Emmanuel FC boss, Abel Maluleke
By: Refilwe Sebola
ABC Motsepe league side Emmanuel FC’s case with the South African football association is set to seat today 04 April 2024.
The Giyani based side is facing two charges for assaulting the match official and pitch invasion. The incidents happened in their away league game against Maruleng Celtics last month at Drakenserg Stadium in Hoedspruit.
According to Emmanuel Chairperson Abel Maluleke, the referee had given 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 alleges that the crisis was then escalated when an unknown man who allegedly came from the match commissioner’s car instigated violence against their captain for inquiring about the referee’s strange decision to abandon the match.
His narrative was backed up by his coach Musa Nkhondo who emphasized that his players and manager never assaulted the referee. However the Maruleng Celtics coach Dodo Tapfumaneyi disagreed.
He alleges that the Emmanuel manager and players did attempt to assault the referee which was why the match commissioner intervened to protect him. It remains to be seen if the game will be replayed or not. Should Emmanuel lose the case they will be docked three points and receive a possible fine.