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THE 2024 Northern Region Soccer League (NRSL) was always going to be the most explosive in recent years given the number of ambitious teams battling for the sole ticket to the Premier Soccer League.
Black Rhinos were agonisingly relegated from the Premiership in 2023, the axe falling right at the end of the season. A late run of good results under Saul Chaminuka almost saved Chauya Chipembere from the dreaded chop.
Their form at the end of the 2023 Premiership season had them as the firm favourites for promotion in the 2024 NRSL campaign and even though Chaminuka sought greener pastures at Bikita Minerals, his replacement Nesbert Saruchera was equally competent given his history with the club both as a player and coach.
The 2023 NRSL runners-up, Black Mambas were also expected to pose a serious threat to Black Rhinos’ ambitions.
Black Mambas bottled the 2023 NRSL championship and handed the title to Chegutu Pirates right at the end as they surrendered leadership on the penultimate weekend of matches, and they were expected to put right their mistakes this season.
MWOS were not much of a threat in the 2023 NRSL race but their ambitions were always clear, and their off-season business suggested and indeed installed them as favourites to take on Black Rhinos and Black Mambas for the championship.
Their coach, Lloyd Mutasa has an impressive record in Division One football and that was an added advantage for the Norton based punters.
Another pre-season favourite was Harare City, a former Zimbabwe representative in the CAF Confederation Cup.
Then there was the ambitious Golden Eagles also a potential champion.
Thus, there were already five big teams in the NRSL campaign by the time fixtures for the season were being done.
It got more interesting when Mabvuku-Tafara MP, Pedzai “Scott” Sakupwanya made a last-minute entry into the league and started making big-money signings for his Scottland side to also join the title-favourites’ hat.
Having six big teams in one race was such an exciting prospect for the NRSL leadership and it got even better when they attracted corporate partnerships for the season.
But amid the excitement, the league’s leadership ought to have looked at the threat that was lurking given that only one from that pool of six heavyweights would eventually gain promotion to the Premiership.
The danger always lay in the second half of the season when the championship’s destination would get clearer with each match day.
It was almost inevitable that things will turn ugly one way or the other.
In September, two away matches pitting the main title rivals, MWOS and Scottland were abandoned following violence.
MWOS had been awarded a goal that would have given them a 1-0 lead at Shamva Mine in injury time while Scottland’s match at Karoi United was 1-1 when the referee was allegedly attacked by home fans towards full time.
The case between Shamva and MWOS was resolved early with the visitors getting the match on a 3-0 scoreline. But still there was considerable delay in determining the case.
However, the case between Karoi United and Scottland took forever to resolve due to an assortment of reasons, including an alleged delaying tactic by the accused. The case was eventually determined four days before the conclusion of the season.
Just like MWOS, Scottland were awarded the match on a 3-0 scoreline to shoot to the top of the NRSL standings and become favourites for the title as they just needed to win their final match of the season at home to Black Mambas.
Karoi United later appealed against the decision and when communication, purportedly from their office, suggested a withdrawal of the case allowing the crowning of Scottland after a 3-1 win over Black Mambas last Friday.
However, the Karoi United secretary general insisted that the appeal was standing, and an initial appeal hearing had been set for Thursday but moved to next Tuesday as crucial papers from the NRSL disciplinary committee hearing had not been availed on time.
That means further delays in confirming the official NRSL winner and also affecting planning by all stakeholders.
Given that this was always bound to happen, the NRSL leadership should not have allowed delays in the case which would have seen the case being determined with over a month remaining in the season.
At that stage there were still three or four teams in the race and that matter would have remained between Karoi United and the league with Scottland being the witness.
However, with the delays, the matter is now more about MWOS versus Scottland as opposed to NRSL versus Karoi United.
Its no longer about what happened in Karoi on the ugly afternoon. It is now about who gets promoted between Scottland and MWOS. All the noise around the case and even the entire dispute resolution process will now be affected by the MWOS versus Scottland battle.
That is how a month of inaction changed the direction of the otherwise straightforward case by local football standards.
We now have a repeat of the Eastern Region saga on 2023 where initial champions Tenax were later dethroned after Bikita Minerals were awarded a match they had drawn following a disciplinary hearing involving the league and controversial Grayham FC.
When the determination led to Bikita Minerals’ crowning, Tenax launched a battle that resulted in the former joining the Premier Soccer League late.
Sanity only prevailed when Tenax decided to withdraw from legal battles against the league.
External forces have compromised the NRSL case against Karoi United and they will probably create chaos, especially given that there seems to be technicality issues already being cited ahead of the appeal hearing.
The big lesson for the NRSL leadership is to never let a case go for ages without being determined as an otherwise exciting campaign will now be remembered for the boardroom battle involving a non-title contender, Karoi United.
Online Reporter