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Leopards to be ‘severely’ punished-FKF

NYAMWEYA-DESNAIROBI, Kenya, October 21- Football Kenya Federation (FKF) has promised AFC Leopards strong punishment for the fracas that broke out in their GOtv Shield semi final against Sofapaka on Monday.

FKF President, Sam Nyamweya, told Capital Sport Tuesday morning they would meet to decide the scale of sanctions that will be ‘severe’ whilst condemning the incident that led to law enforcement to fire in the air to disperse rioting Leopards fans.

“The club is culpable they cannot be allowed to go scot-free. We are going to sit and take serious action. It’s a serious matter and no stone shall be left unturned, take it from me,” he charged.

Speaking separately to Capital Sport, centre referee Davis Omweno accused Leopards of sabotaging the game with their hold on the cup slipping after they fell 2-0 to Sofapaka in a match the holders failed to impose themselves.

“Everything was fine until the 87th minute. Leopards (fans) decided to invade the pitch and spoil the match, attacking my assistant and I. I suffered a number of facial injuries but my assistant came off worse,” the whistler added.

“FKF should address security and protection of referees in games such as these,” Omweno who officiated at the Afcon 2015 qualifier between Uganda and Togo in Kampala where the home team lost 1-0 a fortnight ago observed.

Nyamweya in turn faulted Kenya Police Service for failing to prevent or quell the fracas that broke out four minutes from time when Leopards conceded a second to trail Sofapaka 2-0 by providing an inadequate number of officers to effectively man the charged game.

“We are equally very disappointed and apportion part of the blame to police. We asked them for 100 officers but they only sent 40 and that was below our expectation.

“We don’t handle security and it is their work to apprehend the hooligans and we will write to the Inspector of General to launch our complaints over the matter,” Nyamweya, who’s FKF are the organisers of the GOtv Shield Cup tournament, maintained.

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“We cannot have live bullets and tear gas used on fans since most are innocent supporters of football and we need to sit down with security apparatus to come up with a way to manage stadium violence without endangering lives,” he told.

Leopards’ right back and former Harambee Stars regular, James Situma, whose vehicle was damaged in the melee, took to Face Book to denounce the hooligan supporters.

“Football does not have to be a matter of life and death, you will never win them all nor lose them all and that is life. My car was badly damaged by those people I thought I trust.

“But what broke my heart most was not even losing that game but watching a 7 year-old girl crying inside our team bus “monster”. She could not even trust her own mother when she told her come down all is well outside,” the player who joined the Den before the start of this season posted on his official page.

During the mayhem, Nairobi’s City Stadium was turned into a battle zone as missiles rained from the stands pitch with the rowdy supporters breaking into the pitch and injuring experienced centre-referee, David Omweno and his assistant Stephen Oduor who required three stitches for a deep cut.

Buses belonging to broadcaster SuperSport, Sofapaka and even Leopards’ own luxurious coach were not spared in the orgy of violence that was quelled when live bullets were fired to the air.

-Written to KPL-

At the same time, the football boss declared thy would write to the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) to seek an explanation on what caused the abandonment of the tie between title challengers, Tusker FC and Muhoroni Youth on Saturday.

“We have never had of 12 players on the pitch in football and this is another serious matter that needs to be addressed. Everything that can be done by the federation will be done to ensure whoever is responsible for the abandonment is punished heavily,” Nyamweya declared.

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He cited the climax to the league had increased anxiety amongst the teams leading to incidents such as the one that transpired at Nairobi’s Kasarani Stadium.

“When we are finishing the league, the clubs are panicking because there is a lot at stake, the champions, those who want to finish in the Top 8 and those who want to avoid relegation and that is why these things are happening,” the FKF chief explained.

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