By Petros Kausiyo and Eddie Chikamhi
REMORSEFUL CAPS United issued a public apology to the Premiership’s sponsors and the domestic game’s family as the PSL announced they will boost security measures for the 68th edition of the Harare Derby at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday.
The flagship fixture has been moved from Dynamos’ home ground, Rufaro, to the spacious National Sports Stadium after the PSL decided not to take risks, with thousands of fans expected to watch the encounter, following violent disturbances at CAPS United’s last game.
Ironically, the Green Machine, who moved to the giant stadium as their home ground, played their last match against Gunners at Rufaro and the game ended prematurely after CAPS United fans rained missiles on the pitch forcing the abandonment of the tie. Yesterday CAPS United apologised for the violent conduct of their fans and revealed that they had begun steps to weed out hooliganism from their matches.
CAPS United chief executive Maxwell Mironga issued a public apology for the incidents that led to the 68th minute abandonment of their league cash against Gunners at Rufaro and said his club took full responsibility for the behaviour of their supporters last Sunday. Mironga said it was unfortunate that CAPS United had become the first team to violently force the abandonment of a league game this season.
The CAPS United chief executive issued his apology on the same day that the PSL summoned his club to appear before a disciplinary committee in Harare on July 25.
“As a club we want to apologise for the misconduct of our fans. Our apologies are to the PSL, the sponsors of the league and the whole football fraternity.
“That behaviour is uncalled for . . . As CAPS United we have not been known to be a violent club and we strongly condemn any acts of violence and regret what happened during that game,” Mironga said.
The CAPS United chief executive said they had realised the significance of undertaking an awareness campaign among their supporters on the need to exhibit the kind of conduct that would make football a family affair.
“We would want to educate our fans that supporting the game is not just about singing and booing the decisions that would have gone against their favourite team but to understand what is involved in the game.
“In other countries clubs even hold seminars for fans and we are looking at having our marshals and security personnel being trained to deal with any acts of hooliganism from within the stands and ensure that culprits are apprehended and are made to face the wrath of the law.
“Our supporters must know that, as much as we respect them and appreciate that they are key stakeholders in these teams, no-one is above football, not even Fifa president Sepp Blatter is above the game.”
Mironga said they would undertake an educational drive to help both their players and supporters to respect match officials.
“As a club we respect referees and understand that their decisions are final. We do not want to talk about the conduct of the match officials and if supporters feel that we are being hard done by by the referees they should understand that there are proper channels through which to air those grievances. A case in point is the 2010 World Cup game between England and Germany where Frank Lampard’s goal was denied despite it being a genuine goal and there was no missile thrown onto the pitch.
“Instead the English argued to Fifa for the use of goalline technology.
“Another example is the Uefa Champions League match between Real Madrid and Barcelona where Barcelona expressed discomfort with the fact that the referee who had been appointed to handle the match was from Portugal and Uefa reviewed their decision.
“Those are the kind of channels that we should also use here because football is very simple and interesting if you follow it by the book. It has its rules and regulations that were outlined by Fifa whether it is on the status and transfer of players or the conduct of spectators and we should try to get to know all these”.
Mironga said the violent conduct of their supporters also had a negative effect on the image of the club and noted that pressure from their fans had contributed to the traditional giants like Dynamos, Highlanders and CAPS United failing to win the championship.
“The behaviour of our fans dents the image and the reputation of the club and we have been known to be a disciplined institution and that is why we have managed to export some players to clubs outside the country.
“But if we are always in the media for the wrong reasons then no-one will want to do business with us.
“If you look at it none of the three big clubs in the country have won the league because our supporters are putting too much pressure on the players and the referees.
“Against Gunners some supporters were booing every decision or foul against us and it was a very negative contribution.
“Our players also ended up getting carried away with the fans’ reaction and contributed to the wrong response from the terraces.
“We have since talked to the players to understand and appreciate that their business is not to officiate matches but to play the game.
“Everyone must just play their role in a smart way then we will not have problems at matches,” Mironga said.
Mironga said he was expecting an improvement in their fans’ behaviour when they take on their old enemies Dynamos at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday.
The PSL urged fans to shun violence at football matches and promised maximum security and better management of the gates ahead of the return leg of the Harare Derby on Sunday.
PSL chief executive Kennedy Ndebele yesterday said clubs should rein in their fans and promised the league was working on the logistics to ensure security for all fans at the stadium.
Taking a cue from the first leg which attracted over 30 000 paying supporters, Ndebele said the 68th Harare derby was taken to the National Sports Stadium to avoid problems encountered at the entrance points where mostly ticket-holding fans ended up breaking the gates.
“Dynamos’ home ground is Rufaro but after consultations we decided to move the match to the National Sports Stadium because it has the capacity to host matches of this magnitude.
“Right now we are working to make sure that we will have adequate security and fans should not fear to come to the stadium. We are going to have a pre-match meeting with both clubs where we will thrash out issues to do with the ticketing system and the management of gates. I hope it will be better this time around compared to the last time,” said Ndebele.
Dynamos claimed the bragging rights after extending their unbeaten run against CAPS from last season to five games. Tawanda Muparati scored at the death to break the deadlock after the teams had appeared headed for a boring draw. But this is going to be a new game as CAPS adjust to new life after Moses Chunga, who left the club three weeks ago.
But CAPS, under a new technical team comprising Maxwell Takaendesa, Alois Bunjira and Rodwell Dhlakama, are still to get off the blocks after collecting one point in their matches against Gunners, who are now under Chunga. CAPS will miss defenders David Sengu and Edmore Chafungamoyo, who were expelled against Gunners. Dynamos will also be without their playmaker Denver Mukamba, who is also on suspension, after he was red-carded in their last match against Chicken Inn at Luveve on Saturday.
Assistant coach Masimba Dinyero yesterday called on the fans to come in their numbers but implored the fans from both sides to maintain peace.
“Supporters should come in their thousands and rally behind their teams on this day because this is just a football match. It’s understandable they pay their hard-earned cash to watch good football but the game is played on the pitch and not on the terraces.
“Football should be the winner at the end of the day because if such things, as happened last week, are repeated it’s the team that suffers at the end of the day,” said Dinyero. Dynamos welcome back defender Guthrie Zhokinyi who renewed his contract last week by penning a fresh one-year deal with the Harare giants.
Zhokinyi missed Dynamos’ back-to-back matches against Chicken Inn and was also not available for the BancABC quarterfinal match against Hwange in-between the fixtures.
“Except for Kutyauripo who has since resumed light training, we are injury-free. Wonder Sithole has also started training with the rest of the team. We are expecting everyone to be available for selection.
“We have enough replacements to fill Denver’s place and his absence does not make much of a difference,” said Dinyero.
