Outburst Leads To Game Cancellation
Calistus Kolantsho | Monday June 17, 2019 14:20
The Super rugby match played at the new Hogs stadium was later cancelled by referee, Alleck Maphosa at half time break. Hogs were on the lead 23-3 when the decision was taken.
Cheetahs coach, Seabe Gabatladiwe told Sport Monitor that he was shocked by the decision to cancel the game. He said the match official accused him of using insulting language against touch line judges.
“The only thing that I did was to remind Maphosa that he instructed the match to break for half time before regulation time. The half was left with three minutes and he also started the match late.
That rubbed the referee the wrong way and he then accused me of insulting his assistants. Look, even during the game he made wrong calls against us. I did not insult anybody. I am a professional coach and I have been in this game for a very long time. I cannot say such things,” Gabatladiwe said.
He said they have long requested for Maphosa to stop officiating Cheetahs matches because it seems as if the referee has something against the team. Gabatladiwe also said with such bad animosity, among them it is going to be difficult to trust each other moving forward.
Cheetahs’ official, Modesto Mazambi said the referee made a wrong call because instead of calling off the game, he should have sent Gabatladiwe to the stands. He said if indeed the coach had insulted the match officials, as a club they would launch an investigation into the matter.
Hogs manager, Lynn Warburton said they prefer not to comment in detail about the matter at this stage but would be take up the issue with Botswana Rugby Union (BRU).
For his part, Maphosa explained that Gabatladiwe used insulting language against his assistants until they broke down in tears.
“Giving him a red card was not going to help because we have done that before. Something had to give. A red card was not going to take away the emotional torture my assistants have endured. Their confidence was shattered. There was no way they would have been of use to me,” he said.
Maphosa, who is also the Referees Commission Chairperson rubbished the claims made by Cheetahs that he made bad calls against them, saying they failed to score despite playing against a 14 men team for ten minutes.
“What are the bad calls anyway? Do they even have any one to take their statistics? They had their own fair of penalties,” Maphosa lashed back.
He said it is now up to the BRU to decide on the way forward either to call for replay or fire the referee.