Accusations of 'dirty tricks' after Sealene Ladies arrive late

The Sasol Women’s League match between Tshandama Young Stars and Sealene Ladies FC, which was supposed to have been played at the Tshandama Grounds on Sunday, did not take place. The visitors from Phalaborwa arrived at the grounds about 40 minutes later than the scheduled 13:00 kick-off time. At that stage the referee, Ms Ntanganedzeni Mugari, had already blown the final whistle.

The players of Young Stars were waiting for the visitors on the field of play at the scheduled 13:00 kick-off time. Realising that their opponents were nowhere to be seen, the managing director of Young Stars, Ms Norah Mudzielwana, told the referee to blow the final whistle.

She pointed out that the league’s rules and regulations did not make provision for a period of grace in the event that a team arrived late for a game. The referee responded by telling Ms Mudzielwana that she would only blow the final whistle after receiving her travelling fee from the home club. Upon receipt of her travelling fee of R500, the referee blew the final whistle at about 13:15 and left the place.

The referee’s decision to blow the final whistle just before their arrival at the grounds did not sit well with the management of Sealene. During an interview with the team’s head coach, Mr Edwin Bereta, at the Thohoyandou Shopping Complex, where they had stopped to buy some refreshments for the players, he stated that they had phoned Ms Mudzielwana at about 11:45 while they were still in the Malamulele area, requesting her to give them directions to the team’s new home ground. According to him, Ms Mudzielwana had told them to phone her again when they arrived in Thohoyandou.

He added that when they had called her while they were in Thohoyandou, the deputy president for the Safa Vhembe Regional Association had ignored their calls. Mr Bereta said that they had arrived at Young Stars’ old home ground just before 12:30. According to him, another game for the men’s teams at Young Stars’ previous home grounds was in progress when they arrived there.

He repeatedly said that Ms Mudzielwana had continued to ignore their calls when they called her from that venue. He explained that they then called the league’s coordinator, Ms Refiloe Khosa, and shared their frustrations with her. Mr Bereta said that Ms Khosa had told them that she too had tried to call Ms Mudzielwana several times and that she was not taking her calls either. He revealed that Ms Mudzielwana had only taken his call around 13:30 and told them not to bother going to the grounds, saying the referee had already blown the final whistle and left the place.

Bereta said that they had opted to drive to the grounds, where they were confronted by Ms Mudzielwana, who accused them of not heeding her advice. He accused Ms Mudzielwana of applying “dirty tricks” when they had called her to give them directions to the team’s new home ground.

According to the managing director of Sealene Ladies FC, Ms Victoria Magomane, she had spent about R7 000 on logistics to prepare for the game, adding that what Ms Mudzielwana had done to them was inhumane and diabolical. Both the clubs and the referee were still to submit their match reports to the league at the time of our going to press.

Sport - Date: 12 August 2022

Frank Mavhungu

Frank is a Human Resources Manager at the Department of Public Works in Limpopo. He is the longest serving correspondent of the Mirror, having joined us at the end of 1990.  He mainly writes sports reports and resides at Tsianda Village. In 2004, Frank won the National Castle League Award, an award for the best reporter in the SAB league in South Africa.

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