Bullets charged with unsporting behaviour
The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has charged Nyasa Big Bullets with unsporting behaviour for allegedly blocking Silver Strikers from accessing Mulanje Park from having the feel of the pitch ahead of yesterday’s Airtel Top 8 quarter-final second leg tie.
The charge follows a complaint lodged by the Bankers on Saturday.
According to a letter from FAM addressed to Bullets general secretary (GS) dated May 20 2017 which The Nation has seen, the People’s Team “failed to take precautionary measures to control their supporters from displaying improper conduct when they denied Silver Strikers Football Club access into the stadium”.
The letter further states that this was contrary to the competition’s rules and regulations.
“Kindly note that NMC Big Bullets Football Club have 48 hours upon receipt of this letter to respond to the charge,” the letter, signed by FAM GS Alfred Gunda, further reads.
Silver GS Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda said: “There was a group of Bullets bouncers who blocked the team from entering the stadium and manhandled [assistant coach] Lovemore Fazili. This was totally unfair as we were also entitled to train on the pitch.
“Unfortunately, all this was happening in the full view of the police who were hired to provide security and this shows that FAM failed to guarantee [our] security.”
But his Bullets counterpart Albert Chigoga described Silver’s claims as untrue and FAM charges as disputable.
“Silver just wanted to play smart, nothing of that sort happened because from our investigations, they did not even appear at the stadium.
“They [Silver] were just overwhelmed with the crowd and they are just trying to create a mountain out of a molehill.
“But having said that, I do not want to draw any conclusions, I will be travelling to Mulanje shortly [for the match], where I will seek to establish what exactly happened,” he said.
Chigoga also said the manner in which FAM rushed to charge them was suspicious as they did not get their side of the story.
