Scottland FC owner Pedzai “Scott” Sakupwanya has threatened to withdraw the club from the ZIFA Northern Region Division One League, citing what he perceives as “dark arts” in the league, reported The Herald.
This threat follows Scottland’s recent 1-1 draw against MWOS FC in an intense match at Ngoni Stadium on Saturday, which drew a crowd of over 5,000 fans, including former ZIFA president Philip Chiyangwa and former Premier Soccer League (PSLs chairman Twine Phiri.
Under the guidance of former Dynamos coach Genesis Mangombe, Scottland initially seemed poised for victory after Denver Mukamba scored, but MWOS equalized in the dying moments of the match.
With this result, Scottland has secured eight out of a possible 12 points against their main rivals, MWOS and Black Rhinos, in their recent encounters.
However, Sakupwanya was infuriated by the circumstances surrounding MWOS’s equaliser and stormed onto the pitch following the final whistle.
The ZANU PF MP accused MWOS coach Lloyd Mutasa of employing tactics that distracted Scottland’s goalkeeper, in the lead-up to the late equalising goal. He said:
Our goalkeeper was distracted by the deliberate actions of the MWOS coach and we are surprised that in football we still allow outside interference to play a role in the outcome of matches.
This was a big game and every effort should have been made to ensure that the outcome would be determined by the action on the pitch.
We have got worse results than this one this season when we lost some games, but we accepted the result and didn’t complain at all.
We are complaining now because we feel that it’s not right for a player to be distracted by outside forces like what happened to our goalkeeper.
The MWOS coach sent the ball boy to distract our goalkeeper by pouring whatever liquid they poured at our goal and all the other stuff they splashed there.
This was a crucial stage of the game and we are unhappy that there was no protection against our ‘keeper and this was a deliberate act by the coach of our opponents.
We are not happy at all, and we feel that if this is the way things are done in the league, then it isn’t a place for us to continue playing there because we are investing a lot in our team and our community.
All we want is fairness and if there is no fairness then there is no reason for us to remain part of the league.
Mutasa has found himself at the centre of controversy in recent weeks as the competition for the sole PSL ticket intensifies.
Two weeks ago, he was reportedly punched by Black Rhinos counterpart Nesbert “Yabo” Saruchera during a chaotic incident at Heart Stadium, which erupted after the army side was denied a penalty.
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