EVATON.- An unfortunate incident unfolded after the Safa Sedibeng Hollywood Regional League match between SUBS and Perfect Academy at Qedilizwe ground last Saturday.

Former PSL referee Victor Hlungwane and another referee were allegedly attacked after the game and have since opened a case with Evaton Police Station. Hlungwane told Sedibeng Ster Sport that he was attacked by a soccer fan when he tried to intervene to protect a match official who was brutally assaulted by soccer supporters.

This was after SUBS and Perfect Academy played to a 1-1 draw in the Hollywood League match, which was a must-win for Perfect Academy. Perfect Academy had to win this game to stay at the top of the log, with Young Pirates second in the league with the same number of points. This game against SUBS, one way or another, was going to decide the league title in Stream A. It is alleged that Perfect Academy supporters were not happy with the officiating of the match official.

Speaking to Sedibeng Ster, Hlungwane said his sin was to intervene when the supporters assaulted the match official.

“I was attacked by a soccer fan when I tried to stop them from beating up the referee. I have already opened the case with Evaton Police Station and I also submitted a medical report. I was on the stand when this accident happened with Perfect Academy supporters attacking the match official. I came onto the pitch to protect the referee, but one soccer fan attacked me as well.”

“The referee was badly assaulted and he also opened a case at Evaton Police Station on the same day. I’m very disappointed with what happened on Saturday because our football deserves better than this. Look, the match official had a bad game on the day, but this doesn’t justify what those supporters have done to him. He is badly injured because if you look at the video, they were throwing stones at him from close range. I have been officiating in top-flight football and I have never experienced something like this. It was terrible to see the way the referee was bleeding,” said Hlungwane.

Hlungwane said he also submitted a report to the league on what happened on the day. Speaking to Sedibeng Ster Sport, Perfect Academy Coach, Sechaba Mofokeng said it was not their supporters who assaulted the referee. Mofokeng said the home team, which was SUBS, was supposed to protect the referee because they were the hosting team.

“I heard people saying it was Perfect Academy supporters who assaulted the referee and many accusations were made against me and my wife on social media. They said my wife and I took the referee’s bags and watch, and mind you, my wife was not even at the match. She was at work on Saturday. We also opened the case and we will meet in court because we are not responsible for what happened on Saturday. If the incident had happened at George Thabe Stadium, which happens to be our home ground, we could have taken responsibility. But now the game was played at Qedilizwe ground and SUBS was the host,” said Mofokeng.