Faulty floodlight sends GU, Nico clash into chaos
Kabelo Boranabi | Monday February 19, 2024 14:32
It was initially halted just before half time due to an electric fault on the floodlight situated at the Grand and North Stands. The floodlight had caught fire and match officials had to allow the Fire Brigade to attend to the situation. It was a more than a hour delay until the fire was put out, allowing the game to continue with an additional four minutes until the break.
The Reds were in the lead thanks to a 31st minute goal by Molaodi Tlhalefang as he took his league tally to eight this season. Barely five minutes since the two teams returned from recess, the match officials complained of the visuals. The assistant referee on the west side of the pitch had said that he would struggle to continue with the match saying the lighting was too dim. This resulted in yet another stoppage as MonitorSport could spot members of the two teams arguing that the fourth official be substituted in as the assistant referee.
The refereeing team resorted to inform the league officials and the match commissioner of the decision to call off the game due to disturbed sight.
The decision was not well received by some of members of the two teams. Speaking to journalists, the Botswana Football League (BFL), chief executive officer, Senzo Mbatha, was left wondering why the match officials had allowed the game to continue after the initial stoppage then complained about the light later on.
“One floodlight failed and fire fighters were called in and it was declared that the game could go on without that floodlight provided that lighting was sufficient on the pitch. So the match went on, and it was surprising that I think 10 minutes into the match that people decided they need a meeting and we established from the match commissioner that they have called off the match due to insufficient lighting.
“These things are beyond you as the league. We are not responsible for the referees; they are the responsibility of the association so we do not interfere with the referees’ work so we are hopeful that the report will give us a clear reasoning as to why the match was called off after it was agreed to be played by the same referees," Mbatha said. As of press time, the BFL had not decided on the fixture to complete the game.