THE PENALTY KINGS! Kaizer Chiefs do it again... but questions have to be asked

ON THE SPOT: Willard Katsande again

THERE'S a trend emerging in the PSL. And it has to be talked about. Kaizer Chiefs, utterly ineffective up front but still in the title race, have been awarded FOUR PENALTIES in their last FOUR GAMES.

It's never comfortable having a go at South Africa's most popular club. They have a reputed following of 15 million in a nation of 60 million. They are an institution. They are the current champions. But it's getting hard to ignore the help they're getting from South Africa's sub-standard officials in recent weeks.


Here are the facts: Apart from the drab 0-0 draw with current leaders Mamelodi Sundowns, we have the Telkom KO final, the 2-1 win over Bidvest Wits and Sunday’s 1-0 win over Bloemfontein Celtic as evidence.

The two penalties in the final were simply laughable. Chiefs were never in the game. Referee Khulisani Qongqo offered Steve Komphela’s lacklustre troops a way back in TWICE but Siphiwe Tshabalala and Camaldine Abroad both saw their penalties saved by Man of the Final Dennis Onyango.

Triumphant Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane simply laughed about the spot-kicks afterwards: “You all saw it… you know” he said, and avoided another PSL fine. After all, it was December 16, Reconciliation Day.

Fast forward three days to the big League clash: Against Bidvest Wits in Cape Town on December 19. Gavin Hunt, slightly more aggressive than Mosimane, was beaten 2-1 after referee Daniel Bennett offered Chiefs another penalty - this time it looked a reasonable shout - amid a couple of crucial pro-Chiefs decisions, including a missed off-side for the winner.

Hunt said: “We knew Chiefs would get a start, you saw it, but what can we do? Wits are an unfashionable club. You know how it works.”

And so to Sunday in Bloemfontein. Good atmosphere, poor surface, not a great game. Chiefs were probably the better side but when Malawian Gabadinho “Frank” Mhango broke in to the box for Celtic and was tripped by Tower Mathoho, referee Thabo Mkosi immediately blew.

But was it a penalty? NO! He cautioned the unfortunate Mhango for “simulation” and Steve Komphela’s men were off the hook. At half-time, we all saw the replays. We all saw the truth.  Celtic had been robbed.

Then, with 70 minutes gone and not a goal in sight, Chiefs new signing William Twala, on as a sub for the lamentable Ugandan Sula Matovu, hit the post with Cameroonian goalkeeper Patrick Tignyemb getting a touch.

That looked like it was going to be the closest thing to a goal we’d see - until Twala fell over running in to the box with Aphiwe Lubisi minutes later. Former Orlando Pirates winger Twala, signed in some kind of swap deal with Chippa United which saw him “released from his contract” must be laughing like a drain.

Lubisi had a hand out as Twala went across him. He touched his back. There was contact. But then came the Olympic dive and the now-traditional PENALTY FOR KAIZER CHIEFS!

And who better to put it away than the Willard Katsande, for me the best defensive midfielder in the country. After those two Telkom final misses, Katsande - who celebrated his 30th birthday last Friday - assumed the responsibility against Wits. And he did it again in Bloemfontein.

Of course the AmaDrawsi - heading towards 8 draws out of 14 (and threatening SuperSport United’s 2012-13 record of 17 in a season) - won’t agree but it feels like Katsande is currently Chiefs best - perhaps only - threat. From 12 yards of course.

He now has as many goals as the once-prolific Bernard Parker (2) and with 16 games still to come in a poorly scheduled PSL, he could yet reach double figures if the penalties keep coming. Nobody deserves it more than Katsande, a humble, terrific character.

But the point is, people see the decisions. The penalties. My phone was red hot on Sunday with people involved in the game questioning another spot kick win for Chiefs, who have lost just once this season and are now FIVE short of Sundowns and Aces at the top.

But when Serame Letsoake came out to talk to Robert Marawa after the game, Chiefs coach Steve Komphela was asked to stay in the frame. And when the crucial penalty question came, the articulate former team-mate stopped the under-pressure Letsoake from replying.

“Of course it was a penalty, there was a shove,” said Komphela, talking over his rival. He then blathered on about enemies and friends and when he walked away, with Letsoake crying “Steve, Steve…” the penalty question was NEVER repeated.

I’m not saying the debate is deliberately avoided. Or that replays of these incidents are deliberately avoided by SuperSport in their bid to stay cosy, even AmaKhosi, with the big guns of the PSL.

All I’m saying is: WE SEE YOU. Four penalties, four games. Nobody can prove anything (though football and cricket match-fixing have been uncovered in this country several times in recent years) but it can’t be ignored.

The people who KNOW football are aware. Coaches, players, former referees and elderly journalists who have spent 40 years covering football all over the world. We know. It has to stop. Please.

Match Fixing: South Africa Threatened by Corruption and a Dodgy Referee

Ibrahim Chaibou. Not a name you might instantly recognise, but one worth remembering as the latest round of FIFA match-fixing allegations rocks football.

With Greece, Finland, South Korea and even Sumo wrestling in Japan under scrutiny, FIFA have now turned their gaze to a couple of bizarre games in the build-up to last year’s World Cup in South Africa.

First, as they opened the World Cup final venue at Soccer City, Bafana Bafana (The Boys, The Boys) beat Colombia 2-1 on May 27, 2010. Amid the blaring vuvuzelas, Kenyan referee Langat Kipngetich saw fit to award two penalties – one of them distinctly dodgy - to South Africa that day, leaving the Latin Americans a little irked. I seem to recall Colombia coach Hernan Dario Gomez getting quite angry about it.

