By Otniel Hembapu
WINDHOEK – The MTC Namibia Premier League (NPL) is at it again and has once more left thousands of local football followers in confusion following its peculiar decision to have Tura Magic and United Stars’ abandoned match replayed over the remaining 25 minutes.
NPL’s bizarre decision comes at a time when the league administrators are still licking their wounds from last year’s embarrassing court defeat at the hands of African Stars, a defeat that stemmed from a similar decision taken by the NPL to have Stars and Orlando Pirates resume the remaining 8 minutes of their abandoned match last April.
The Stars/Pirates match in reference ended prematurely after a power outage at the Sam Nujoma Stadium while Pirates were leading comfortably (2-0) with 8 minutes left on the clock.
Under standard FIFA rules, it is clearly stated that an abandoned match is replayed in its entirety unless the competition rules provide otherwise. The referee may terminate a match for reasons of non-physical safety (bad weather or darkness) or for any serious infringement of the laws, or because of interference by spectators. Only the competition’s authority, not the referee, has the right to declare a winner, forfeiture, or a replay of the match in its entirety. The referee must report fully on the events.
But 10 months later, the same NPL that admitted to its error of judgment in the Stars/Pirates case has again, for some strange reason, arrived at a similar decision, that is, to have Tura Magic and United Stars resume their December 6 abandoned match only for the remaining 25 minutes.
Speaking to New Era Sport yesterday, local football analyst Hendrick Christiaan was the first to come out and express his disappointment with league authorities, saying the Tura Magic/United Stars match abandoned due to heavy rain, which is a natural disaster, and according to standard FIFA rules such a match should be replayed in its entirety with a clean score sheet as well.
“What we can see here is that the NPL is just ashamed to take the right decision and have the Tura Magic/United Stars match replayed in its entirety because then people will start questioning as to why they wanted to have the Stars/Pirates match replayed only over 8 minutes rather than in its entirety, so now they want to maintain consistency but what they [are] doing is totally illegal,” said a shocked Christiaan.