It Was As Bad As In The Vodacom League – Malesela

Marumo Gallants head coach Dan Dance Malelsela was furious after his side’s 3-2 defeat to Sekhukhune United in the Limpopo derby at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Tuesday night.

One of the incidents during the high scoring game included Gallants’ second goal by Celimpilo Ngema being disallowed in the 65th minute while they were trailing 2-1. 

Ngema scored and Toaster Nsabata went down an incident that saw the opposition’s bench rise in protest as they believed the goal should have counted and the goalkeeper was injured by one of his own teammates.

Malesela said the officiating on the night left a bitter taste in his mouth and reminded him of his time in the lower leagues. The coach is also of the opinion that the bad officiating is another reason why South African football and the national team aren’t improving. 

“We shouldn’t let people who don’t have an interest in our football [be in charge]… they have their own interests. They don’t have the interest of the progress of our football,” he told the media after the game. 

“It is very sad hey, it is very sad. You know I coached in the then Vodacom League and then I coached in the NFD, then I coached in the PSL. It reminds me of the good old days at Vodacom (Laughs). Today was as  bad as that

“Never would I imagine for things to be like this at any given time in the PSL. I would have never imagined this.

“I care about South African football a lot. I’m one person from time to time wishes to see us grow and progress and all of that.

“But when things come to a point where the game is not controlled by players then we are in trouble. We are in serious trouble because our national team will just remain the same.

“If people don’t help other people, if people don’t help other stakeholders and say ‘hey this is what we witnessed, uh it’s embarrassing’. 

“You so wish that it possible that all matches should be televised live to the general public, not only to people who can afford things like streaming or those people who can afford the Premiums on DSTV.

“You often wonder when people are watching a match, yes you have won but do you really get happy when you see this and how long do you think your team is going to survive?”

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The result saw sekhukhune take a big jump from 15th place to 12th with 15 points, while Gallants dropped to 14th spot with 13 points.

Story by Lethabo Kganyago (@KganyagoLee).