Mandava Madness: Another bad advertisement for a local game

Sadness is a natural human feeling. But for those who love local football and were subjected to ugly scenes at Mandau Stadium on Saturday, the sadness was probably deep.

Violence erupted at the end of the second half when referee Kuziwakwamari Jaravaza, on the advice of his assistant Albinas Zigwati, awarded a penalty on Pure Platinum Play after Peter Mudukhva was fouled by Walter Monsoon.

At first glance, it looked like a penalty, but TV reruns proved otherwise – they showed that the contact took place outside the box, when it was.

As expected, the Bosso players protested against this decision, rightly believing it to be the wrong challenge.

Some Bosso fans replied that they had invaded the field, targeting Zigwati, who had to flee because things had gotten very bad.

Fans continued their attack and damaged billboards on the far side. They even ignored the Highlanders’ captain Ariel Sibanda’s request to calm down and return to the stands.

Realizing that the situation was spiraling out of control, police were forced to respond by using tear gas to disperse the crowd.

It all happened on camera live, and ZTN commentator Howard Musonza had a hard time outlining the situation.

It was a horrible trailer for a game that is already dead and looking for a miraculous resurrection.

The worst thing is that not only the fans did not respect the judge’s decision, although it was not correct. The Highlanders players were repeatedly told to return to the field, but they refused to do so.

Mudukhva even sat on the bench and ignored the fourth referee’s request to return them to the field so that penalties could be taken.

In order not to justify the judge’s decision, it was wrong. But Highlanders fans and players were also wrong before police made matters worse.

We have seen countless cases where judges have made mistakes that have been decisive, but the reaction has been poor.

This would not be the first and not the last time an official’s mistake decided a football match.

The Highlanders themselves have repeatedly benefited from the judges ’mistakes, but that’s a story for another day.

The police also had to deal better with the chaos when chaos broke out in the mining town of Zvishane.

Two mistakes are not right – the fans were wrong, and so are the police, but unfortunately, again and probably not for the last time, the image of the game suffers.

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