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FOOTBALL remains the country’s flagship sport, but has sadly continued to be anything like the top sporting discipline with mostly those involved with the game either as administrators, coaches, players and fans conspiring to make a mockery of its status.
The Castle Lager Premier Soccer League is only eight Match Days into the 2024 season, but the top-flight clubs have not helped much in marketing their own brand.
Instead, the same clubs are conspiring to wreck the integrity of the league that every football team in the country aspires to play in.
That a team called Chegutu Pirates, have in just two months of life into the Premiership, turned from new boys into bad boys underscores the gross indiscipline that has crept into the top-flight.
In back-to-back matches, Chegutu Pirates have been found on the wrong side of the law.
They first caused an embarrassing delay to the start of their game against Yadah Stars at Heart Stadium because they had turned up with a kit similar in colour to that worn by the home team.
The 30-minute delay only served to inconvenience the sponsors, Delta Beverages, the paying public, advertisers, official broadcaster ZTN Prime, and everyone involved with Match Day proceedings.
Television images of two Chegutu Pirates team players wearing the same jersey numbers, the numbers on their shorts failing to match with those of the tops are just but some of the incidents that shame this league in particular and the national game at large.
As if that was not enough, just this Thursday, Chegutu were again on the wrong-end of the line that defines PSL order when their bouncers led a pitch invasion that resulted in the abandonment of their league match against Dynamos at Baobab Stadium.
Their protests against a refereeing decision to award Dynamos a goal, got out of hand so much that the security of match officials, opponents and fans came under risk.
It is the second time this season that teams have protested a referee’s decision without restraint leading to a match being called off pre-maturely.
CAPS United fans took matters into their own hands when a referee disallowed their team’s goal for offside in their league match against FC Platinum at Mandava.
There have also been incidents where clubs try to use unorthodox means to enter a field of play.
The PSL are still grappling to convince innocent fans, more potential corporate partners and other stakeholders that a Dynamos versus Highlanders game or any other Premiership game can safely end without violence in some parts of the country.
And just when commendable efforts against violence including roadshows have been held by the league, they have been hit by acts of misconduct by member clubs.
We call upon PSL chairman Farai Jere, league chief executive Kennedy Ndebele and the board of governors tasked with administering the Premiership to ensure the league’s disciplinary committee acts with a very firm hand when sanctioning the culprits and find lasting solutions.
The PSL have rules and regulations and the top clubs must just respect the rule of law.
It is enshrined in the regulations governing football that the referee is the arbiter and the referee’s decision is final, whether there have been questions or not about the ruling.
Even in countries that already have the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), mistakes have been seen to be made by match officials as they are also human, but protests by players and fans have not led to matches being aborted.
Last Sunday in the English Premier Soccer League, Nottingham Forest who are fighting against relegation, lodged strong protests against three penalty shouts that went against them.
But because of the respect of the rules and regulations that govern the EPL, their protests did not lead to either players, coaches, bouncers or administrators taking matters into their own hands as has been exhibited by Chegutu Pirates and their colleagues in the domestic Premiership.
ZIFA as the mother body, have also not helped matters as they have watched from a distance when they should have long implemented FIFA and CAF Club Licensing tenets, which are aimed at turning football into a professional entity that it is elsewhere including in neighbouring countries like South Africa.
After a difficult start, the South African Premiership have found a way to turn around the famous Soweto derby between Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs into a carnival and incident-free atmosphere that is always guaranteed a sold-out crowd at the 94 000-seater FNB Stadium.
The same can be achieved in the country, but only if clubs understand that whether a referee has made a mistake or not, there is still need to respect the law.
Online Reporter