Refs trash Sulom claims
The Super League of Malawi (Sulom) has said it has launched investigations on a tip that Mafco FC offered match officials lifts in their Super League games against Epac and Mzuzu United.
However, National Football Referees Committee (NFRC) on Monday defended the referees in question, saying after conducting their own investigations, they established that the allegations had no basis.
Sulom general secretary Williams Banda on Monday confirmed that they had launched investigations into the allegations following a tip they got.
“As for the game between Mafco and Mzuzu United, we established that the allegation was not authentic, but investigations on the other allegation are still on going,” said Banda.
He said according to a report they got, the referee in question was offered a lift by Mafco from his base in Salima to Lilongwe.
He also said as the league heads to the climax, Sulom is aware that some teams could be tempted to fix matches in the quest for either league honours or to avoid relegation.
“We have since put in place an ethics and integrity committee and we are monitoring the conduct of match officials and should they be implicated, then we shall take tough measures,” Banda warned.
NFRC general secretary Chris Kalichelo blamed Sulom for blowing the issues out of proportion.
“Sulom had no basis for their allegation and I went back to Williams Banda and quizzed him whether his source was credible. I told him to avoid taking all tips that he gets seriously because he could end up tarnishing the good image of innocent match officials. I am quite certain that is why they have dropped the case,” said Kalichelo.
He said his committee has cautioned referees across the country to desist the temptation of match-fixing.
“To that effect, we conducted a lecture on the same on November 17 to sensitise referees on the dangers of match fixing,” said Kalichelo.
He also said referees are not supposed to travel to or from match venues in vehicles of teams or club officials because that is tantamount to match-fixing.
Scova confirmed that he was the one who was implicated in both matches.
The Nation findings revealed that the referee implicated was Fransisco Scova.
“Actually, I was annoyed when our GS [Kalichelo] contacted me about the issue. Luckily enough, we were travelling in a vehicle that we hired from Salima to Dwangwa and he established that the allegations were not true,” said Scova.
