Centre referee Eric Dushimimana and his assistants Anatole Nzigiyimana and Vagne Muneza on on Sunday, February 5, decided to suspend the second division league match between Heroes and Amagaju after 70 minutes of the game after the latter’s goal was controversially disallowed. The teams were locked on a 0-0 draw until the 70th minute when Amagaju’s Daniel Iradukunda (Abas) thought broken the deadlock to give his side the lead after his direct free kick found the back of the net which leaked the ball only for Heroes players to rush to the assistant referee to appeal that it was a goal kick. While centre referee Dushimimana had already confirmed that it was a goal, his assistant Nzigiyimana claimed that it was a goal kick and suggested that the goal be disallowed, prompting Amagaju players to threaten to leave the pitch if their goal did not stand. On the other hand, Heroes players also claimed that they wouldn’t continue to play until the goal had to be chalked off. Both teams took about 45 minutes arguing on the goal but failed to agree whether the goal should have stood or not, only for the referees to suspend the game. In an interview with Times Sports on Monday, Amagaju President, Paul Nshimyumuremyi said that they had written to football governing body (Ferwafa) ‘seeking justice’ from Sunday’s incident. “We already wrote to Ferwafa about the challenges we encountered during our match [v Heroes], so we’re waiting for their response,” Nshimyumuremyi said in a telephone interview. “There were two cameras in the stadium, we hope that we will receive proper justice because that was clearly a goal,” he added. Nshimyumuremyi insisted that his side, which is pushing to return to the topflight league, shouldn’t be robbed of the goal that his men worked for. “When I went to the locker room after the match to ask the referees about what happened, the central referee and the match commissioner confirmed to me that it was a goal and I hope that’s what they submitted in their match report,” he explained. As things stand, Ferwafa has not stated its stand on the issue until the Competitions Committee announces the outcomes of the report from the match officials. “That is not a case that needs much discussion because we only refer to what has been recorded by the referees and match commissioners in their report,” Karangwa told Times Sport. “Let’s wait for what the Committee will announce as the final decision. We hope it does not take too long,” he added. As it stands, Amagaju are top of Group B with 25 points while Heroes sit bottom of the table with five points.
