BB fined K1.5m for violence
Super League of Malawi (Sulom) has fined Nyasa Big Bullets K1.5 million for the violence during their 2-1 league match defeat to Silver Strikers, last month, which left some fans injured, objects thrown into the Civo Stadium pitch and forcing the match to be temporarily suspended.
A statement which Sulom issued yesterday said Bullets were fined K500 000 for failure to control the actions of supporters “contrary to Article 21(2) of Sulom Rules and Regulations and in line with Article 21 (3) of Sulom rules and regulations.”
Sulom, through its disciplinary committee, further found Bullets guilty of bringing the game into disrepute, contrary to Article 21(20) of the league’s rules and regulations and were fined K1 million.
“The reports that were available for the purposes of the disciplinary hearing heaped the blame on NMC Big Bullets for causing the fracas and disturbances. The oral testimonies presented before the disciplinary hearing corroborated this state of events. Further, NMC Big Bullets itself admitted and acknowledged its failure to control the actions of its supporters,” reads the statement in part.
Sulom has ordered Bullets to pay the fines before their next game which is against Be Forward Wanderers at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe on Sunday.
Bullets defender Pilirani Zonda, who was being accused by match assessor of physically assaulting referee Easter Zimba, was cleared after the referee’s report did not back up the claims.
Reacting to the punishment, Bullets general secretary Albert Chigoga ruled out any possibilities of appealing against the verdict but cried foul over the supporters’ costly behaviour.
“We regret our actions because it will cost us a lot of money when the club is already in financial turmoil. We will intensify awareness so that this does not happen again. We can’t continue paying for avoidable mistakes,” he said.
Silver Strikers, who were charged with failure to provide adequate security being the host side, have been cleared of any wrongdoing.
“The disciplinary committee gleaned through the available reports…and came to the conclusion that there was no direct evidence supporting the charge of failure to provide adequate security against Silver Strikers. It is, therefore, the finding of the disciplinary committee that Silver Strikers FC is totally exonerated from the charge,” the statement reads. n
