Civo forfeit prizes after boycott

Civo United FC have forfeited the Christmas hampers they were supposedto receive after participating in the Malawi Schools Sports Association (Massa) Super Cup following the club’s refusal to go into penalty kicks against Big Bullets after a nil-all draw.

Players and officials from top three teams at tournament were supposed to receive Christmas hampers provided by Rab Processors Limited but the tournament organizers withheld hampers that Civo were supposed to receive pending a decision on the action by Civo, who boycotted penalty shoot-outs after playing a goal-less draw against Bullets.

Massa general secretary Blackson Malamula, who headed the organising committee has since disclosed that the Christmas hampers that were supposed to be given to Civo have been relocated to other people who
assisted in running and organising the tournament.

Malamula also said Bullets and Blue Eagles FC got more packs than planned after Massa and the organising committee had resolved to hold Civo’s hampers.

“Blue Eagles and Bullets were supposed to get 20 hampers each but we increased the allocation for each of the two teams to 22 when it became clear that Civo would not receive their hampers. The remaining 16 hampers were given out to people who helped in running and organizing the competition,” said Malamula.

Despite the condemnation poured on his side for the unsportsmanship behavior, Civo team manager Austin Nyondo justified the club’s action, insisting they had inside information that they were not going to play
in the final even if they won against Bullets.

“We were told by a member of the organising committee that regardless of the outcome of our game against Bullets, we would not play in the final. We were informed that Bullets and Blue Eagles would meet on the
final day following the absence of Zambian side Nkhwazi FC,” said Nyondo.

On the decision by Massa to relocate the team’s prize, Nyondo said there was nothing his team could do about the issue but added that the team will have to reconsider its participation in future Massa events.