KHU summon umpires, clubs reps over ref protests

The Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) top brass held a series of meetings Saturday as they attempted to quell growing resentment towards officiating in its premier leagues.

There has been a heightened number of complaints especially in the men’s top division that features a neck to neck title race and case in point the match between defending champions Kenya Police and Wazalendo.

Police walloped Wazalendo 16-2 but that result has been suspended after the latter lodged a formal complaint to the KHU claiming the match officiating had been overly biased against them.

The first meeting brought together the KHU executive and the clubs’ team managers with the union’s Secretary General, Wycliffe Momanyi, pointing out the key issues discussed.

“Our main agenda was to urge everyone involved to work in harmony especially during this time when the league has two teams locked in a fight for the title,” Momanyi told Citizen Digital.

Afterwards, the KHU executive held another meeting with the umpires in a bid to address the complaints addressed to them by the clubs.

“In our meeting with umpires, we addressed the issues raised by the clubs against them and we reached an agreement that we will put in place measures to make officiating much better to the content of everyone,” said Momanyi.

The two meetings may be a reprieve for all the parties, however, Police and Wazalendo will still have to wait in order to find the verdict since the matter will be referred to a committee before the executive makes the final decision.

“What we have done as the executive is that we have instructed all the concerned that is; the two clubs (Wazalendo and Police), the two umpires and the judges who officiated the match to respond on the issue and when we get all the reports we will appoint a committee to review the matter. Probably in one or two weeks time we will make the final decision,” added Momanyi.

Three weeks remain to the close of the season and competition is expected to be even stiffer in the men’s league especially with the two sides Butali and Police facing off in the final match of the season.

Butali are currently at the top of the summit with 54 points, three ahead of champions Police although the law enforcers have a game in hand as well as their results against Wazalendo withheld.