Sibanda warns hooligan players
ZIFA vice-president Omega Sibanda has vowed to deal ruthlessly with the wayward players who attacked match officials in the Southern and Northern Region Division One matches at the weekend.
Amagagasi player Lethukuthula Mathe was caught on camera assaulting a referee in Victoria Falls.
Mathe has since been banned from the game for attacking referee Bekezela Makeka.
“It is very sad that in just one weekend, we had incidents of violent attacks on match officials in Victoria Falls, Hwange, and Harare. We cannot afford to let this dent the image of the game and we don’t want to lose lives because of some hooligans.
‘‘Players should desist from taking the law into their hands, if a player wants to be a referee he should attend the necessary courses and if one wants to be a fighter he is free to join the likes of Charles Manyuchi in the boxing ring and not at football matches.
“The Zifa structures will descend heavily on the perpetrators of violence and I also hope the referees have made police reports on the cases,’’ Sibanda said.
The Southern Region will this week stage only two matches amid revelations that many of the teams have not yet paid affiliation fees 24 weeks into the season.
The clubs have also not paid the match day fees for this weekend.
This has forced the region to put on hold all games except those for Casmyn against Talen Vision and former Premiership side Bantu Rovers who will take on Indlovu Iyanyathela.
Meanwhile, Yadah FC are back on top of the Zifa Eastern Region Division log after they were awarded three points from their abandoned match against Tenax at Sakubva.
The match was abandoned after the referee"s decision to award Yadah a penalty provoked chaos.