ZAMBIA’S most successful football club, ‘Mighty’ Mufulira Wanderers had their home ground, Shinde Stadium, shut on Friday for a record third time in 10 years.
The club that has produced some of the nation’s finest players in football history saw Shinde closed in 2005 after the fans rioted following the team’s 1-2 loss to Red Arrows and subsequent demotion to the lower division.
The Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) disciplinary committee also wielded an axe on Wanderers in 2008 when a pitch invasion by fans forced the abandonment of their match against Kitwe United.
Coming to the latest case, Wanderers, whose cabinet is laden with 50 trophies, will play their remaining final five home league games away from Mufulira and will also not use Shinde for their opening match in the 2016 season.
This verdict by the FAZ disciplinary sub-committee came after Wanderers’ MTN Super League Week 19 match against Zesco United was abandoned after crowd trouble.
The committee also fined Wanderers K5, 000 and suspended two assistant coaches, Moses Kashimoto and Mulenga Chewe for two matches for alleged verbally abusing referee Gladys Lengwe.
Kashimoto and Chewe will also each cough out K2,000 in fines. On the other side, Zesco were awarded three points and a 3-0 scoreline.
I think the decision to close Shinde was too harsh.
There has been some ugly scenes reported across several stadia concerning teams in the Zambian top flight but the only difference in the Wanderers’ case is that the match was abandoned.
To mete out such punishment on a team that has been struggling for several years financially is just incredible.
I thought a fine plus the suspension of the two coaches could have been enough as a deterrent measure.
Probably, the committee could have as well considered ordering Wanderers to be playing the six home games behind closed doors (without fans in the stands).
Actually, playing before empty stands is the general punishment worldwide whenever there is crowd trouble from supporters of the home team.
Even in Africa and Egypt to be precise, there have been violent scenes by rival supporters and big clubs like Al Ahly and Zamalek have time and again been forced to play behind closed doors.
I hope Wanderers will appeal and maybe that punishment could be revisited.
In the meantime, struggling Wanderers will have to suffer in terms of resources to ensure the team travels to Chingola or Chililabombwe to fulfil its home games obligations. For your usual comments contact: malungaf@gmail.com.