The Zimbabwe football family plunged into yet another brutal soul-searching exercise yesterday, amid a scramble for the football rule book after the Castle Lager Premiership showdown between Highlanders and Dynamos was abandoned at Barbourfields amid depressingly familiar chaotic scenes.

An explosive game before a sellout crowd ended prematurely in the 42nd minute when the match officials called it off after some Bosso fans, angered by DeMbare’s disputed equaliser, staged a rebellion and refused to let the assistant referee — whom they blamed for not spotting an offside leading to the goal — take his place on the line.

Not even spirited calls by the Bosso leadership, players and even coach Elroy Akbay for the rebellious fans to let the game proceed could cool down the tempers and, after a prolonged break in which the assistant referee was also hit by a flying object, the match was called off.

It’s the second time, in the past seven years, that a league match between the country’s two biggest football clubs has been abandoned at Barbourfields. When the two giants met in a league match at the same venue in 2010, the game was also called off with Dynamos leading 2-1 before the Glamour Boys were handed the match on a 3-0 scoreline in the boardroom