Chaotic officials to be sanctioned

By Swalley Kenyi 

National Pepsi Beach Soccer League 

Hurikken Group 

Zai Plaza 3 Buwanika 4 

Mengo 4(2) St. Lawrence 4(1) 

MAK v Fisheries TI (pp) 

MUBS 4 Nkumba 5 

Monsoon Group 

Kira Young 4 Richmond 2 

Zaba SM 2(2) Braza Braza 2(1) 

Kabalagala v KIU (pp) 

Stomers 4 Galacticos 6 

MUBS coach Charles Ayieko and his Stomers counterpart Adam Kiyemba face disciplinary action for attacking referees at the National Pepsi Beach Soccer League at Lido Beach, Entebbe on Sunday. 

Title contenders MUBS, for the first time this season, went down in a 5-4 defeat to Nkumba Select, who effectively replaced them on top of the Hurikken Group. 

Ayieko faces a fine, ban or both for a verbal attack against the referee Ali Mwebe for awarding Nkumba BSC a penalty while Kiyemba confronted the officials at their desk after Stomers’ 6-4 defeat to Real Galacticos.

“Yes, our disciplinary committee is handling those cases. It was ugly and the rules will take course. Team officials accuse the referees of favouring university teams while others have their own issues but they have platforms to complain other than the way they chose to do it,” Uganda Beach Soccer Association (UBSA) chairman Deo Mutabazi explained. 

Ayieko accused Mwebe, who officiated his last match after he took up a job at FUFA recently, of favouring Nkumba. FUFA Beach Soccer Disciplinary Committee chaired by Decolas Kiiza has launched investigations into the behaviour of the officials and is expected to give them maximum punishment as a deterrent. 

The win for Nkumba pushed them on top of the Hurikken Group table with 27 points while Real Galacticos also leaped to the lead of Monsoon Group with 27 points. MUBS and Stormers are second in the respective groups. 

Last week, UBSA banned KIU player David Opini for 365 days and fined him sh200,000 for punching a referee at a league match.