Spectators barred from rescheduled match
published:
Friday | February 22, 2008
IT WILL be a private affair when defending champions Harbour View and Waterhouse meet to settle the remaining 15 minutes of the KSAFA Western Union Knockout final at 4:00 p.m. today, in what is expected to be a virtually empty Edward Seaga Stadium.
Spectators are not invited to today's game, according to a ruling by KSAFA late Monday night, which stipulated that only players and team officials from both clubs, KSAFA's specially invited guests and representatives of the media will be allowed into the complex for the encounter.
The ruling came as a result of Sunday night's debacle at the Harbour View Mini-Stadium which saw the final called off, following bottles being thrown on the pitch and the sound of gunfire, which forced spectators to stream out of the stadium. The melee came about after Waterhouse, trailing 1-0 in the 75th minute, had a goal from a free kick by substitute Damion Powell disallowed after midfielder Irvino English was flagged offside.
While making no contact with the ball, English was flagged by assistant referee Malachi Brown for interfering with play from an offside position, when he jumped in front of Harbour View custodian Dwayne Miller. Referee Karl Tyrell, although initially indicating a goal, then correctly called the play back. It will be from this point that the game will continue today without spectators, in order to determine the winner.
