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MBABANE – MTN Premier League rookies Madlenya have attracted the wrath of the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) Disciplinary Committee (DC).

One of their officials was seen sprinkling liquid by the Mbabane Highlanders technical bench during their Week 17 fixture, which was played at Mayaluka Stadium on Saturday.

The black and white capital city giants narrowly beat the rookies by a scoreline of 2-1, thanks to a late strike by second half substitute Musa Dlamini.

It was Highlanders who broke the deadlock four minutes into the game through new signee Fabrice Mopina and the rookies levelled matters on the stroke of half time as they were awarded a penalty by Referee Letticia Viana, and defender Thabiso Dlamini made no mistake from 12 yards out.

Just after the start of the second half, the official was seen sprinkling the liquid substance by the Highlanders’ technical bench, which got the attention of the fourth official Sanele Ntimane, who then warned the official from doing such an unsporting behaviour.

Frowned

Such a misconduct by the rookies’ official is frowned upon by the MTN Premier League Rules and Regulations could land the team into trouble should they be hauled before the DC, if the incident was captured by the referee and match commissioner on their match reports.

These documents are used by the DC to charge offenders.

The official, for this misconduct, has contravened Article 10.10 and 10.10.1of the 2022/23 MTN Premier League Rules and Regulations, which clearly states that: Use of any substance that is alien to, or is foreign to, a football field or stadium is not allowed.

Offence

It continues in Article 10.10.1 to state that, it shall be an offence for a club, if its supporters, fans, officials, players and/or ball retrievers, are seen using any substance that is alien to, or is foreign to, a football field or stadium.

Foreign substances may include, among others, liquids poured in the passage, tunnels or fields; chalk drawings or painting of walls in the change rooms, passages and tunnels, burning of incense or any substances/ materials in the change rooms, passages, tunnels or fields; applying any oil or lotions to match balls and match equipment, digging of the fields use of mirrors and so on.

In Article 10.10.2, it states that any club identified by the Referee/Match Commissioner committing any of these offence(s) shall be summarily fined an amount of E30 000 by the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE).