Wanderers risk suspension, fined K1.6m for violence
*SULOM fines Bullets fined K500,000 for fans pitch invasion
*National Referees Committee demanded to discipline referees involved
*The result of the match is at 1-1 since at 75 minutes of stoppage, it had matured
Mighty Wanderers have been found guilty of contributing towards the abandonment of the May 1, 2021 Blantyre derby against their arch rivals Nyasa Big Bullets and have since been fined a total of K1.602 million.
However, the Nomads have been have cautioned by the Super League of Malawi (SULOM) disciplinary committee that should they commit a similar offence to any of the two offences within this on-going season, they shall be suspended forthwith.
The offences Wanderers have been found guilty include failure to control actions of supporters by contrary to art. 21.9 of the SULOM Rules and Regulations; and direct interruption or disturbance of the normal proceedings of a game contrary to article 21.2(3) of the SULOM Rules and Regulations.
Nyasa Big Bullets have also been found guilty and fined K500,000 for an offence of failing to control the actions of their supporters who invaded the pitch contrary to article 21.49 of SULOM Rules and Regulations.
The disciplinary committee that convened on May 14 determined that considering the circumstances of the case, where Wanderers “did not put effort to quail the conduct of the supporters and players; and also considering that the team “also committed similar offence in 2019, and the quest to deter the team and other teams from committing similar offence in future”, the Nomads have been fined K1.5 million.
The disciplinary committee says the penalty for offence of direct interruption or disturbances of the normal proceedings of the game — as instigated by Stanley Sanudi — varies with the duration of the interruption.
Quoting the report from game’s Match Assessor Alfred Chasowa, the game was stopped for 34 minutes at the 82nd minute and quoting SULOM Circular for 2020/2021 Super League stipulates that any match disruption shall be charged at the rate of K3,000 per minute — thus the total of K102,000 for the 34 minutes.
The verdict says the “conduct of Stanley Sanudi deserved to be punished by the referee [Gift Chiko] by way of red card” but Chiko “failed his duty by losing control of the game”.
“If he had exercised his discretion well, Sanudi would have been shown matching orders. The Committee, therefore, suspend Stanley Sanudi from being featured in the game for two consecutive games with immediate effect.”
In the case of of mismanagement of the game by the officiating personnel of Chiko and his 1st assistant Bernadetta Kwimbira, include the continuation of the game while coincidentally disciplining the players.
“According to the rules, the game was supposed to be stopped at that juncture,” says the verdict. “The failure by the referee to stop the game was not only a breach of the Laws of the game but has also infuriated Be Forward Wanderers as Nyasa Big Bullets almost scored a goal.”
Thus the disciplinary committee recommend to the National Referees Committee to discipline the referee(s) involved as in addition Kwimbira had a verbal exchange with the team officials and players.
“This was uncalled for on the part of the player and match official officials as it exposes them to the danger of undermining the authority of the officiating personnel and result in pandemonium.
“The Laws of the game also abhors such engagements. The appropriate thing for the assistant referee to do was to caution the indiscipline player using the cards which are their official tools [which] can be done at any stage of the game including before, during or after the match has ended.
“This verbal altercation, in our view, must have fueled the anger of the parties and was avoidable if proper cautions were adopted. The NRC needs to review this and assess if the game officiation met the required standards.”
The disciplinary committee also took cognizance that both Wanderers and Big Bullets formally complained to SULOM about the lack of professionalism on the part of the Referees.
As for the match itself, it has been judged to have matured at 75 minutes of stoppage, “hence therefore the result of the match will remain Be Forward Wanderers 1 Nyasa Big Bullets 1 as it was when being called off”.
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