15 May 2018

The abandonment of a BTC Premiership encounter between Gaborone United and Police XI on Saturday has resulted in ‘The Reds’ being slapped with a charge of misconduct by the Botswana Premier League. 

GU,who are in financial distress and beset by long term power struggle, started the match at the Molepolole Sports Complex with eight players and quickly trailed to a Tapiwa Gadibolae goal.

Afterwards, two GU players allegedly sustained injuries and failed to continue with the match, causing the clash to be abandoned in the first half.

“Gaborone United have been charged with misconduct contrary to Article 25.6 as read with Article 1.4 and 1.5 of the Botswana Football Association Play Rule and Regulations,” reads the Botswana Premier League statement released on Monday.

The league went on to point out that GU committed an act of misbehaviour by fielding eight players during the match.

According to Article 25.6 of the BFA Play Rules and Regulations, any act that may be properly interpreted as bringing the game of football into disrepute shall constitute misbehaviour.

Article 1.4 on the other hand states that no team shall be allowed to play or continue to play a game with less than seven players. It further says in the event that a team ends up with less than seven players after the game has started for whatever reason, the game shall be stopped by the referee who shall make a report to the competent BFA authority.

Article 1.5 says where the deficiency in the number of players mentioned in Article 1.4 is as a result of injuries during play, a replay shall be ordered and, in any other situation, the club with less than the minimum number of players shall forfeit the points of the game and two goals to the opposing team.

Despite their troubles, three times league champions GU currently occupy position six on the log standings with 41 points from 29 matches and have qualified for the top eight competition next season.

The team’s attractive style of play inside the pitch is however, being undermined by boardroom instability as the club experiences its most turbulent period since returning to the premier league back in the 2005/06 season. They have time and again failed to shell out wages which has led to rumbling displeasure among their players.

Over the last three months, players have continuously threatened to boycott matches.   The team arrived late for their second round league clashes against Sharps Shooting Stars and Union Flamengo Santos which they lost 3-2 and 2-1 respectively. There was also a threat to boycott the Gaborone derby with Township Rollers, which the Reds went on to lose 3-1 last month at the University of Botswana Stadium. ENDS