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| Hail the Chiefs: fans face charges for ice dancing |
ABANDONED. It’s not the most cheerful word in the English language.
It brings to mind tiny lifeboats lost in a stormy sea, babies left in hospital
doorways.
And it’s not the happiest word in football either –
especially if you’re a Kaizer Chiefs fan waiting for Wednesday night’s replay
of their abandoned PSL clash with Leopards at Soccer City (kick-off 7.30pm, live
on SuperSport4).
Oh, how the AmaKhosi will suffer if they don’t claim all
three points. There they were, cruising at 2-0 after 34 minutes on Saturday
night, when the early-summer Highveld storm hit Johannesburg. One minute Chiefs
were stroking the ball around a green sward, the next hail had turned the pitch
in to a winter wonderland.
The ice had barely melted by the time Stuart Baxter came out
on the club’s official website insisting: “We will show the same winning intent.”
But there was no question of play continuing on Saturday when the clouds
broke. Daniel Bennett, the nation’s top referee, led the charge to the
sanctuary of the dressing rooms, declaring the surface unfit and potentially
dangerous.
As unruly fans drew an unnecessary PSL disciplinary charge
for larking about in the ice, match commissioner Stan Swart was a crest-fallen
man. He said: “We tried clearing the lines but that didn’t work. Then we tried
to get the pitch remarked but it was too wet. We had no choice but to ask the
teams to replay the game.”
And of course, under SAFA law 8.14 – a rule followed in most
FIFA nations – that means the match will be the full 90 minutes, started again
at 0-0. Had they managed to get back on the pitch and finish the game on
Saturday, they would have restarted from 2-0 up in the 35th minute. Bemused
Kaizer Chiefs fans are furious.
A cunning Leopards sangoma may be cackling away hysterically
somewhere up north, but in Soweto everybody wants to know what happens to the
two marvellous goals scored by Bernard Parker and Kingston Nkhatha before the
hail came down.
The sad truth is that Parker’s magnificent free-kick has now
been scrubbed from the records. And ‘Cijimpi’ Nkhatha’s second, neatly constructed, will not feature
either.
Though television producers are free to screen Parker’s
strike as a contender for Goal of the Month, it won’t count if Parker – who
scored four against Amazulu in the opening game of the season and two for
Bafana against Mozambique a week ago – is in the running for PSL top scorer.
So Chiefs have to do it all again on Wednesday, knowing the
Orlando Pirates – under controversial new coach Roger De Sa – had seen off
Platinum Stars 1-0 thanks to a disputed Andile Jali penalty and an early red
card.
That puts Pirates level with Chiefs on seven points, one
short of promoted shock-troops AmaTuks, Maritzburg United and Free State Stars.
Moroka Swallows, after their shock loss against Pretoria’s Clever Boys on
Friday night – are on six points with SuperSport United and Bloemfontein
Celtic.
Hard as it is to find a positive side to this awful word
abandoned, there is one consolation for deflated Chiefs fans. Eric “Tower”
Mathoho may be available for the replay.
He was ruled out of Saturday night’s clash following the
death of his uncle, David Galananzhele Mathoho, who passed away last Wednesday
after a long illness. Mathoho was given permission by the club to attend the
funeral.
Siphiwe Tshabalalala, rested after his Bafana duties against
Brazil and Mozambique, could also be ready by Wednesday night.
A frustrated Baxter said on www.Kaizerchiefs.com: “It is
difficult when a game is postponed and rescheduled - it changes our entire
program - but as professionals we will have to prepare now for Wednesday.
Leopards were always going to be tougher and they will not be different come
Wednesday as for us we need to go out and finish the business.
“We would have loved to continue playing after the storm but
then it was difficult to do so as the hail could not be removed without
removing the lines.
“The players are obviously disappointed that the game was
postponed but it was due to natural cause. I am confident that they will show
the same intent on the pitch.”
As for Tshabalala and Mathoho, Baxter said: “We will make a
decision this week but I was pleased with what I saw in the 30 minutes or so
that we played and we will have to build on that.”
But anything less than victory on Wednesday will leave the
Amakhosi with understandable feelings of injustice.
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