PSL summon Bosso, Shabanie Mine

By Eddie Chikamhi

The Premier Soccer League have summoned Highlanders and Shabanie Mine to answer charges of crowd trouble following scenes of violence that marred their season-opening match at Maglas on Good Friday.

PSL chief executive, Kenny Ndebele, yesterday said the clubs were expected to appear before their disciplinary committee next Tuesday after the referees’ report implicated supporters from both sides for the disturbances.

According to the match commissioner, who assessed the match, Highlanders fans are accused of throwing missiles onto the pitch in protest to the referee’s decision to book midfielder Knox Mutizwa.

The visiting fans were then involved in running battles with their hosts outside the stadium despite their team winning the match 2-0. Shabanie Mine were on top of the situation, when trouble started, after Masvingo referee Makonese Masakadza flashed a yellow card to Mutizwa for simulation in the 21st minute.

The match had to be stopped for 24 minutes as missiles rained onto the pitch and only resumed after police details were beefed up. The missiles were mainly targeted at assistant referee Allen Parehwa, who had to flee the touchline and declined to go back fearing that the worst could happen.

It then degenerated into a war of stones between the Bosso and Shabanie Mine fans which left a number of fans injured after the match. According to the match commissioner’s report, “. . . Trouble started in the 21st minute of the game with the scoreline still nil all.

“The referee stopped play and correctly cautioned and showed the yellow card to Highlanders’ player number 18 (KNOX MUTIZWA) for Unsporting Behaviour as provided for under Law 12 Cautionable Offences bullet point number 1 on page 38 and interpreted in bullet point number 6 on page 119 of the same laws.

“The player had dived in the penalty area in an attempt to deceive the referee by pretending to have been fouled. The Highlanders supporters in the western bay south of the VIP stand started pelting the 1st Assistant Referee with stones and a steel coated pipe.

“At about the same time the Highlanders supporters in the eastern stand also threw stone missiles at the 2nd Assistant Referee . . .”

“When the Referee blew to end the match, the Highlanders fans in the eastern bay threw stones at the 2nd Assistant and one of them hit him on the thigh. Outside the stadium the fans of the two clubs were busy stoning each other.”

Ndebele said Shabanie Mine will also have to face the music for their failure to provide adequate security at the match venue. The PSL resolved at their annual meeting last month that they had stepped up efforts to curb hooliganism that was tarnishing the image of the local game.

Apart from the disturbances, Bosso enjoyed a good start to the season at the weekend winning both matches against Shabanie Mine and Harare City by identical 2-0 scorelines.

They are tied at the top of the table with FC Platinum who also maintained a clean record with a 4-1 thumping of newboys How Mine at Mandava on Sunday. Last year’s Castle Lager Golden Boot winner, Nelson Maziwisa, continued with his scoring form when he buried a brace to take his tally to three goals.

Charles Sibanda and Ali Sadiki were also on target while Menard Mupera pulled one back against his former paymasters from the spot. With six points in the bag new coach Tennant Chilumba is happy with the positive start but reckons it is still a long way to go.

“Usually these first games are difficult because you never know what you are going to come up against. But I am glad we won and it is encouraging to the players.

“The competition promises to be stiff this year because many teams have assembled strong squads. So we have to keep our focus and avoid talking about the championship any time soon,” said Chilumba.

It was a tale of mixed fortunes for Harare giants CAPS United and Dynamos. With the champions failing to get maximum points in their opening two games, there was a ray of hope in the Green Machine camp following the 2-1 win over Motor Action at Rufaro on Sunday.

CAPS United caretaker coach Brenna Msiska yesterday said he was happy with his team’s performance after bouncing back from the 1-0 defeat to Harare City in their first game.

Former Monomotapa striker Tawanda Nyamandwe scored a first half brace that ensured maximum points and took off some pressure of the club.

“It’s good that we got maximum points in one of the games. We would have loved to win both because doing well in these opening games is important to set the tone for the season,” said CAPS United coach Brenna Msiska.

“We all know the expectations are always high and we would need to continue working hard. There is room for improvement and to me getting three points from two games is not a bad start since we are building a new team.

“Of course there are certain areas we still need to work on. Maybe we would need to make sure that we take all the chances that come our way.”

Triangle registered an impressive win when they dispatched Shabanie Mine 3-0 at their first home game at Gibbo. Veteran forward Limited Chikafa scored a double after former Gunners midfielder Willard Gondo had given them the lead.

Newcomers Tripple B, Shabanie Mine and Buffaloes anchor the table after the opening two rounds with no points as they lost their matches. The Herald