Pascalinah Kabi
MASERU — Bantu Football Club on Friday said they are not happy with a decision not to award them three points following last weekend’s abandoned league match against Matlama.
The Premier League Management Committee on Thursday docked three points from Matlama and ruled that their match against Bantu should instead be replayed next month.
The decision has however infuriated the Mafeteng-based club.
Referee Mohau Sentšo last Saturday called off the match after Tse Putsoa failed to produce players’ licences claiming they had forgotten them in Maseru.
“The premier league is deliberately ignoring the guidelines set in the rules and regulations on how to deal with issues like this,” Khabisi Moloantoa, Bantu’s general manager, said on Friday.
“Because of that, we are definitely appealing this decision.”
He said ordering a replay of the match when it is clear that Matlama is at fault was scandalous.
“Matlama is the one at fault here and ordering a replay between Bantu and Matlama is simply scandalous because we incurred a lot of expenses in organising last Saturday’s match which was not played because of Matlama’s fault,” Moloantoa said.
“Unfortunately Bantu lost a lot of money organising that match and in the case of a replay, who is going to take care of the expenses of the replay,” he said.
Bantu claim they spent M26 000 to put their players in camp for a week.
Moloantoa said they also hired two buses to transport players based in Maseru to and from Mafeteng as well as engaging a security company for the match.
He said the decision to dock three points from Matlama which they picked when they beat premier league rookies, Qoaling Highlanders, had nothing to do with the case at hand.
Premier League Management Committee public relations officer, Mosito Lekholo, said Matlama committed an administrative offence.
“Bantu expressed some dissatisfaction with the decision because they wanted to be awarded three points and goals but that was not possible,” Lekholo said.
“In any case, Bantu never had these points and goals they are fighting for in the first place. The match should be played so that Bantu collect these points fair and square.”
He said the match will be played during the weekend of October 14-15.
“The match will be replayed after the weekend of the Independence Cup. We just have not decided whether it will be played on Saturday or Sunday but we are certain it will be on the weekend of October 14-15,” he said.
He said they had followed the rules by docking three points and goals from Matlama for failing to produce licences.
He said Bantu will have to incur expenses again by re-organising the tie against Matlama.
“We didn’t look into the issue of who is and is not going to incur expenses but Bantu will still incur expenses just like any other game they will be hosting,” Lekholo said.
“We are giving both teams a chance to win the tie in the field of play. The match official should have decided that the match be played under protest last Saturday because Matlama had committed an administrative offence which didn’t prevent
the game from going on as planned,” he said.
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