Pirates rise above dirty dealings

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - JANUARY 31, Irvin Khoza during the Orlando Pirates press conference at the Fli Afrika Office in Houghton on January 31, 2012 in Johannesburg, South Africa Photo by Samuel Shivambu / Gallo Images

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - JANUARY 31, Irvin Khoza during the Orlando Pirates press conference at the Fli Afrika Office in Houghton on January 31, 2012 in Johannesburg, South Africa Photo by Samuel Shivambu / Gallo Images

Published May 7, 2013

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Johannesburg – For a man whose club were supposedly at the receiving end of the worst treatment at the weekend, Irvin Khoza was calm on Monday as he ruled out retribution towards teams that mistreat Orlando Pirates and other South African sides on their African sojourns.

Pirates returned from the DR Congo on Sunday full of complaints after they knocked TP Mazembe out of the African Champions League, bemoaning dubious refereeing and general hostility in Lubumbashi, where they lost 1-0 but progressed to the group phase 3-2 on aggregate.

Khoza, speaking on Monday following the launch of the pre-season Carling Cup, said he would discourage any local team from ill-treating visiting African clubs as that would create “anarchy”.

“Two wrongs cannot make a right,” the Pirates owner said. “We have to maintain the stance of treating teams well here. I told the players and management that it’s not in our interest to retaliate.

“Thankfully we have an icon in former president Nelson Mandela who has shown us the way, that he could forgive after his long incarceration (by the apartheid regime).”

Khoza also played down Mazembe’s involvement in the ill-treatment meted out to an SABC crew which was supposed to broadcast the game, but ended up not doing so as they were apparently kicked out of the match venue.

“I thank Mazembe because they were good to us. They gave us a six-star hotel. The only challenge we had was on the field, where football ceased to be a contact sport.

“Our players could not make tackles because every contact was ruled as an infringement.

“On the issue of broadcasting the match, it was a surprise that it was not shown because there was an agreement that the SABC would get a feed. Why this didn’t happen I don’t know.

“This doesn’t augur well for our sport because we need these matches to be broadcast to attract sponsors. We spent R600 000 chartering a flight to go to this match, and how do you recoup that if the match is not shown on TV?”

Khoza also ruled out an appeal regarding captain Lucky Lekgwathi’s sending off early in the game, reasoning little could be done if the match commissioner included the incident in his report.

“We will raise this issue on May 14 (when Caf conducts the draw for the group phase). But there was a match commissioner and if he agrees with the ref, there’s nothing you can do. We really want to continue with our games and don’t want to be embroiled in the issue of referees.”

He hailed Pirates’ resolve as they progressed to the last eight, as Roger de Sa’s team bid to emulate the class 1995 which conquered the continent.

“It’s good for our country that we made it into this stage. In ‘95 our triumph rubbed off on Bafana Bafana in ‘96. You can see that strong national teams have their teams doing well in the Caf competitions, like Al Ahly and Zamalek (of Egypt),” Khoza said.

The “Iron Duke” also conceded his team were fortunate to come through Sunday’s match, where Senzo Meyiwa saved two penalties, including one right at the death. “If my players do not believe in God, I’m sure now they do because Sunday’s result was due to some divine intervention.”

Pirates are unlikely to be seeded for next week’s draw, which will produce two groups of four, with the top two sides in each progressing to the semi-finals.

Bucs won’t enjoy a prolonged off-season as their first group match is likely to be on July 20.

Meanwhile, fans can start picking starting teams for the Carling Cup featuring Pirates and rivals Kaizer Chiefs, it was announced yesterday. The pre-season match will take place at Soccer City on July 27. – The Star

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