Silver demand quashing of punishment on referee
Silver Strikers are demanding the nullification of their punishment for featuring a suspended player in the wake of FAM referees’ sub-committee findings that referee Anthony Raphael failed to execute his duties properly.
Silver were stripped of three points by the Super League of Malawi (Sulom) after being found guilty of featuring striker Green Harawa against Kamuzu Barracks when he was supposed to serve two yellow cards.
Silver chairperson McDonald Mafuta-Mwale said following the verdict by the FAM referees subcommittees, his club has been vindicated of any wrong doing and that instead, it is the referee who should take the blame.
“We totally support that because it was him [Raphael] who put us in bad limelight having failed to indicate on the player’s card that he had been shown a yellow card in an earlier match against [Mighty] Wanderers.
“Following FAM’s findings, it is the referee who has to take the blame. We cannot stoop so low as to deliberately field a suspended player and we have always argued that it was the referee’s mistake.
“That is why we are insisting that we should be heard. It is not an appeal because we were never heard and Sulom should therefore, hear us without the [K450 000] appeal fee,” said Mafuta-Mwale.
However, Sulom general secretary Williams Banda said the verdict on the referee might not change anything in as far as the punishment muted on Silver is concerned because in the player’s report that was submitted to FAM, he admitted having been shown the yellow card.
“The fact of the matter is that both Silver and the player in question [Harawa] were aware that he was suspended.
“So the question of blaming the referee only for the mistake does not arise. We would also like to thank the FAM referees subcommittee for punishing the referees for their mistakes,” said Banda.
He also dismissed Silver’s argument that theirs was not an appeal, but a plea to be heard.
“KB lodged a complaint and it became a disciplinary matter and after our investigations, we indeed did establish that the player was suspended. So, if they want the issue to be reviewed, then they have to pay an appeal fee,” said the Sulom GS.
