A furious confrontation over refereeing decisions erupted into violence this past weekend in the SAFA ABC Motsepe League, with another match official reportedly manhandled.
The ABC Motsepe League is known for its controversies each season all over the country, especially by the man in the middle.
Over the years, some of the referees have had to be escorted by security or Police off the field, and some had to run for their lives due to threats by team officials in SA’s third-tier league.
It was the case this past weekend during a Limpopo stream A local derby between Madridtas FC and Vondwe XI Bullets in Tshifudi outside Thohoyandou.
WHY THE MATCH OFFICIAL WAS MANHANDLED DURING A LEAGUE MATCH
According to an eyewitness, the chaos began when a Madridtas FC player was allegedly way offside. But the assistant referee close to the action did not raise the flag. The play resulted in a penalty for Madridtas.
It is alleged that the players and managerial staff of Bullets charged towards the assistant referee. “The scuffle took a while, and that’s when the linesman was even manhandled,” the eyewitness told FARPost.
“The penalty eventually got taken. But there was another decision that Bullets FC felt hard done by with the same match official. This time, it resulted in a red card. It was first shown to the head coach but the match official correctly pointed to the person who manhandled him. That’s who eventually got sent off.”
“The game concluded, and they crowded the match official again. They allegedly ended up hitting him near the referees’ office,” the eyewitness explained.
SAFA UNABLE TO COMMENT ON THE REFEREES’ ABUSE INCIDENT
FARPost reached out to SAFA provincial secretary Refiloe Khoza on the incident but indicated that she is yet to receive the match report.
Madridtas are campaigning in the ABC Motsepe League after they purchased the status from former DStv Premiership side Black Leopards. Leopards were relegated to the SAFA League last season. But they returned to professional setup after purchasing the status of All Stars.
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