Galaxy were at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Saturday afternoon in search of a win that would have enhanced their chances of progressing to the last eight of the competition.
The local champions had the worst of receptions in Dar es Salaam that saw the local officials engaged in physical altercations with the security personnel. A series of video clips flooded social media platforms showing the Simba security personnel denying Galaxy's playing and technical staff access to the field.
The clips show the local contingent forcing their way into the field only to have their pre-match activities disturbed. In one of the scenes, security personnel picked up a corner flag and tried to hit one of Galaxy's officials. Galaxy's head coach, Morena Ramoreboli, complained of his side's safety from the hotel to the stadium as he hinted that they incurred injuries during the fracas. Information reaching MmegiSport suggests that Galaxy will file a report to CAF. Included in the report are suggestions that Galaxy suspect food poisoning at the hotel.
This resulted in as many as five players having complications on the morning of the match but were assisted by the team's doctors. The report is said to further suggest that Galaxy had some luggage stolen from the dressing rooms on match day while they were denied the opportunity to inspect the pitch until the match commissioner intervened.
There are also reports of players exposed to dangerous gas in the dressing room, while Ramoreboli's match tactics were exposed. Lastly, one of Galaxy's officials had their phone stolen as the team complained of being hit with water bottles from the home fans. Galaxy have since remained mum on the matter as public relations officer, Tankiso Morake was yet to respond to MmegiSport enquiry at press time.
Galaxy and Simba are developing a fierce rivalry since the local team eliminated their opponents from the competition a few seasons back. Ahead of the tie played last Saturday, Galaxy were accused of playing tricks as they said to have sneaked into Tanzania without alerting their hosts of travel times and accommodation. The local team lost 6-0 although the off-the-field scenes provided the talking points.
