Referee
Daniel Bennett has taken his war and hatred towards Kaizer Chiefs to another
level since I started noticing him back in 2002 when he gave Jabu Pule a
totally wrong red card. A few weeks later during the Coca-Cola Cup final on 30
November 2002 he was the main cause of the ugly scenes of missile throwing and
crowd violence that marred that Coca-Cola Cup final between Kaizer Chiefs and
Jomo Cosmos at the FNB Stadium. The match was delayed by up to +-25 minutes,
this after he gave Jomo Cosmos a clear offside goal that needed no replays.
As
if that was not enough, this “referee”, Daniel Bennett waved play on after
Cosmos defender Sammy Magalefa had brought down with a career threatening
tackle, Jabu Pule in the penalty box in the 86th minute. He has been very
consistent, since then.
During
the AFCON held in South Africa earlier this year; on 7 February 2013 CAF
secretary general Hicham El Amrani, addressing a press conference, said the
continental mother body will be guided by the report from the referee.
"The referee Bennett mentioned in his report that he made a mistake in
issuing out a yellow card to the wrong player, which is why the yellow card was
rescinded in that instance." He was duly suspended for his incompetence.
On
24 September 2013 in Orlando Stadium, Kaizer Chiefs vs Orlando Pirates, the
minute I saw him coming out to inspect the field, I knew that it’s going to be
a long 90+ minutes for Chiefs. He didn’t waste any time just after the game
started but awarding Orlando Pirates a corner kick from a wide header by Kermit
Erusmus. He tried to destabilise Chiefs by awarding dubious and countless
yellow cards.
He
eventually found his moment he has been waiting for when he awarded Pirates a
dubious penalty after Morgan Gould handled Rooi Mahamutsa inside the penalty
box. Just after that, the same Mahamutsa did the same to Bernard Parker inside Pirates
penalty box, to my surprise, received a yellow card but no penalty could be
awarded.
By Nkanyiso Mathamba
Twitter: @diskioff [www.twitter.com/diskioff]
