Northen Region Soccer League outfit Norton Community FC has suspended five members following a match-fixing scandal that emerged after a 7-0 loss to Premier League hopefuls Scotland FC at Rufaro Stadium last Friday.
The club, currently 17th in the 20-team league and battling to avoid relegation, conceded three goals in the first 20 minutes of the game, before goalkeeper Brandon Bere was shown a red card.
Speaking to this publication, a club official revealed that a US$300 bribe was offered to Bere by one of the team’s executive members, allegedly on behalf of Scotland FC.
“We have a player involved then there are two executive members and coaches. What happened is the goalkeeper admitted to having one of the executive members approach him with money saying it had come from the other team. The amount I think was US$300 then he refused to take it. The executive member then called the chairman that he was given money.
“We noticed that there are some people who were left wanting, like the executive member that we are talking about is the one who received the money and came with it to our player and he was spotted handing over the money. He admitted in the meeting that we held that he received money and he attempted to give it to the goalkeeper. When the chairman expressed dismay over the issue, the player said I’m not the only player. We are many, so far, we have five names. We have a police officer within our team. Those people are well trained to investigate. As soon as the investigations are over, they will be published,” said the official
The suspended are two executive members Tafadzwa Kuyerukana and Patrick Nyamayaro, two coaches Clemence Masunda and Willard Nguwoyembwa as well as the goalkeeper.
Meanwhile, Scotland FC remain locked in a two-horse race for promotion with MWOS FC, who currently lead the standings with 72 points from 33 matches and have a three-point cushion over their rivals, who are on 69 points, but have a game in hand after their match against Karoi United was abandoned.
Tomorrow, MWOS are in Harare to face Golden Eagles at Ellis Robbins, while Scottland are in Chinhoyi, where they take on Chinhoyi Stars.
