Super League of Malawi (Sulom) has said it will charge Karonga United for causing the abandonment of the FDH Bank Premiership match against Masters FC at Bingu National Stadium (BNS) in Lilongwe on Sunday.
The Northern Region-based side refused to return to the pitch following a floodlight failure in the 78th minute of the match.
In a statement issued after reviewing incident reports, Sulom said power was restored after 25 minutes and match officials made repeated efforts to have both teams resume play, but Karonga United refused.
The league has also confirmed that Masters FC have been awarded three points, with the result recorded as a 3-0 victory, in line with the forfeiture provisions of Article 23 of its Rules and Regulations.
“The body will continue to investigate the cause of the floodlight failure and the adequacy of the venue’s backup power arrangements,” reads the statement.
Masters FC chief executive officer Kevin Moyo welcomed Sulom’s decision in an interview.
However, Karonga United general secretary Ramzy Simwaka in an interview on Tuesday, said they did not violate any football regulations in the country, following its decision to refuse to continue playing after the power was restored.
“We made the decision because the BNS management and Sulom match coordinator Nelson Ngalonde failed to guide us to see where the fault that caused the blackout was,” he said.
Simwaka added that before the match started, they had agreed that there were 300 litres of special fuel that would be used in case of a power outage.
But in response, Ngalonde explained that the floodlights went off due to a shot circuit.
The match was abandoned with Masters FC leading 4-1.
