FAM likens Silver’s controversial goal to Maradona’s ‘hand of God’
FAM vice-president Jabbar Alide has likened Silver Strikers’ controversial goal against Mighty Mukuru Wanderers to that of Argentine legend Diego Maradona against England during the 1986 Fifa World Cup.
He was clarifying Football Association of Malawi’s (FAM) competitions sub-committee’s decision to award the abandoned Airtel Top 8 quarter-final first leg to Silver even when referee Godfrey Nkhakananga confessed blowing his whistle for an infringement, but allowed play to continue leading to the Central Bankers’ second goal.
Wanderers players protested the goal and refused to continue playing, leading to the abandonment of the match.
In the case of the World Cup encounter, Maradona scored with a hand and with the referee’s vision blocked, he looked at the linesman for guidance, but the linesman saw nothing wrong and the goal stood.
Said Alide: “It is not within our jurisdiction to deal with technical issues in as far as the proceedings of a game are concerned because there is an appropriate committee that deals with that. Our power ends at referring that issue to an appropriate committee to make sanctions.
“There have been questions about why referees’ decisions are final, and people having different perspectives. I must say that whether we like it or not, organising committees of competitions, be it at Fifa or CAF, you do not interfere with the decisions.
“I will give you an example of Diego Maradona’s goal, hand of God. The crowd saw it was a hand ball, players saw it was a hand ball, he admitted that ‘I scored using my hand’.
“[At the] end of the match, nothing was done because the issue had to deal with interpretation of the rules of the game.”
He said that is why after noting that there was a problem in interpretation of the rules of the game by the referee, they referred it to the appropriate committee [the referees sub-committee].
“Because it is not our jurisdiction to decide whether the referee’s decision was wrong or right,” he said.
On the match being awarded to Silver, Alide said: “Wanderers caused an abandonment of the match and the rules are clear that if a team causes an abandonment of the match, it loses the match 2-0.
“I will give an example. In 2019, Moroccan club Wydad Athletic’s appeal against their forfeiting of the second leg of the CAF Champions League final, which saw the trophy awarded to Esperance of Tunisia, was dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. It was dismissed because they caused an abandonment.”
However, Wanderers board secretary Chancy Gondwe said Alide’s explanation was not satisfactory.
He cited a 2018 World Cup qualifier between South Africa and Senegal in which the referee awarded a penalty for a non-existent handball and the referee was banned for life for match manipulation.
“This match was replayed and Fifa found Joseph Lamptey guilty. So, it cannot be that the referee’s decision is final,” argued Gondwe.n
