On September 15, Karoi United’s Peter Bhero probably rushed home to tell his family that he had scored against a team which had former Warriors stars Ronald Pfumbidzai and Leroy Mavhunga within its ranks.
If he is the kind of person who pays attention to detail, he ought to have specified that he in fact cancelled out Pfumbidzai’s first half opener, when Karoi hosted Scottland in a Northern Region Soccer League match played at Chikangwe Stadium.
Sadly for Bhero, he must have returned to that same family of his yesterday, to tell them that the goal no longer exists because history will say the game ended 3-0 in favor of Scottland.
The long awaited judgement in the case of the match between the two sides, which was abandoned in the 88th minute with the scoreline at 1-1, was finally delivered yesterday and title-chasing Scottland were awarded three points on a 3-0 scoreline.
The Northern Region Soccer League Disciplinary Committee found Karoi guilty of causing the abandonment of the clash, basing on the narrative that referee Martin Dingo, who conveniently said “no” to officiating a Premier Soccer League (PSL) match and opted for a Division One fixture during that same weekend, was hit by a missile and failed to last the remaining two minutes of regulation time.
Assuming that a missile was indeed thrown onto the field of play, as the match commissioner repeatedly argued throughout the hearing, by what means and with what success can it be proven that the individual who did so was a Karoi United fan?
What do football rules say if a referee gets injured and fails to continue?
Similarly, any sober football fan would ask the Northern Region Soccer League leadership a simple question: if they really wanted fair play to prevail in this case, why didn’t they deliver the judgement earlier so as to give Scottland’s title rivals MWOS a fighting chance?
The Northern Region Soccer League administration cast a blind eye on the fact that it’s own rules demand that the matter ought to have been heard and settled 14 days after the incident.
By the way, is it the same Northern Region Soccer League which presided over the issue involving Bindura United and Mushowani Stars in 2018?
In the aforementioned case, the match between the two sides was abandoned in the 80th minute with the scores at 2-2, after referee Langton Chitata was assaulted by an unknown assailant who had invaded the pitch.
The Committee fined Bindura US$1500 and cautioned Mushowani for failing to control their fans but the 2-2 result stood.
The following season, the Northern Region Soccer League match between Black Rhinos and Mushowani, played at Trojan Mine Stadium, was abandoned in the 80th minute as well, with the scoreline at 2-2, after referee Nelson Mawanda was assaulted by an unknown fan.
Both Rhinos and Mashowani were fined US$2000 but the 2-2 result stood.
Consequently, Scottland have leapfrogged MWOS into pole position with one game remaining before the curtain comes down on what has been a circus of a season in the eyes of anyone who sees football through objective lenses.
In the end, history will say the 2024 Northern Region Soccer League was decided, not by any football on the field of play, but by one of, if not the most controversial decision in the history of professional sport.