Livid u/15 players push ref around

WHAT was supposed to be a friendly match between arch rivals, Zone 3 United u/15 and Royal FC from Hospital View, at the Seshego zone 1 sports grounds on Sunday afternoon turned ugly when United players charged the referee and pushed him around after he awarded a penalty to Royal in the dying minutes of the match.

United, who were 4-2 in the lead towards the end of the match, started showing their dissatisfaction towards the referee when Royal reduced the deficit to only one goal. When the referee awarded a penalty, it was too much for the Seshego lads, who confronted the referee, who stood his ground.

United players cooled down a little and allowed the kick from the penalty mark to be taken, but after a goal was scored to level the score at 4-4, United players caused havoc and abandoned the match.

United coach, Ishmael Mothapo, said he was disappointed with the players’ conduct and said he was going to discipline them.

He said he could not allow a situation where u/15 players argued with the referee and went as far as pushing him around. “I started this club to develop soccer, not promote boxing. I do not tolerate players fighting referees. These boys know better. This will never happen again,” he said.

United captain, Tshidiso Nkomo, said he was embarrassed by his teammates’ conduct and promised to work on their behaviour in their training sessions.

“What happened here started at training. We do not respect each other and every player does as he wishes. Now that it has escalated to a match situation, I am confident the coach will deal with it,” said Nkomo.