On Tuesday this week there still was no word from Safa regarding progress in the matter, presumably because the issue was still making its way through the Safa corridors.
THE SOUTH African Football Association (Safa) are studying the referee’s match report regarding circumstances that led to the abandonment last Sunday of the ABC Motsepe League football final between Kimberley Real Madrid and Upington City at the Postmasburg Showgrounds.
Safa provincial secretary Willem Coetzee confirmed that the matter is being handled by the relevant Safa structure. A decision on the matter will be issued well ahead of the staging of the national finals of the ABC Motsepe League in June, he said.
Meanwhile, the match referee, Lionel Bergman, who is reported to have been badly injured in the scuffle that unfolded, has in the meantime laid criminal charges against as yet unnamed persons following the incident.
ALSO READ: ABC Motsepe League finals end in chaos
A witness of Sunday’s chaotic scene at the Postmasburg Showgrounds has described what happened on the pitch that led to the game being abandoned.
Apparently, the teams were drawn level (2-2) in the very late stages of the game and the fourth official at the match had indicated the time left to play as being less than five minutes.
At that time Real Madrid were awarded a corner kick and the Madrid players had, along with the opposing defenders, positioned themselves in front of the Upington City goals for the corner kick.
The ball was floated into the Upington City goal area and players of both teams jumped to head the ball. In the scramble, a Madrid attacker was brought down in the box. The attacker and a marker went down without either of them touching the ball and the ball floated into the net directly from the corner kick.
The source told the DFA that despite the foul in the box the referee let play go on unhindered, ceding the advantage to Madrid.
The referee pointed towards the centre spot for the restart of the game, meaning the goal that went in from the corner kick was allowed and credited to Real Madrid.
The source said that an opposing team player then ran towards the referee who started retreating from the advancing player and that – according to the witness – is when the chaos started.
The referee and his assistants were chased around the field by irate Upington City players and an assortment of unknown persons, and as a result of the melee, the match was abandoned.
