Chippa United blames Robert Marawa for Eymael dismissal

The club came under fire from football fans and the Eastern Cape government for its decision to re-employ the Belgian.

The 61-year-old was reappointed by the club as a technical director after Dan Malesela was booted out as head coach.  

Eymael was fired in July last year after allegedly referring to support of Young Africans FC in Tanzania as monkeys and dogs. 

In a statement, the Chilli Boys accused Marawa of biased reporting.

"Upon the initial attempt to appoint Eymael in December 2020, there was an uproar about Chippa’s intentions to appoint an alleged racist. 

"This was by and large caused by utterances of Robert Marawa during a sports show, which also included the continuous airing of a soundbite with a voice alleged to be that of Eymael, the source of which was not credited.

"A new challenge is now faced through the unsubstantiated, unethical and prejudicial actions of in particular Robert Marawa’s show broadcasts. On top of Marawa himself clearly expressing bias, he invited a political party and a niche union representing coaches to express their views on what are his views, including the publicly stated intention to disrupt Chippa’s upcoming fixtures."

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The club has now given Eymael time to clear his name. 

"Chippa have decided not to continue with Eymael’s appointment, who will to return to Belgium. It is clear that Eymael himself requires further time to clear his name,” it says in the statement.

"He has reassured the club that he will, in his own capacity take legal action concerning his rights, including the dissemination of the offending media clip through his own lawyers.

"We as a club maintain our stance against racism of any form and wish to make it clear that our intended appointment of Eymael would not have happened were the allegations against him have been validated in any form."