By Chris Totobela
The much anticipated second New Year’s Cup semi-final between Makhanda’s Makana Tigers and Motherwell Envoys in front of a decent JD Dlepu stadium crowd sadly descended into chaos on 30 December.
Both teams started the game at a blistering pace, taking the game to each other. They both displayed good attacking football until the referee lost his grip on the game by allowing bad tackles to fly all over the field.
The battle in the midfield intensified, and both sets of players were aggressive, and some bad tackles went unpunished. Both teams went to the halftime break goalless.
In the second half, the referee, who had been poor throughout the game, lost complete control of the encounter.
First, a Tigers player was fouled inside the box, and the referee ignored it. If the referee thought the player was simulating a dive, he didn’t even book the player for this.
Secondly, two opposing players head-butted each other, and instead of sending them off, the referee just cautioned them and allowed them to carry on with the game – a clear sign of weakness on his behalf.
The game continued with both teams entertaining the Dlepu crowd and showing no signs of giving up.
In a strange move, the referee sent off Makana Tigers’s in-form goalkeeper after his second assistant referee told him that the keeper had used unacceptable language. Instead of controlling the situation maturely, he decided to spoil the game and sent the keeper off, knowing this would be the crucial and deciding moment of the game.
The game halted for about 20 minutes before resuming, with the home side having to sacrifice one of their outfield players to take the goalkeeper’s place. Tigers’ 10 men played the better part of the second half under pressure, and they finally succumbed when a very good inter-passing move was finished off by a superb ground shot that beat the keeper at his near post.
The home side fought back and put Motherwell Envoys under pressure, forcing them to concede six successive corner kicks, but unfortunately, the final whistle sounded.
The Tigers coaching staff confronted the referee and attacked him. In the chaos, it was difficult to see who was attacking him and who was trying to protect him.
There was not a single police van or any other form of security at the venue.
Most people in the crowd echoed the same sentiments: the referee and his assistant were poor from the beginning until the final whistle and had been incompetent since day one of the tournament.
However, this did not justify the behaviour of the Tigers’ coaching staff.
One of the top referees at the game was disappointed with how the match officials handled the game. This game was of great magnitude and needed a competent official in the middle. All match officials have been poor since day one, especially the referee who handled this game.
I watched all his games, and I do not understand how he was appointed to officiate in such a game.
There is no way that we can condone any form of violence against match officials; it is wrong, and there is no place for this behaviour in football. Everyone saw how poor the match officials were in this game but that does not give anyone the right to attack them. Football is a beautiful game; sometimes, we must accept the outcome.
Motherwell envoys will face PK United in a mouth-watering New Year’s Eve final. Hopefully, experienced and competent match officials will be appointed for that game to avoid the ugly scenes we witnessed at JD Dlepu stadium on 30 December.
