The Eastern Cape soccer ”referee” who allegedly killed a coach and injured two players during a dispute over a decision is still on the run, Grahamstown police said on Tuesday.
The shooting allegedly occurred during a match between Ekuphumuleni and Marcelle soccer teams at Kenton-on-Sea on Saturday.
”We don’t know what his tactics are, but we haven’t found him yet,” said Inspector Mali Govender, adding that the police had called in reinforcements in their search for him.
According to witnesses the fight started when the Marcelle players objected to a yellow card and the man allegedly drew a firearm and shot the Marcelle coach in the chest and two players in the hand before fleeing. The coach died on the scene.
His family were due to identify his body on Tuesday, Govender said.
Reacting to Saturday’s shooting, the SA Football Association (Safa) said that the referee was not properly qualified but was a spectator who was asked to officiate at the match.
The game was ”just a friendly” and was not played within the Safa structures, it added in a statement.
Soccer refereeing has been under the spotlight recently in an investigation into match fixing.
During the police’s ”Operation Dribble” over 30 referees and soccer officials were arrested on charges of corruption, with another round of court appearances due in courts in Randburg and Polokwane on Tuesday. – Sapa