Four days later, I drove up the N1 motorway through a forest of toll booths to the brand new Peter Mokabe stadium in Polokwane (once known as Pietersburg) to see Bafana Bafana take on Guatemala. Though BafBaf were ranked 92 at the time (a record low for a World Cup host nation) they contrived to win 5-0, their best-ever international scoreline. Great boost for an anxious nation that as I said when I filed this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjzwzNhaeTM.

Strange day too. Before the game, with an old goalkeeper friend of mine Deshi Bakhtawer, who now works for the South African Broadcasting Corporation, we stopped off at the Holiday Inns in downtown Polokwane.

A strange but clearly powerful man, short in stature but big on lip, was ordering people about. I chatted to him. He told me he was the “agent” for the game. Bodyguards surrounded him. He told me how he organised such friendlies, sorted things out (for a reasonable fee, I imagine)... before driving off to the ground looking suitably self-important.

The Holiday Inns was chaotic, filled with journalists, fans, officials, players, ex-players and, unless I’m very much mistaken, the referee that night, a man called Ibrahim Chaibou, flown in from Niger.

A couple of hours later, Mr Chaibou saw fit to award two penalties to South Africa, both for handball. The first, after just 12 minutes, was a travesty. Katlego “Killer” Mphela stuck both spot kicks away. Job done.

At the time, I saw both the Colombian and Guatemalan wins (and the subsequent 2-0 win over highly-ranked Demark in Atteridgeville) as perfect preparation for the World Cup for the hosts, who started the tournament on a run of 12 unbeaten internationals. Sure, the refereeing was a little generous, but hey, Guatemala had just suffered a series of earthquakes and their players didn’t look too bothered about the result or the refereeing.

Now, just over a year on, you start to wonder. Just like seeing Bernard Tapie’s Marseille in the early 1990s or Hansie Cronje’s cricketing Proteas at the turn of the century, perhaps I was witnessing something more than met the eye.

Look closer at Mr Chaibou’s recent performances and you’ll see he was the man in charge when Bahrain beat Togo 3-0 last year. That was the day Togo put out a side of nonentities, pretending they were international footballers. Mr Chaibou saw fit to disallow five goals that day, for no other obvious reason other than to keep the scoreline respectable. Critisisms of his performance were swept under the table as the headlines focussed on the bogus Togo line-up and the actions of an agent called Wilson Raj Perumal.

But a month ago in Abuja, our whistle-happy friend Mr Chaibou was at it again. Nigeria were (surprisingly) 4-0 up against a below-par Argentina side when, according to internet bookmakers, there was a rush on betting that there would be a fifth goal in the match.

Matthew Benham, of online betting outfit SmartOdds, informs us: "With 86 minutes played the odds for [a fifth goal] were absolutely insane. But the market was effectively saying there would be no more goals."

Lo and behold, Mr Chaibou allowed nine minutes of injury time (even though the fourth official had signalled only four), then awarded Argentina a bizarre penalty. Nigerian defender Efe Ambrose clearly controlled the ball with his thigh but Mr Chaibou awarded a penalty for handball. Mauro Bosselli took the spot kick, fifth goal went in and the match ended Nigeria 4, Argentina 1. The internet gamblers were the only winners.

At the time FIFA President Sepp Blatter said there would be fair hearing on the issue adding: ''We have voted huge funds on investigations of match fixing and there will be zero tolerance on corruption.”

And that’s the last we’ve heard. Mr Chaibou remains unsuspended and free to referee at the top level. Now look, I’m not in a position to say Mr Chaibou is corrupt. I’m just pointing out that he’s been under scrutiny ever since FIFA announced on June 2 they were “studying betting patterns during the match as part of a wider ongoing FIFA investigation."

And hey, Mr Chaibou retired this year as he hits the referee’s retirement age of 45. Soon he’ll be history. But what you have to ask is: How did he get to referee that game against Guatemala? Did he really fail to notice the Togo side in Bahrain weren’t real international footballers? Why did he allow the game in Abuja to go on and on?

Match-fixing is, as we all know, as lethal to footballing credibility as performance-enhancing drugs are to athletics and cycling.

And then consider the case of Phil Setshedi, the former Bafana Bafana assistant coach, and his recent run-in with South Africa’s special police unit, The Hawks, earlier this month. Apparently Mr Setshedi was keen on seeing a team called Mpumalanga Sevutsa Stars beat Garankuwa United in their feeder division play-offs in Cape Town last month. So keen he offered a policeman, posing as the match referee, R2,000 to ensure the right result.

South African police spokesman McIntosh Polela is quoted as saying: "A member of the Hawks who posed as a match referee met up with the identified suspect at the Southern Sun Hotel in Cape Town. During this meeting the suspect offered to pay the agent in order to secure a win for Mpumalanga Sevutsa.

"Rakhange Humphrey Setshedi was granted bail of R10,000 and ordered to appear again on 9 September... he has surrendered his passport and will report to the Sandton police station twice a week.”

With Greece charging 84 football officials over corruption surrounding 54 games over the last two years, South Korea arresting five players and Mexico also investigating similar charges, South Africa is in danger of being dragged into the grey area of match-fixing.

So far SAFA have made all the right noises with spokesman Morio Sanyane insisting yesterday: "We take this opportunity to assure FIFA of our unqualified cooperation and support should they institute any form of investigation.

"Should any of our administrative members be found to have played any role in the matter, the association will, without hesitation, take appropriate action against the culprits in order to protect its integrity.

“As things stand, we want to believe that the matches under question were played in the spirit of fair play.”

As I said on South Africa's eNews television channel yesterday, so do we, Mr Sanyane, so do we.