The Midlands Division 2 match between Chachacha and Rise of Hope Academy scheduled for last Saturday at Police Grounds failed to take place, after the ZIFA Referees Committee “forgot” to assign match officials for it.

After going through their warm up routines, both teams were surprised to discover that no match officials were present at the venue.

“On Saturday, we travelled to Chachacha for a league match but to our surprise, there were no referees. We called ZIFA, who later responded saying the Referees Committee forgot to assign match officials for our game,” a Rise of Hope official who asked not to be named, told Soccer24.

“We were really shocked. We travelled a distance of up to 55 kilometers and incurred costs in the process, only to discover that there were no match officials for the game. We just drove back home because there was nothing we could do” added the official.

In a letter seen by Soccer24, ZIFA Midlands Provice Board Member responsible for competitions Petros Phiri, apologised for the fiasco, confirming that the association’s Referees Committee indeed forgot to assign match officials for the match.

ZIFA Midlands Province would like to apologise on behalf of the referee’s’ committee and indeed on its behalf. There were no referees at the game between Chachacha and Rise of Hope FC. This was because the referees secretary under the referees desk did not assign referees to the game,” reads part of the letter.

“Please note that we tried to make alternatives or to put remedy to the problem but to no avail because the area of Shurugwi has a few referees. To save the situation, referees have to come from either Gweru or Zvishavane but it was too late.”