abandonment of the match.
