Emmanuel FC
By Refilwe Sebola
Giyani based Emmanuel FC is accusing the match commissioner for the abandonment of their ABC Motsepe league game against Maruleng Celtic last Saturday at Drakenserg stadium in Hoedspruit.
Their Chairperson Abel Maluleke alleges that the referee gave their team manager a red card for complaining about some of his decisions during the game and while the manager was protesting, to their astonishment the match commissioner surfaced and took away the referee and his two assistants which led to the abandonment of the game.
Maluleke said the crisis was then escalated when an unknown man who allegedly came from the match commissioner’s car instigated violence against their captain who was only trying to understand the reason why the referees were leaving.
A video of the incident that is doing rounds on social media shows players of both sides pushing and hitting each other. Limpopo referees committee chairperson Ephraem Singo said he was still waiting for the match report from the league manager Refilwe Khosa and the review committee.
He however, expressed his disappointment over the allegations concerning the actions of the match commissioner. “The duties of the match commissioner according to the rules is to take the statistics of the game. But as I said we cannot do anything until we have received the report” he said. The two sides were deadlocked 1-1 before the game was abandoned few minutes before the final whistle.