Kickoff (Cape Town)
1 December 2008
Controversy surrounding the sending off of Bloemfontein Celtic striker Geofrey Sserunkuma during the Telkom Knockout semifinal against Orlando Pirates is mounting.
Phunya Sele Sele coach Mich D'Avray has already indicated that they intend to appeal referee Abdul Ebrahim's decision to red card the Ugandan hitman.
Ebrahim showed the Ugandan striker a straight red after consultation with fourth official Yusuf Wauda, who is a member of Safa's Supplementary Referees panel, and this left the Free Staters reduced to 10-men just before half time.
D'Avray says he is waiting for the TV replays of the incident. Other media reports say that Celtic's DR Congo defender, Cyrille Mubiala, who picked a yellow card just prior to the incident for allegedly elbowing Bucs' Ivan Mhlambi should have been sent off.
Pirates' website indicates that they are of the opinion that Sserunkuma's sending off may have been brought about by his dissension with Ebrahim.
Celtic assistant coach Toby de Nobrega was also told to leave the bench after a heated discussion with the match officials Yugesh Anjith and Shaheem Salot, who are both listed as members of Safa's elite assistant referees' panel.
Ebrahim is from the Western Cape and the other three are from the Southern KZN region.
Sserunkuma, talking to KickOff.com this morning, says he is still nursing a broken heart after being shown the red card by Ebrahim.
Sserunkuma says he is still trying to seek answers from the referee.
"I was far away from the incident when the Pirates' player (Mhlambi) was fouled," he said.
"I find it very strange because it seems as if the referee acted on information he received from Pirates' players who were busy pointing at me after the incident. After he consulted with the linesman, I was surprised when he came straight to me and gave me the red card.
"I was far away; I never did anything or said anything during the incident."
Phunya Sele Sele assistant coach Tony De Nobrega, who was also shown a red card, is also still spitting fire, accusing Ebrahim of causing them to lose their match.
Ironically, earlier reports were that Golden Arrows' Mato Madlala intended to raise the question of the standard of refereeing at the League executive committee meeting last week following numerous complaints by PSL coaches, however, by a twist of fate this did not materialise.
League sources say the exco meeting was brief and that the matter was not raised.
The incident puts the spotlight even more on South Africa's referees, who have come in for heavy criticism all season.
A question has to be raised as to how Vawda, a man with only two years or so experience of refereeing in the lower leagues, ever got the job as fourth official in such an important game.
The chaos began on the stroke of half time. The Buccaneers were leading through Lucas Thwala's 40th minute penalty, when Pirates striker Irvin Mhlambi collapsed under the challenge, elbow-first, of DR Congo defender Cyrille Mubiala.
Initially, it was thought that Sserunkuma sending off was simply a case of mistaken identity. Though Mubiala was booked, television replays suggested it was merely for dissent.
The Star, however, has learnt that Ebrahim's report will state that he did indeed book Mubiala for the use of an elbow.
Vawda, however, caused total mayhem when he called Ebrahim over to the touchline and told him he had seen Sserunkuma deliberately elbow a Pirates player in an off-the-ball incident. This, quite simply, did not happen.
But Ebrahim, on his fourth official's advice, gave Serunkuma his marching orders, to the total disbelief of the Celtic bench, and the player himself.
Celtic assistant coach Tony De Nobrega was ordered from the field in the ensuing mayhem, for the use of the word "cheats".
"I did call them cheats," admitted De Nobrega yesterday. "I wasn't talking about anyone specifically; it was the referee, the assistants, the fourth official, even Pirates."
"I did apologise to the officials at half time, but the fact is they have got it wrong," continued De Nobrega.
Ebrahim and his fellow officials could be suspended for a number of days by the Safa referee review committee.
Safa referee review committee chairperson Kirsten Nematandani could not be reached for comment.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Kickoff. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
