Oabetswe was stretched from the field of play with a broken shin following a robust tackle by BMC’s Opelo “Tumie” Sekanonyane in his team’s league encounter last Saturday in Lobatse.
But not withstanding his decision to forgive, he feels that Sekanonyane deliberately broke his leg arguing that ‘I was first on the ball and I even shifted my body and left leg to avoid any collision.’
“He went for my right leg,” he said but added: “I have forgiven him. That is one of those things that happen in football.”
He cautioned that ‘players should not tackle us like that. It is very funny because both of us were defenders and this incident happened in our quarter. It would have been better if he was a striker because he would have been attacking.’
The injury might spell doom for Oabetswe’s football career. He said even the medical personnel are not sure if he will be able to play again.
“They only told me that I might be ready for training in eight months but they were not sure. They have advised me not to rush things,” he said.
The tackle left him screaming with pain minutes before the end of the first half of the game, which his team went on to lose 3-1.
His decision to forgive Sekanonyane also follows BMC’s apology to his team for the incident. BMC Public Relations Officer Kerapetse Otukile said her team apologised to Satmos coach China Mading after the game and the latter accepted the apology.
“We are really sorry for the incident because the young boy was not doing it intentionally. I know we have some short tempered players and Tumie is not one of them,” she said.
She said that the young winger was only going for the ball but “accidentally” crushed his opponent’s right shin.
“It was a 50-50 chance but because the other player tried to pull out of the tackle he got injured. It could have happened to Tumie had he changed his mind about going for that tackle,” she said.
After the incident Sekanonyane was clearly scared and unsettled. Kerapetswe said that they have since talked to him about the incident and encouraged him to put it behind him and focus on his game.
“He was really scared and nervous and we had to calm him down after the game,” she said.
Although Satmos coach Mooketsi “China” Mading has accepted BMC’s apology, he also believes Sekanonyane deliberately kicked his player.
“That boy came a long way and it was clear he was not coming for the ball but the player. But this is football,” he said.
Mading said he also complained to referee Bikie Chidoda about his handling of the affair querying that he only flashed a yellow card to the offending player instead of a red card.
He however said that they have no intention of lodging a complaint with Botswana Football Association.
“That was a clear red card but the referee explained to me that he did not dismiss the player because he felt it was not intentional,” he said.
