03 Mar 2013

First Division South outfit Ghanzi Terrors has attributed its poor performance to poor officiating, especially on the referees’ side.

The team, which is perched at the third place from the bottom of the league, has not been doing well since the beginning of the first round last year.

They have only managed to salvage a paltry win in two games and drew three, while they lost five. All this, according to the teams’ Assistant Public Relations Officer (PRO), Thulaganyo Mbish, is because of poor officiating at their games. 

Mbish said that more often, referees were sourced from Gaborone and alleged that there could be an element of match fixing as they have learnt that the main Referees committee complains that Ghanzi is far.

He also attributed his team’s poor performance on the distance. “As it is, we are very miles apart from our opponents and it is a drawback for us as a team,” charged Mbish.

Mbish hoped that the BFA  could divide the First Division league into three divisions; North, South and North West.

He said this would ease the problem of vast distance as well as improve performance amongst teams.

Furthermore, he explained that as the only team from far south, they could be incorporated into the North West division with other teams from closer villages or towns.

A member of the BFA in Ghanzi, Onkagetse Moses, concurred with Mbish saying, "there is ‘absolutely no cooperation with the main committee in Gaborone with us at district level.’

Moses noted that even fixtures always reached the teams first before they could reach them as the district committee.

 With regards to referee’s issue, Moses said indeed Ghanzi had referees who were as good as those from Gaborone and  equally qualified to officiate the games.

He also said when there was a game; it is the responsibility of the BFA to incur costs of the referees, including travelling expenses. But, according to Moses, the BFA main committee would sometime get referees to ride on with the team to their opponents.

Moses alleged that what was discussed on the trip could be of sabotage to Ghanzi Terrors as they were aware that the committee wanted the team to be relegated from the First Division ‘because they are far.’

Meanwhile the team lost their second game of the second round by 2-1 against Jwaneng Comets. The Comets first goal came via Oteng Mosala five minutes into the game before Terrors equalised on the 25 minute through Tebalo Mokodue.

Comets wrapped the game on the 75th minute through Benjamin Maule to earn his side the three points and increased Terrors’ woes. ENDS