Mighty Mukuru Wanderers have decided against continuing with this year’s Airtel Top 8 Cup matches until Football Association of Malawi (Fam) addresses their grievances.
Speaking during a media briefing in Blantyre Thursday, Wanderers Board Member Humphrey Mvula said Fam’s Competitions Committee erred by declaring that its players caused abandonment of the Airtel Top 8 first leg quarterfinal match against Silver Strikers at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe some two weeks ago.
Mvula said it is referee Godfrey Nkhakananga who should take the blame for the pandemonium which led to abandonment of the match.
“We also fault Fam Competitions Committee for failing to take into account Fifa’s article 16(1) on the forfeiture of matches by awarding the match 2-0 to Silver Strikers when the referee’s report stated that it ended 2-1 in favour of Silver Strikers. However, we also find the referee’s report wanting for awarding a goal that never was. So according to us, that match ended 1-1.
“We also disagree with the committee’s determination that our supporters were guilty of violent conduct by throwing objects into the field of play and damaging stadium seats. Our position is that there is no evidence that it was Wanderers supporters who did this because no one was arrested by the police for this misconduct. We should also not be blamed for failing to discourage the escalation of violence perpetrated by our alleged supporters,” he said.
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Mvula said, as a club, they had decided against paying for the damaged seats.
“We are seeking fairness and justice in this matter. We are not relenting until justice prevails. We are not necessarily saying the outcome should favour us, no. All we want is to see the truth prevailing. The police, who we are told were around 200, did not even catch one supporter among those who damaged the seats.
“Then why should we pay? We were not even given the chance to verify the state of the stadium chairs before the game so that we ascertain that they were indeed damaged after the match. So how justified is the decision to ask us to pay K22 million? This should be a bill for Fam because they are the ones who hired the stadium and not us,” he said.
Mvula said Fam was responsible for both teams’ security before, during and after the match as they are the competition’s organisers.
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“We have therefore appealed to Fam to reverse the decision made by the Competitions Committee. We are against both the sporting and financial sanctions imposed on our club. We also want an interim order of stay of enforcement of the impugned determination pending hearing and determination of the instant appeal, an interim order postponing the second leg of our match against Silver Strikers pending hearing and determination of the instant appeal on the matter,” he said.
Fam Competitions and Communications Director Gomezgani Zakazaka said Wanderers had lodged their appeal on September 29.
