Baroka match abandoned after officials leave pitch with nine minutes remaining

Baroka FC’s Limpopo ABC Motsepe League match against Phinnet City FC was abandoned on Friday after an on-field confrontation involving players, technical staff and supporters.

The SAFA Limpopo ABC Motsepe League Stream B fixture was being played at Oscar Mpetha Stadium in Mankweng and was goalless when tensions escalated during the second half.

The match officials and commissioner eventually left the pitch, bringing the contest to an early end. The incident followed a series of disputed refereeing decisions and briefly saw a small group of fans enter the field.

Baroka FC chairman Khurishi Mphahlele said he had not attended the match but had heard several accounts of the events.

“I was not there myself, but there are many accounts of what happened on Friday. Apparently, the match ended with nine minutes remaining. Our player was sent off in the 70th minute, but the game continued after that,” Mphahlele told KickOff.

The flashpoint came after a Baroka player, who had already been booked earlier in the match, was shown a second yellow card and dismissed.

Baroka’s players and members of the technical bench objected to the decision because a Phinnet City player involved in the same incident received only a caution. They argued that the Phinnet player had also previously been booked and should have been sent off.

The disagreement developed into pushing and shoving, with members of both technical teams moving onto the pitch. The situation then intensified as the altercation became physical.

Mphahlele disputed the initial suggestion that the referee had personally called off the match, saying the match commissioner instructed the officials to leave.

“It was the match commissioner who stopped the game, not the referees. The match was still in progress when the match commissioner entered the pitch and instructed the referee to leave. Both teams were left on the field without a referee to officiate. They were left waiting. We reported the matter to SAFA.”

The referee, assistant referees and match commissioner left because of immediate safety concerns as hostility increased.

The abandonment has added to concerns about violence and referee safety in Limpopo. Phalaborwa United, another club from the province, was given an immediate two-year ban from all football activities by the SAFA Limpopo Disciplinary Committee only weeks earlier after a serious assault on a referee.

SAFA Limpopo is expected to consider the official reports from the referee and match commissioner before deciding whether disciplinary action, fines or a points allocation should follow.

For now, the match remains unresolved, with the score 0–0 and both clubs uncertain about how the abandoned fixture will be determined.