Nomads to challenge FAM’s verdict
Mighty Mukuru Wanderers say they will appeal against FAM competitions committee’s decisions on the abandoned Airtel Top 8 quarter-final first leg against Silver Strikers at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe.
The Nomads’ acting chief executive officer Roosevelt Mpinganjira confirmed the decision in an interview yesterday, but referred Nation on Sunday to the club’s board secretary and legal adviser Chancy Gondwe for more details.
He said: “I can confirm that we are appealing FAM’s verdict, but our board secretary, who is also our legal adviser, counsel Chancy Gondwe, can provide more details.”
However, Gondwe could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Among others, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) competitions committee awarded the match to Silver by a 2-0 margin after finding the Nomads guilty of causing the abandonment of the match following their players’ refusal to continue with play in protest of the referee Godfrey Nkhakananga’s decision.
The committee also imposed upon Mighty Mukuru Wanderers FC a financial sanction of K500 000 for being found guilty of failing take the necessary precautions to prevent their supporters from displaying unsporting behaviours by throwing objects into the field of play and damaging stadium seats.
The FAM competitions body also ordered the Lali Lubani Road outfit to pay for the costs associated with the repair and restoration of any damaged facilities at the stadium estimated at about K22 million.
A K2 million fine was also imposed on the club for being found guilty of bringing the game of football, FAM and the sponsor into disrepute.
The committee also dismissed the club’s protest, saying it was inadmissible “because according to Article 13.5 of the Airtel Top 8 Rules and Regulations, the decision taken by the referee during any match relating to interpretation of the Laws of the Game is not subject to protest”.
FAM referees subcommittee has since slapped Nkhakananga with a four-month suspension by for failing to control the match by allowing play to continue after blowing his whistle to stop play, continuing play without proper restart, allowing a goal from a dead ball and giving advantage by blowing a whistle.
Football pundit Charles Nyirenda was quoted by our sister newspaper, The Nation, as having said that the Nomads can challenge the appeal because it has some loopholes.
He said: “The determination is in two parts. The first part is on the abandonment of the match. The determination acknowledges that Nkhakananga blew the whistle for a hand ball, but went on to allow play and Silver scored.
“Now, the other part is the damage of the stadium property, which mainly are the bucket plastic chairs. According to the assessment by the stadium authorities , 239 seats were destroyed. The question is how much does each seat cost? I find the K22 million to be very high.
“I am not convinced what was damaged can cost that much.”
