Malawi army teams blame referees

Red Lions and Moyale Barracks coaches have jointly blamed the officiating personnel assigned for the Carlsberg cup semi final for giving away cheap penalties to Nyasa Big Bullets and Mighty Be Forward Wanderers played in Lilongwe and Mzuzu respectively over the weekend.

Bullets converted their penalty through Nelson Kangunje to level the scores against Red Lions while Wanderers had their penalty missed kick taken by Joseph Kamwendo save by Moyale keeper Jim Chikwenga.

The two coaches echoed their sentiments during their post match interviews on Saturday and Sunday in Mzuzu and Lilongwe with a local radio station.

Moyale Coach, Charles Kamanga blamed the referee for giving Wanderers a cheap penalty during the counter which was not converted.

“It is very sad to see referee deliberately giving away a cheap penalty in order to assist an opposing team to win the game. This is what I as killing our football in the country,” he fumed

Kamanga suggested that those entrusted to run football affairs in the country should look into these issues critically otherwise were arte being victimized unfairly.

“Yes we have to accept defeat but officiating personnel should desist from showing that they are taking sides when handling crucial games likes this,” he added

Moyale coach explained that the referee gave wanderers a penalty just because the team is being managed by some top people in society.

“This is what is slowing down our football development and things will never improve if our attitudes would be like this always,” he lamented.

Red Lion’s Assistant Coach, Prichard  Mwansa doubted Bullet’s penalty that was awarded by referee, Chidzwitso Simbi saying the penalty affected his team play.

“Our players were demoralized with the penalty and our opponents took advantage of that they came out and score the winning goal. If it was not that penalty we could have been saying a different story now,” he explained.

Mwansa said they have been disappointed with the loss despite putting up a gallant fight and they believe in their players who were ready to deliver the final touch.

“Our supporters and superiors were expecting good things from this game. We were the only army team which was left in the competition and this was our opportunity to make it to the final,” Red Lions assistant coach fumed.

He said his team has quality players who could deliver the goods and make us proud always.

Mwansa expressed hope that his team would do well in the other cups to come during the course of the season.

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) Competition Manager, Gomezgani Zakazaka said no team has ever played under protest against a referee’s decision

He pointed out that referees decision has always been final on the field of play within 90 minutes of regulation time and we could not grossly accuse him of his decision.

“So far we have not received any complaint from both clubs and were are expecting to receive two important documents regarding the two matches from the referee and match accessor. These are only documents that we can deal with in order to resolve any complaint,” he said

He said issues like behaviour of supporters outside the pitch and other related things could attract penalties not otherwise.

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