Battle for promotion hots up

CHAKARI – THE zeal to get promoted in Division 1 has caused some supporters of
Northern Region Division 2 clubs to be unruly towards match officials.
Whenever certain teams lose, the blame is levelled against referees. Referee
Innocent Marihwi escaped danger by a whisker recently when he was attacked by
supporters at Kawara grounds in Mhondoro Mubaira. The centre man was blamed
for alleged biased officiating.
The match pitted Kawara FC against Norton-based Triple C FC. The match was
abandoned during the second half following the kerfuffle.
Referees Banda, Christian Gumbeze and Tanaka Dzuke came back from the
Chakari United and Cyclone FC match with bruises all over their bodies and swollen
faces after they were attacked by Chakari supporters for allegedly favouring Cyclone
FC.
The attack on match officials also resulted in the match being abandoned in the
dying minutes of the game. Cyclone FC had equalised from being one down, but the
fans adjudged that it was an offside goal.
They started to throw stones, bottles and other objects to the referees. They then
stormed onto the field of play, where they manhandled the match officials and beat
them up. The three match officials suffered bruises before police officers came to
their rescue.
Bhora reDivision 2 rakutotyisa kurhefura nekuti hazvishamise kuti panogona
kutokuvara munhu zvakaipisisa. Mapurisa atiri kupihwa for security mashoma
chaizvo zvekuti dzimwe nguva tinotowana mapurisa matatu chaiwo pavanhu more
than 2000, said a referee, who did not want his name published.
Referee Ishmail Gostara had to flash three red cards at Sodbury players and an
official just after their match against Berks. Gostara was insulted and teased for
being biased in favour of the home team.
If we look at it, it is these teams with bad performance that are putting the much
loved sport into disrupt. Good teams are focusing on being better for them to
advance to the next stage, said Gostara.
Sodbury is anchoring the log with five points from 14 outings.
Norton Community FC leads with 30 points.
The Premier Soccer League (PSL) has blamed hooliganism and violence at and
called for the hooligans to be brought to book.

We would like to reiterate that violence and hooliganism have no place in our
football and we expect those that breach our rules and regulations to be brought to
book, PSL chairperson, Farai Jere, said.
Efforts to get a comment from D2 match commissioner Richard Gorerino were
unsuccessful fruitless by the time of going to print.