Bosso get fans reprieve

Sport
TITLE hopefuls, Highlanders will play their Castle Lager Premier Soccer League local derby against Bulawayo City in front of their loyal fans at Barbourfields Stadium today after lodging an appeal against the ban against their fans yesterday.

TITLE hopefuls, Highlanders will play their Castle Lager Premier Soccer League local derby against Bulawayo City in front of their loyal fans at Barbourfields Stadium today after lodging an appeal against the ban against their fans yesterday.

BY SPORTS REPORTER

The Premier Soccer league (PSL) had last week ordered that the game against Bulawayo City be played behind closed doors, with no fans allowed in following crowd trouble in their match against Chicken Inn at Barbourfields in August.

The club was also fined $3 500, but chief executive Ndumiso Gumede immediately stated that they would appeal the PSL disciplinary committee’s ruling.

And as largely expected, the PSL yesterday released a statement stating that the game would now go ahead as per normal after Bosso had appealed the ruling.

“The Castle Lager Premier Soccer League would like to advise that it has received an appeal from Highlanders Football Club in respect of the PSL disciplinary committee’s judgement which ordered that the club must play their next home match in an empty Stadium,” the PSL said in a statement yesterday.

“We would like to advise all the football stakeholders that the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match between Highlanders FC and Bulawayo City FC scheduled for Barbourfields Stadium on Sunday October 16 2016 will now be played before paying spectators. The gate charges remain unchanged at $3 for the rest of ground, $5 for the grandstands and $10 for the VIP. The gates will be opened at 12 noon. We appeal to the football fans to desist from violence and invading the pitch before, during and after the matches.”

Dynamos were hit with a similar ban back in June, but appealed against the ruling. The case is yet to be concluded. Bosso are not the only club in trouble — Chicken Inn were fined $1 500 (of which $500 was suspended) after their players were found to have insulted the referee in a game against FC Platinum in July.

CAPS United were expected to appear before the disciplinary committee last week over delaying the start of their Chibuku Super Cup first round match against Tsholotsho at the National Sports Stadium on September 17.

Minnows Ngezi Platinum will also have to answer to charges of disrupting their match against Highlanders, where they caused a five-minute stoppage, protesting the awarding of a penalty to their opponents at Barbourfields on September 25.