Kalekwa, who owns Sofapaka, was left agitated owing to poor officiating during their rescheduled FKF Premier League fixture against Bandari at Mbaraki Sports Club in Mombasa, which they lost 2-0 on Saturday.
Erisat Orute scored a first-half brace to help the Dockers register their first victory under new coach Mohammed Borji, who took charge following the sacking of Ken Odhiambo in October.
However, Kalekwa believes that with good officiating, Sofapaka deserved to get something from the fixture. He further said the match officials went into the game with a mindset of Sofapaka losing.
Bandari’s second goal was a clean offside
“The calls from the centre referee were very poor,” Kalekwa told Flashscore. “The referee didn’t know what was happening, even Bandari were surprised, because it was totally poor officiating, I have never seen such a thing before in Kenyan football.
“We got a penalty but the referee instead, gave us a free-kick. The foul happened inside the box, but what we got was a free-kick from outside the area. The first goal from Bandari was a clean goal, but the second one was clean offside.”
Kalekwa added: “The second goal did not deserve to count, the player, who eventually received the ball to score was all alone up front, a clear offside, but the referee went ahead to give the offside goal.
Kalekwa continued: “The centre referee gave Bandari every advantage, even the advantage meant for Sofapaka went to Bandari. They came into the game with the mindset that Sofapaka must lose.”
At the end of the first half, Kalekwa confronted the match officials, demanding answers owing to the poor officiating. Asked to reveal what the referees told him, Kalekwa responded: “When I approached the centre referee, she was remorseful for what had happened, she conceded she had made mistakes.
“The second half was at least 80 percent better, the first half was 40 percent, but during the second half, the game improved a lot because of my intervention.”
Kalekwa further wondered why Football Kenya Federation (FKF) was trusting such referees to officiate in top-flight matches.
“When I confronted the referee, I told her if this is how you officiate matches, then Kenyan football has got a huge problem. In my opinion, she doesn’t deserve to officiate in the Premier League, not even the lower leagues, we cannot have a Premier League where we entertain such officiating like it is a local tournament.”
‘Such officiating can chase away sponsors’
Kalekwa posed a question, “Do these referees know how much we spend to prepare a team for such matches? Do the referees know what it takes to have a team ready for a Premier League game? It really hurts a lot. We don’t deserve such officiating, it is not good enough.
“Such officiating can easily chase away sponsors, and even potential sponsors, they cannot want to be associated with such officiating. It is below the expectations of many, and FKF must work out on how they can improve on officiating in the Premier League.”
He continued: “There is a game you can lose and you accept and move on, but there is a game you can lose but still ask questions. I was wondering why a foreigner, who is sponsoring a team in the league, can continue with support, if this is what we will be seeing from the men in black week in, week out?”
In his closing remarks, Kalekwa called on FKF to make sure all Premier League matches, whether in remote areas, are televised live. He explained that by doing so, the referees will be held accountable for their mistakes. The game against Bandari was not aired live.
“The game was not live on any channel. Let all Premier League matches be live, and that is the only way to improve the game. The game deserved 15 minutes of added time but the referee only added seven. We will make a formal complaint to FKF on what transpired in Mombasa,” said Kalekwa.
Kalekwa concluded: “I would fairly take a 5-0 defeat from Bandari or any other side in the league, than when someone takes away the game from me, very unfortunate, to see such officiating.”
The defeat saw Sofapaka drop to ninth in the 18-team league table with 11 points from nine matches. Batoto ba Mungu have managed three wins, two draws, and suffered four defeats.
