Curtworth Masango
BLACK Rhinos vice-chairman, Edward Mutukwa, has criticised the standard of refereeing in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League after two of his club’s players were sent off in a 1-0 win over Yadah at Bata Stadium in Gweru on Wednesday.
Chauya Chipembere finished the match with nine men after Tatenda Mchisa and Kudakwashe Mukucha were given their marching orders.
Mchisa received a straight red card early in the first half and Mukucha in the second half.
Mutukwa expressed disappointment at the performance of referee, Lawrence Zimhondi, saying his team had been unfairly targeted.
He suggested some teams were being deliberately plotted to be relegated at the expense of others, and called for action to be taken by the authorities to improve the standard of football in the country.
“We are not happy with the way the referee officiated our match. It was clear he was biased against us.
“I don’t see how we can help develop our football if we keep on going like this. From the early stages of the game, one of our players was issued a straight red card from an unjustified off-ball incident.
“We had players being given yellow cards and wondered why it was only us. The referee was dubious and was always on our neck. We played the match with nine men despite coming out with a positive result.
“One wonders if it is this type of refereeing we are allowing. Zimhondi is the same person, who forced (Norman) Mapeza to say that he will quit football and I would say a review of a number of his matches are dubious.
“We all see it week in and week out. We understand that referees just like everyone make mistakes, but there should be a level of leniency not that it becomes an obvious case. All of us deserve better than that.
“We are going to approach all responsible authorities and appeal one of the red cards. You wonder what will happen with these referees. Just because we are going to the final matches and you start to hear a lot of penalties being issued and a lot of red cards. Why didn’t this happen in the past?
“There is a lot happening with our football. Some teams are being targeted for relegation. Why can’t we allow the game to be played in the field of play? If we don’t sort this out collectively, football won’t develop.
“We will also approach the ZIFA Normalisation Committee as we want them to provide a solution to this. Even the way clubs like Whawha and Bulawayo City got relegated was dubious. That should come to an end. We must be professional,” he said.