In an incident that epitomized the ills of African football, players from the Congolese women’s football club DC Motema Pembe chased and beat a referee, protesting his decision not to award them a penalty kick during a local match.
What happened?
A video clip shared widely globally showed the referee running desperately across the field, trying to escape from Motema Pembe players, as 7 of them chased him with the aim of hitting him.
The players finally caught up with the referee and started beating him brutally, while the stadium staff tried to intervene.
Meanwhile, the opposing team stood amazed on the field, and did not intervene to stop the chaos.
Former CAF media expert Collins Okeneo posted the video, saying the incident occurred during Motema Pembe’s league match against TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Motema Pembe were down 5-1 when the violent incident occurred.
universal outrage
Some have called for disciplinary action to be taken against the Motema Pembe women’s team and for the participating players to be fined and suspended from playing. Others sympathized with the ruling, asserting that he was just doing his job.
“What a disgrace the whole team should be disbanded for life,” said one Twitter user.
Another social media user called the players’ behavior “disgraceful” and called on FIFA to punish them “severely”.
According to the Ghana Web news site, the Congolese Football Federation (FConfederation de Congolese Football) has suspended the players involved in the incident and launched an investigation.