adminSports Correspondent
PLUMTREE District Soccer League (PDSL) matches have been put on hold due to chaos caused by the failure to register players.
Chairman Chakudza Mutarika and his executive were left with no choice but to call off the games until sanity prevails in the league.
Players were playing for each and every club every weekend as if in a boozers league because they were not registered and have no licences.
Mutarika said they cannot allow a chaotic situation to continue unabated thereby bringing the game of football into disrepute.
‘‘Clubs have not registered their players so there is no single player with a licence in the league. We have a difficult situation whereby a player plays for a different club every weekend. This is unacceptable and we cannot allow confusion to be the order of the day in the league. As an executive we decided to postpone all the games until clubs comply with the rules and regulations of the league. I am not afraid to crack the whip on errant clubs and players to restore order,’’ said Mutarika.
A player who had received a red card had the luxury of playing for a different club the following weekend without detection causing another headache for the Mutarika-led league.
‘‘There are such players who are sitting on a red card but can still afford to play for another club under a different name because he is not registered. Such confusion kills the beauty which is associated with football,’’ said Mutarika.
Secretary-general of the league Richard Nyathi echoed Mutarika’s sentiments saying they would not resume their programme until the clubs comply.
Nyathi was breathing fire and accused clubs of bringing a boozers’ mentality in the league.
‘‘Most of the clubs are coming from the boozers or social league which is a free for all. But we cannot let them do that because this is not a boozers’ league.
“We have a league to run along professional lines. Once clubs fail to comply with the directive we will not resume until such a time order is restored. Our house should be put in order so that people will have faith in us,’’ said Nyathi.
Asked the way forward, Mutarika said some clubs have started to comply with the directive and expects positive results by the end of the week.
‘‘So far clubs are showing a willingness to comply with rules and regulations. We have asked clubs to bring photocopies of identity cards and photos of their players. If a player has no licence then he is not eligible to play.
There is no need for us to bend the rules to allow chaos and confusion. By the end of the week I hope everything will be in order,’’ said Mutarika.
Online Reporter