Wanderers accuse Silver of harassment
Be Forward Wanderers have alleged that hosts Silver Strikers denied them access to Silver Stadium ahead of last Sunday’s TNM Super League clash.
The Nomads say they were harassed by Silver Strikers, a development which they claim affected them psychologically.
According to the Nomads vice-general secretary Chris Kananji, team manager Steve Madeira and captain Francis Mlimbika they were blocked from entering Silver Stadium in Lilongwe for a pre-match meeting on Sunday morning.
Kananji said as per match procedures, the hosting team is supposed to surrender the dressing room keys during the pre-match meeting in the morning, but Silver allegedly defied the rules.
He said after being frustrated with the delays to get the keys, they wanted to use the team bus as a dressing room before the keys were surrendered around noon.
Kananji also complained that the players were insecure when heading to the dressing room, claiming that supporters blocked the entrance.
But Silver Strikers team manager Francis Songo, who was part of the pre-match meeting, dismissed Wanderers’ claims.
“Firstly, we are not the ones who keep the keys. We have stadium management team where they were supposed to access them. This is exactly what I told them,” he said in an interview yesterday.
Songo, however, said Silver had their dressing room keys available because they know where to get them.
“We are the home team so you don’t expect us not to have the keys,” he said.
On alleged harassment of their opponents’ players and officials, Songo said there was no substance in their claims.
“Why didn’t they complain yesterday? These are just cooked-up stories,” he said.
Sulom general secretary Williams Banda confirmed being informed about the incident.
“The keys are supposed to be handed over soon after the pre-match technical meeting. This enables the referees to inspect the dressing rooms. But in this case this procedure was not followed and it is very unfortunate,” he said.
Banda said they will investigate the matter after receiving the match report.
