There was a scuffle between Herentals substitutes led by former Caps United striker John Zhuwawo and the Dynamos technical team mid way in the second half after the latter had hidden one of the host’s match balls in their technical area in a suspected ‘juju’ act.
Dynamos head coach Herbert Maruwa deliberately kicked the white ball which had gone out of play in the direction of his backroom staff.
Conniving well with their boss, the assistant coaches smartly and quickly stashed the ball in what looked like a black cloth or truck jacket.
A ball boy tried in vain to get the ball back from the Glamour Boys’ technical team despite waiting for close to five minutes.
Probably noticing what had happened and suspectedly having been told what was going on by the ball boy, Herentals’ substitutes came off their bench and invaded Dynamos’ technical area.
They forcefully searched everywhere in the dugout looking for the ball despite facing resistance and they found it.
Zhuwawo took the ball and it kicked away towards the VIP terraces.
Play was temporarily stopped as the unpleasing, uncalled for and unprofessional situation caught referee Thabani Bamala’s attention.
After the scuffle, the Students’ substitute goalkeeper Nevermind Antonio was sent off for allegedly remonstrating against the match officials.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, fans were treated to another drama again.
Antonio went to the bench and collected his gloves before shockingly cutting through the pitch on his way to the dressing rooms, forcing another delay while the referee was ready to resume the match after the brawl.
Angry Dynamos fans who were already frustrated by the look of things as their team wasn’t impressive in a match that ended in a goalless draw threw missiles towards the red carded shot stopper who in a way seemed to be employing time wasting antics.
Again, play was stopped, this time for close to ten minutes as Antonio remained on the field of play gesturing he couldn’t access the tunnel to walk through to the changing rooms because of missiles that were being thrown by fuming DeMbare supporters.
Bamala instructed police officers to ‘remove’ Antonio and the law enforcement agents were seen man-handling the ‘stubborn’ goalkeeper.
It is not the first time that Dynamos coaches have performed similar ‘juju’ acts but they were yet to be exposed.
In most instances, they trick the ball boys to give them the ball in order to test pressure levels, although it’s a trick for them to perform their ‘rituals’.
Bhorafrika.com can reveal the Maruwa-led technical team has been seen on several occasions during matches (including the Herentals fixture) pouring an unknown liquid like substance on match balls.
Eye witnesses confirmed to this publication that the DeMbare gaffers carried out the same ‘susperstitious’ acts when they lost 3-5 on penalties to arch rivals Highlanders in the Uhuru Cup on the 18th of April.
In that same match, whenever their players came to the technical area, they were also asked to drink an unidentified liquid from a specific 750-millilitre bottle.
After Dynamos’ matches against Herentals and Cranborne Bullets, Maruwa was seen emptying liquid-like contents from a plastic bottle on the turf.
The Innocent Benza owned Herentals FC might have let the cat out of the bag by reclaiming a ball in an incident that was captured on camera and widely circulated in the media.