adminIT is that time of the year again when the season of the most followed sport in the country, soccer, teeters towards the end. From the top-flight league down to the area zones, champions will soon be crowned, while losers will be left to nurse the pains of playing second fiddle.
Some already have champagne bottles in place ready to pop in celebration of sporting excellence. Be that as it may, it is imperative to remind all and sundry of the need to allow a smooth season end. An end that is free from match fixing, violence and diabolical boardroom decisions. It is inherent in human nature that competition creates excitement but at times, competition leads others into plotting unorthodox means to succeed.
For starters, biased match officiating has been a challenge in football across the world although it is well pronounced here in Africa.
On numerous occasions referees have been left to get away with murder after literally deciding for themselves who has to win and who has to lose. Given that their decisions are said to be final, referees sometimes take it upon themselves to award teams of their choice some undeserved victories.
Now that the Premiership title will be decided on the last round of league matches next weekend, while the Eastern Region Division One gets down to the last three matches of the season starting this weekend, one hopes that sanity will prevail and the best team of the season will be allowed to win the championship.
Africa and Zimbabwe, in particular, has not been able to compete effectively on the global stage in football simply because our referees have been deciding match results and mediocre teams are left winning matches they do not deserve to win.
On the domestic scene, some teams that have been promoted to the Premiership after benefitting from biased officiating have never had prolonged lives in the top-flight league.
The promotion of undeserving teams also robs our top-flight league of quality players given that some talented players remain behind playing Division One soccer, while mediocre players attached to clubs favoured by referees get the chance to play in the Premiership.
Therefore, it is high time that our referees allowed football to be the winner and help the country develop sporting talent. We all know that we now have some match-fixing wizards who have strong connections in the refereeing fraternity, but one hopes that in this day and age, our match officials have come of age and now know the importance of their careers over a few dollars that can be dangled to influence results.
Apart from the match officials, it is equally imperative for fans to throng different stadia to witness the exhilarating season end games, from Division One to the Premiership, but they should do so peacefully. On many occasions, we have witnessed matches at this stage of the season being abandoned when fans invade the pitch and turn the playing field into hard-hat areas. This is certainly not in the interest of the development of our football!
This also serves as a reminder to the hosting clubs in season end games, be it in the Premiership or Division One, to beef up security and ensure that rogue elements are dealt with accordingly. We know and we understand that we have social misfits, wayward thugs or the so-called self-styled marshals who are so wayward that they always want to seek attention by disrupting the smooth flow of soccer matches. They should not be given the room to showcase their stupidity in our stadia.
After all, people pay their way through the turnstiles to watch soccer matches and not to witness tomfoolery antics of these social misfits. Gone are the days when invading pitches, throwing missiles and causing mayhem during soccer matches would be viewed as some sort of heroism. That could simply be interpreted as heroism in the wrong sense of the word.
Yes, emotions are bound to be part of the game but it is always important, when push comes to shove, to ensure that reason prevails over emotion. The game certainly needs fans for it to be what it is but it needs not rowdy fans or thugs. After all is said and done, let us all play our part to make our football better than what it is and more importantly, allow the best team of the season to win the championship.
Online Reporter