Safa reports Simba to Caf over Orlando Pirates incident

Safa has lodged an official complaint to Caf against Simba SC after their players were captured burning a substance on the centre of Orlando Stadium pitch prior to their Caf Confederation Cup quarter-final, second leg match against Orlando Pirates last Sunday. 

Flames and smoke could be seen in the middle of huddling Simba players during the warm-up before the match where Pirates went on to win 1-0 in regulation time for a 1-1 aggregate scoreline but they progressed to the semi-finals via penalty shootouts.

Safa chief executive officer Tebogo Motlanthe said they will make a follow-up on the complaint.

“We have written a formal complaint to Caf and we will be following up,” Motlanthe told Sowetan Live.

“The complaint was that the action we viewed as against the culture. South Africa has diverse cultural beliefs and what they did, doing that in public, went against some of the cultures, which is unacceptable in this country. 

“As far as we respect the cultures of people, that can’t be done. Even in our local league, we don’t allow those things. 

“And it has the potential of damaging the field and we believe it was not in any way sports-related.”

The incident was part of an eventful two-legged affair between Pirates and their Tanzanian opponents.

The rivalry began to heat up after the first leg when Buccaneers co-coach Mandla Ncikazi slammed Simba for allegedly using dirty tricks to frustrate opponents.

Simba then hit back through their CEO Barbara Gonzalez who denied the allegations while threatening to drag Pirates to Caf.

Then last Sunday’s incident irked Safa who described Simba as “disrespectful” and said the complaint to Caf was not influenced by Pirates but they filed it on their own volition.

“Exactly, you can’t [use juju elsewhere] — they [the host club] will call security,” said Motlanthe.

“Even for you to get into the stadium the day before is a problem because you are followed by the police all around. It was disrespectful and poor sportsmanship.

“It was us [who reported Simba to Caf without Pirates asking]. Remember when our clubs play in continental tournaments Safa will always be involved with the matches — we send a number of people there. 

“The HOD [in continental competition] of Pirates is Gerald Don, who is a Safa NEC member.”