Football Association of Malawi (Fam) Disciplinary Committee has rejected Mighty Mukuru Wanderers’ second appeal in which they were challenging a ruling by the Competitions Committee.
This follows a fracas that happened in the first leg of the Airtel Top 8 quarter-final match against Silver Strikers on September 23 at Bingu National Stadium.
The Disciplinary Committee has upheld the decision of the Competitions Committee which found Wanderers guilty of three charges, namely causing abandonment, bringing the game of football into disrepute in line with Article 13 of the Fifa Disciplinary Code and failing to control the actions of their supporters.
A statement from Fam yesterday indicated that the Disciplinary Committee met on November 24 and upheld the decision in its entirety.
“The Fam Disciplinary Committee identified that all matters raised by Mighty Mukuru Wanderers are inconsequential and the Fam Disciplinary Committee did not see need to rule on those issues, the Fam Disciplinary Committee did not find any reason to depart from the ruling of Fam Competitions Committee,” the statement reads.
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Wanderers were fined about K22 million for the damages of BNS and a further K2.5 million for three charges of causing abandonment, bringing the game into disrepute and failing to control their supporters.
The committee also ruled that the Nomads, who are Airtel Top 8 defending champions, lost the match by a 2-0 margin.
But the club appealed the ruling for the second time as they were represented by lawyers Kalekeni Kaphale and David Kanyenda.
When contacted yesterday, Wanderers Chief Executive Officer Roosevelt Mpinganjira said the club will comment at an appropriate time.
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“We will engage our lawyers and come up with a response,’’ he said.
All things being equal, the second leg will be played on Wednesday at Kamuzu Stadium. The Disciplinary Committee found that referee Godfrey Nkhakananga made obvious errors but insisted that errors are dealt with through other procedures.
Again, the committee found that Wanderers should not use referee error as justification for abandoning the match.
Sports analyst Parry Chinyama said it is a tricky matter.
“So, what is the purpose of the disciplinary committee if errors are allowed in the field of play to be dealt with by other means? It is really confusing,” Chinyama said.
The match was abandoned in added time after Stain Davie scored the winner for Silver while Nkhakananga had blown his whistle for a handball before allowing play to continue.
George Chaomba scored for Silver before Gaddie Chirwa levelled the scores.
