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Chicken Inn massacre Caps United, storm into Easycall Cup final

by Ngqwele Dube
06 Dec 2015 at 04:08hrs | Views
Chicken inn player attacked by Caps fans
Caps united  0  - 3 Chicken Inn
THE high profile Easycall clash between Chicken Inn and Caps United exposed the ineptitude of security officials in crowd control as fans at the Mpilo End housing the visitors' supporters virtually forced a more than 15 minute stoppage protesting referee Makonese Masakadza's decision to "deny their team a penalty" in the 80th minute of the semi-final match against Chicken Inn at Barbourfields Stadium yesterday.

The game was home and dusted for the Gamecocks, but Caps fans expressed their frustration through throwing objects onto the pitch while another fan took advantage of the lax security to enter the field and kick Chicken Inn's Ben Nyahunzvi, karate style, in the back as players in the field came close to blows.

Pay television, SuperSport personnel who were manning a camera at the Mpilo End had to vacate the area due to the violence as Caps fans menacingly threatened to bring down the perimeter fence.

All this happened in front of the eyes of the law enforces who stood akimbo, watched and made no effort to arrest the fan who floored Nyahunzvi.

Chicken Inn secretary Tavengwa Hara said they are contemplating reporting Leonard Tsipa to the police as they felt he had deliberately assaulted Devine Lunga who had to seek medical attention after the game.

"There is no place for violence in football and what Tsipa did was totally uncalled for, we are seriously contemplating reporting him and that Caps hooligan, who kicked Ben to the police and let justice take its course," he said.

It was a sad ending to a good game that Chicken Inn had dominated from the start as they showed fans why they are 2015 Castle Lager PSL champions. Goals from Clemence Matawu, Tafadzwa Kutinyu and Michelle Katsvairo secured the passage to the final where they will face either Dynamos or Highlanders who do battle this afternoon in the other semi-final.

But the sight of Makonese, his assistants and players from both teams leaving the field of play for their own safety cast a bad picture of local football.

What made the situation more embarrassing for local football was the fact that the skirmishes took place in front of SuperSport cameras and that police officers hired to control the crowd appeared to be outnumbered by the hooligans.

Match Commissioner Ndabezinhle Ncube as well as Castle Lager Premier Soccer League officials could not be drawn to comment on the status of the match but all indications are that Chicken Inn would be handed the victory and will go ahead and meet the winner of the fixture between Dynamos and Highlanders who clash in the second last four encounter at the same venue today.

Trouble started in the second half when Caps United were already three goals down, their fans felt that Makonese was being unfair to them which saw them throw missiles onto the field of play thereby forcing Chicken Inn goalkeeper Elvis Chipezeze to abandon his goal area.

When the match did resume, it turned into a circus when a police officer guarded Chipezeze's goal area while the match was underway as the fans continued to throw missiles onto the field of play.

Just to show how inept the police officers were in carrying out their crowd control, a fan managed to run onto the pitch and launched a double footed kick on Chicken Inn defender Devine Lunga. The players chased after the hooligan with Chipezeze managing to get hold of him but with police officers continuing to be spectators in the whole fiasco, the Gamecocks players were forced to let go of the thugs since missiles rained on them.

Yesterday's debacle could further cost Bulawayo dearly as officials from the sponsors of the competition, NetOne could be heard making statements to the effect that they were always reluctant on bringing their competition to Bulawayo because the police officers seem poorly equipped in handling crowd trouble.

SuperSport, the PSL's broadcast partner at some stage indicated that they were no longer going to show any live matches from Barbourfields Stadium and yesterday's occurrence could force them to abandon any future broadcast from the facility due to the risk to their equipment which was at the mercy of hooligans yesterday.

Match commissioner, Ncube came close to calling off the match, as Caps fans could not be calmed despite efforts by various officials, but after consultation with PSL officials they allowed it to resume.

Although the game seemed to have stopped after the attack on Lunga, PSL competitions manager, Elisha Mandivera said the referee told them he had blown to end the game.

Chicken Inn coach Joey Antipas was happy with the win saying they are looking forward to bagging another trophy and give themselves icing on the cake with a double.

He praised his charges for the good display of football as they were all over Caps in the first half saying they played like true champions.

Chitembwe rued their performance on the pitch adding it was not the best way to end the season but said their fans should have not reacted in a violent manner to the loss.

Teams
Caps United: J Muchambo, Z Biseki (L Tsipa, 31st), V Musarurwa, J Janango, S Makatuka, D Mukandi (F Pedro Mansogo, 68th), M Muchenje, H Zvirekwi, P Bhamosi, J Ngodzo, D Chungwa

Chicken Inn: E Chipezeze, T Kutinyu, L Mhlanga, P Bernard, D Lunga, C Matawu (Toto Banda, 83rd), B Nyahunzvi, G Majika (T Goredema, 55th), D Phiri, E Chirambadare, M Katsvairo.


Source - sundaynews