Mighty Mukuru Wanderers have cautioned Super League of Malawi (Sulom) not to consider using centre referee Gift Chiko and assistant referee Bernadette Kwimbira Mzika in their Blantyre derby tomorrow against Nyasa Big Bullets at Kamuzu Stadium.

In a written complaint dated August 11 2022, Wanderers’ presidential committee chairperson Clement Stambuli said that the two should not be allowed to handle matches involving the Nomads until their complaint over alleged bias during last year’s  TNM Super League derby is resolved.

Reads the letter in part: “We would like to remind the Sulom that our Blantyre derby against Bullets ended with some violent activities due to biased and substandard officiating personnel.

Stambuli: Football thrives on fair play

“It is our hope that any of the people responsible for that game will not be deployed in this weekend’s match against our rivals and all our future games. We still feel injured by Sulom’s failure to revert to us with remedial actions taken.

“To remove doubt, we do not want referee Chiko and Kwimbira to be part of this coming match and all our future games. The beauty of football thrives on fair play and let fair play win all the time.”

Reacting to this, Sulom vice-general secretary Dennis Flao Mwale yesterday said they received the complaints and shared copies with the National Football Referees Assocation (NFRA).

“It must be understood that this is a shared responsibility. Sulom handles referees logistics while the referees body has the authority to assign match officials to particular games depending on expected competency of the officials.

“As teams, they have a responsibility to respect officials assigned and, in the interest of sportsmanship, trust the authorities to address their concerns.”

Mwale added that no team is, therefore, expected to dictate to  the referees body which officials to handle their matches.

“Suffice to say that all of us are expecting better officiation, whether handled by the named officials or not, both teams are advised to follow rules and regulations involved in the beautiful game. Hence, they should go forth into the derby determined to do their job on the pitch and let the assigned match officials do theirs,” he said.

In May 2021, a Blantyre derby involving the fierce rivals ended prematurely and in chaos after the two referees denied for a foul what Wanderers deemed as their second and winning goal through defender Peter Cholopi.

Wanderers argue that Sulom has, up to now, not responded to their year-long complaint and the two should not be in charge of their tomorrow or future games when there are pending issues to do with the referees’ alleged misconduct.

Currently, Bullets are unbeaten in the 16-team Super League this season and they lead the pack on 48 points from 18 games. Wanderers are third with 32 points from 17 fixtures.

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