Former ref Hlungwani weighs in on penalty decision in Pirates’ derby win

Former referee Victor Hlungwani says the match officials got their decision right on the injury-time penalty award from which Patrick Maswanganyi produced the 96th-minute panenka winner in Orlando Pirates’ 1-0 win against Kaizer Chiefs.

In added time, Relebohile Mofokeng burst into the area on the left past Njabulo Blom, who tugged at the Bucs star in the Betway Premiership Soweto derby at packed FNB Stadium on Saturday. Referee Masixole Bambiso allowed play for Mofokeng to attempt to score, but put off by Chiefs goalkeeper Bruce Bvuma, he could not.

Bambiso brought play back for the penalty, from which Maswanganyi’s audacious chip sent Bvuma the wrong way.

“We saw a ball played into the penalty area, we saw ‘Rele’ holding the ball and then we saw behind him was Blom. Let’s now look at if there was an offence committed,” Hlungwani told Metro FM's Sports Night Amplified with Andile Ncube.

“We saw two hands [by Blom] going onto the shoulders of Rele. Is that allowed in football? No. In rugby that is allowed but in football you cannot use hands to hold somebody.

“What is ‘holding’ when we go to the laws of the game? It says [reading]: ‘A holding offence occurs only when a player’s contact with an opponent’s body or equipment impedes the opponent’s movement’.

“What is ‘impedes’? We go again to the law to look at the football terms. ‘Impedes’ means to, ‘delay or block or prevent an opponent’s action or movement’.

“Did Blom impede the movement of Mofokeng? The answer is yes.

“Now, the referee, Masixole, did not blow the whistle; he waited as part of the advantage. When he waited, because the player was now stumbling and he ended up kicking the ball [wide], the advantage did not materialise.

“When that does not materialise the referee is within his right to bring it back and punish the original offence.

“Some say he gave the advantage — he delayed. When you give advantage you signal with the hand. Once you signal you can no longer come back and punish the original offence.”

Hlungwani also weighed in on another talking point that had many Chiefs fans crying foul over the result, where unbalanced Pirates centreback Nkosinathi Sibisi appeared to make contact with Chiefs' Pule Mmodi early on, where the penalty appeal was turned down.

“Was there a foul there? Because we never saw a foul, we saw Sibisi falling, he cried [out], he tripped himself, he tried to hold [Mmodi], he could not succeed.

“Mmodi had the ball, he had full control of the ball, he even tried to dribble with that ball, so it never saw any offence.

“He [Sibisi] was falling, yes, you try as you are falling to [hold] but there was no significant foul committed and Pule had full control of the ball.

“The referee also waited and Pule tried to dribble, to show he had full control, and [Bucs keeper Sipho] Chaine saved the ball with the hand.

“So can you see the difference in control of the ball? In that one Pule had control; in the 92nd minute [incident] Mofokeng did not have control of the ball [because of the foul].

“So that’s the difference people must highlight. The ball must be at your leg. With the other one the ball was not at his leg and he [Mofokeng] even had to stretch his leg to kick it.”