Orlando Pirates has bagged a double over the weekend after defeating Sekhukhune United by two goals to nil in a much contested Nedbank Cup final on Saturday afternoon at Loftus Versfeld. The Soweto giants scored an equalizer in the dying minutes of halftime through a questionable penalty.
After the game and until now, people are complaining about the controversial penalty and claim that the referee of the day favored the Orlando Pirates. However, the matter has now been clarified by the legendary referee, Victor “The Principal” Hlungwani on how the Nedbank Cup Final penalty incident came about.
Hlungwani says that, Sekhukhune United star Victor Letsoalo was not fouled, but he went down in his own 18 area. While he was down, you can see that he was holding his leg and that’s where the hand is “in a natural position.”
“But unfortunately, when Lorch comes, then the hand decides to move and Letsoalo makes contact with the ball with his fingertips. That’s when the hand is no longer in the natural position, then Lorch makes the incident. So, the referee made the right call, that’s a definite penalty.”
After this incident, we might as well give credit to Thembinkosi Lorch for being a smart player by creating the penalty. However, we should also consider the FIFA fair play rules. What happened to kicking the ball out of play when a player is out and in pain? We understand that the referee can stop the play when a player or players have an injury on the head.