BONGANI MALUNGA
Security Systems coach Daniel ‘Chicco’ Nare has launched a scathing attack on premier league referees, stating that they have an agenda against his forward, Ronald Chikomo. Nare was infuriated by what he perceived as unfair treatment by referees during Systems’ 1-1 draw against Mochudi Centre Chiefs this past weekend.
Nare told Gazette Sport that Chikomo’s perception as a ‘dirty player’ in the past still haunts him and he is of the view that referees have stuck to that notion and they are using it against him. The former Botswana under 23 coach stated that referees are now reluctant to call fouls on Chikomo when he is on the receiving end. He claimed that opposing players usually taunt and provoke Chikomo to rile him up and get a reaction from him.
“Against Chiefs, Bakang Leshona was cautioned for doing something odd near the goal post. Moments later Leshona bashed Chikomo but the referee did not even give a foul, under normal circumstances Leshona would have been given a second yellow card and his marching orders but since the foul was committed against Chikomo the referee elected otherwise,” Nare ranted.
“Chikomo was fouled once again by Elvis Meleka in the build up to Chiefs’ equalizer. He was foulded and he lay flat on the ground but he was ignored once again. The two incidents are among many other fouls that were not called but I wanted to emphasise them because they had a direct effect on the result of the game,” Nare added.
“I strongly believe that referees have an agenda against Chikomo, it is a worrying trend that I have seen in most of our games and it is not fair. I am not suggesting that he should be favoured or given soft fouls all the time but he needs to be protected the same way other players are given protection. I believe in fairness and I think Chikomo needs to be treated fairly,” the Security Systems coach underlined.
Nare also discussed the latest addition to his squad, striker Kenanao ‘Floh’ Kgetholetsile who was snapped up on a free transfer after his Extension Gunners contract expired in December. They targeted Kgetholetsile after Melvin Chimpunza suffered a cracked eye socket a few seconds after scoring in a goal mouth scramble, Systems managed to get Kgetholetsile ahead of Prisons XI who were also credited with an interest in the striker.
“Floh scored 7 goals in the first round of the BTC Premiership, he will add a lot of qualities to complement or improve us. When Melvin Chimpunza got injured against Notwane we had a shortage in the squad and we needed to fill that void. Floh can play in multiple systems, he can make clever runs and he has great link up play, he will be very useful,” Nare concluded.