Player’s arrest leads to match abandonment
The arrest of a player led to abandonment of a Chipiku Central Region Football League (CRFL) Premier Division match at Namitete in Lilongwe on Sunday.
CRFL general secretary Bernard Chiwiruwiru-Harawa confirmed that the game between Namitete Young Rangers and Dowa Medicals ended prematurely at half-time following the arrest of a Medicals player.
Said Harawa: “I am yet to get a full report of what exactly happened, but from what I have heard, the referee was forced to abandon the game because Medicals were not comfortable to continue playing following the arrest of their player.
“What I have gathered from the grapevine is that this particular player was implicated in a theft case when he was staying at Namitete, before relocating to Dowa where he joined Medicals.
“Now, when he travelled to Namitete with Medicals for the game, it would appear other people spotted him and tipped off the police.”
According to Harawa, police wanted to arrest the player before the match, but after discussions, it was agreed that the issue should be shelved until after the game.
“But all of a sudden, the police decided to arrest him at half-time, leading to the abandonment of the game. There is another unconfirmed version coming up that Namitete FC could have initiated his arrest, but we are not sure about that because as I said, I am yet to get full details,” he said.
He also said he was yet to get the identity of the player.
Lilongwe Police publicist Kingsley Dandaula confirmed the incident, saying the player, who was released on bail the same day, was wanted for theft of fellow players’ mobile phone handsets. He said the player has only been identified as Lenzo.
