South Africa, farce championship final: 59-1 (with 41 own goals), 33-1 and four teams banned forever

The last day of a championship always gives rise to suspicion, as evidenced by a story that comes from South Africa. With the promotion decided by the goal difference, the teams involved … have agreed. But it didn’t end well!

The last day of a championship always gives rise to suspicion, especially when there are particular jams in the ranking and results occur that make us imagine that things did not go exactly right. As in the story told by Brand, which concerns the South African third division. Matiyasi FC and Shivulani Dangerous Tigers were playing for promotion, with the Tigers having a better goal difference of 16 goals. The only way to get it back? Obviously fixing the match, taking advantage of the fact that the opponents on the last day, the Nsami Mighty Birds, did not want to see the Shivulani celebrate. Result, it should be said, a very strange 59-1, with a good number of own goals (41) and the losing team reduced to seven.

Enough to launch an investigation that ultimately led to the banning of … four teams. Yes, because while one game ended 59-1, the other, that of Shivulani against Kotoko Happy Boys, took an equally strange turn in the second half. When the news spread that Matiyasi were ahead 22-0 at half-time, an agreement was also struck on the other field of interest. Some Kotoko players went off the pitch, explaining that they were too tired, and in the end it was also played in that case in eleven against seven. Final result, a 33-1 which in any case would not have been enough to get the promotion, given that the goal difference at that point was in favor of the opponents. But two such games could not fail to attract the attention of the authorities.

And as he explains a BBC Sport Africa Vincent Ramphago, president of the Mopani region, the question was obvious. “When the four teams met in March, the results were much more normal, with Matiyasi beating the Mighty Birds 2-1, while the Dangerous Tigers drew 2-2 with Happy Boys.” In short, there was something suspicious indeed. Especially since the referees seem to have been part of the plans. “We found out that one of the referees wrote that the number 2 had scored 10 goals, the 5 had scored 20, but there were 41 own goals, so what was he putting on the scoresheet? These people have no respect for football and we can’t to allow such things to happen again. ” So clubs banned forever, executives with five to eight year bans and referees punished with a stop for a decade. And all is well what, more or less, ends well.