Bad, Bad Friday night for Football
Thuso Palai | Wednesday December 4, 2013 11:55
The Botswana Premier League has acted, suspending some Centre Chiefs players and an official. Have they been a bit trigger happy? We wait to see if their charges will stick. Afterall, we are all presumed innocent until proven guilty. As things stand, Pontsho Moloi, Michael Mogaladi and Sebele Morakanyane are innocent until someone proves otherwise.
Back to the incidents of Friday night; No matter how strongly one feels that they have been robbed, some behaviour is just unacceptable. Even if Mochudi Centre Chiefs feel they were robbed, as they claim, does it justify all that they did during and after the game? How many teams have been victims of questionable decisions before and lost games, sometimes against the same Centre Chiefs, and have they ever behaved like that? I had a chat with one Centre Chiefs player after the game and he said, ‘it is not easy to control emotions sometimes’. Well; I’ve seen other teams do it.
Is it hard for Centre Chiefs players and officials to control their emotions? Whatever happened to good sportsmanship and accepting the results, no matter how wronged one feels? I will not bring in the penalty vs. no penalty decision, but for me it is immaterial whether it was or not; but it does not in any way justify that despicable, deplorable behaviour. Personally I feel it was a soft, soft penalty, and the decision could have gone either way, but it does not justify the disgraceful behaviour that followed.
If indeed all that has been reported to have happened after the game is true then stern action should be taken against the perpetrators. There have been reports that referee Joshua Bondo was punched, some officials were assaulted for trying to intervene, the BPL CEO was manhandled for trying to come to Bondo’s rescue and chairs were broken by irate Centre Chiefs officials. All these are just allegations of what happened, and they have necessitated the suspensions. It however does not mean that they indeed perpetrated the misdemeanours, as it is still yet to be proven. Bondo has reportedly submitted his match report, and that also prompted the BPL to act.
I have also been told that Bondo has registered a case of assault with the Botswana Police. Both cases will depend on witness accounts and we all know who will say what, depending on which side of the fence they are. There are those who say the players did assault the official and there are those who say they never touched Bondo. Interesting indeed. If it were up to me I would plead with Bondo to withdraw the Police case and let this be a football matter.
Notwithstanding that; maybe there is just a hullabaloo about nothing. Maybe no one touched Bondo. Maybe he is just making this up. But I ask myself why he would say he was assaulted when he was not. Like I said, the two players are innocent and it is up to Bondo and those who claim to have seen the incident to prove otherwise. The valid issue of issue of emotions has come up, and yes sometimes our emotions get the better of us. But that is no excuse for some things.
One thing that really got me thinking is the allegation that the referee was ‘bought’. This thing that match officials are allegedly paid to sway games in favour of some teams really puzzles me. It seems like it is a disease in our football. Or is it an excuse for losing teams to justify why a bad decision went against them. If we were to go by the analogy that every bad decision is because of referees being ‘bought’ then all referees would be guilty. I see glairing mistakes every weekend, some even worse than the Friday incident.
Unfortunately those who always make this allegation never come forth to prove it. Some Centre Chiefs officials and players threw tantrums and went berserk, accusing the match official Joshua Bondo of ‘selling’ their game against Township Rollers. I have witnessed countless games when teams were awarded phantom penalties, with Centre Chiefs among the many beneficiaries of border line decisions in their favour. Does it mean they have also bought referees, If they can so be sure that Bondo ‘sold’ the game, how do they know? Centre Chiefs have done well to let the cat out of the bag; they now need bring forth evidence so that we nip this problem in the bud, if indeed it does exist.
What happened on that Friday night cannot be condoned and should be nipped in the bud. As much as we can tip-toe around the issues, some behaviour is downright unacceptable. The behaviour on the field was appalling. As to what happened in the dressing rooms, I hope what I hear is not true. Yes; emotions come into play, but that cannot be used as an excuse. At this particular moment we are just on MAYBEs. Maybe they did assault him. Maybe Bondo is just being an attention seeker and making false accusation. But whatever happened, however it happened, it was not good on the eye. The incidents of that night were greatly disturbing and not good for our football.