Bennett doesn’t like Chiefs

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in his report that he made a mistake in issuing out a yellow card to the wrong player, which is why the yellow card was rescinded in that instance."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

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