Motlakase cry foul after Rollers loss
Leornard Matota | Tuesday March 25, 2014 14:33
Rollers were awarded a last minute penalty after Motlakase defender Oteng Oganne was adjudged to have handled a Sekhana Koko volley inside the box.
Lovemore Murirwa then stepped up to convert Rollers’ only goal of the game.
However the much needed win for Rollers did not sit well with the opposite camp.
Immediately after the final whistle, Motlakase officials rushed towards the match officials accusing them of robbing their clubs a point. A war of words erupted with some swearing at referees. However, other officials reminded them that the last thing they wanted to do would be to beat up the whistle man.
Motlakase chairman Samuel Kealotswe told Mmegi Sport that he confronted the referee Uyapo Julius with two of his players who claimed to have heard the referee advising Rollers to put the ball in their box.
“To start with, the five minutes added time was way over and the ball hit Koko’s hands before hitting our player who was brought down in the process.
We knew this was bound to happen the moment we realised that we were assigned a referee we have always complained against,” he said.
Kealotswe added that Julius never protected his players.
“This is simply adding salt to our wounds as we had requested for our game against Rollers to be played in Selibe Phikwe but this was denied without giving reason,” he said.
He said that they would submit a written and formal complaint to the Premier League, and because Bennet Mamelodi’s organisation has never replied their previous complaints, the BFA President Tebogo Sebego will be copied too.
“The Premier League office and referees commission are not fair to us at all.
“This will scare us away from the game. Should action not be taken against Julius, we will be forced to report the matter to FIFA,” he stressed.
However, Rollers spokesperson, Phempherethe Pheto poured cold water on the accusations.
“We are used to all that and who would seriously consider frustrated players saying they overheard a referee asking players to put a ball in the box while the game is on.
At Rollers we are not involved in any match fixing and as far as we are concerned that was a penalty as their player handled in the box.”
BPL chief executive officer, Bennett Mamelodi said they had not received any protest from Motlakase, adding referees are always rotated. He said the request to play in Selebi-Phikwe was received late.