Motor Action appeal

against the Premiership disciplinary committee’s decision to award the match to CAPS United on a 3-0 scoreline.
The league match, scheduled for Gwanzura on April 15, failed to take place after Motor Action, who were the home team, refused to travel to Gwanzura to fulfill the tie.

This followed a decision by the PSL that Motor Action Sports Club could not accom­modate an expected high number of fans for such a high-profile match.
Instead, the Mighty Bulls, who were arguing that they wanted to play the game at Rufaro, didn’t travel to Gwanzura and made all the nec­essary preparations to host the match at Callies.
CAPS United went to Gwanzura.

The referees, the match commissioner and the police were all at Gwanzura. The commit­tee, guided by the PSL Rules and Regulations — which give the PSL through its chief execu­tive — the mandate to decide when and where matches will be played, found Motor Action guilty and awarded the match to the Green Machine. “Order 18 and Order 31 makes refer­ence to the fact that every team shall be obliged to hon­our every league fixture as directed by the management committee/league.

“There is evidence that the CEO liased with the board member competitions. Furthermore, Order 16 makes it mandatory to register an alternative home ground. Motor Action admit­ted and apologised for not having done so.
“It is an act of misconduct on the part of the club where: 31.1.8 ‘it fails to fulfil a fixture for which a date and venue has been fixed by the league,’” read part of the judgment. However, the Mighty Bulls appealed and last week their matter was heard by the Appeals Committee.

Yesterday, Rosen said he believes the club was unfairly treated and deserves a replay.
“We appealed a long, long time ago and the hearing was done on Friday. I appealed because we have good reasons. We didn’t play at Gwanzura because we felt were being treated unfairly. I don’t want to pre-empt anything now but the bottom line is we appealed because we believe we had every right to do so.

“I am sure the judgment would be out by Wednesday morning,” said Rosen.
Meanwhile, CAPS United raked in more than US$98 000 from the gates but lost three points to rivals Dynamos in the derby at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday.

According to figures released yesterday, 19 219 fans paid to watch the match which the Green Machine lost 0-3.
Conservative estimates show that there were about 25 000 fans at the giant stadium.
At the end of the day, CAPS United receipted US$98 550.

CAPS United had pegged the cheapest ticket at US$5 for the rest of the ground while tickets for bays 15, 16 and 18 cost US$10.
A seat in bay 17, which is heavily patronised by CAPS United fans, was US$5 while the VVIP was US$20. The home team paid US$14 782 in ground rentals to the Ministry of Cen­tral Government, National Housing and Public Works while the Sports Commission took US$5 913 as their share.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police also took US$ 1 792 for the officers who were on duty.

CAPS United made US$58 287 in net earn­ings while the Value Added Tax from Zimra is US$12 854.
The receipts from the match on Sunday failed to beat figures from the reverse fixture at Rufaro on July 29 when Dynamos were the home side. DeMbare won the 69th edition of the derby 1-0 after Tawanda Muparati’s solitary strike made the difference.
During the match at Rufaro, Dynamos had a record breaking US$135 000 realised from the gates after 23 648 fans paid their way into the ground. Just like CAPS

United on Sunday, Dynamos had also hiked their entry charges to US$5 for the cheapest ticket.
Traditionally the league matches between CAPS United and Dynamos are the biggest fix­tures on the domestic league calendar.
But if DeMbare and Bosso keep winning, there will be more fans when the Glamour Boys host their rivals at Rufaro.
Dynamos were left with an estimated net income of US$79 511 to boost their coffers after paying the direct match expenses.
And on Sunday, Dynamos asserted their dominance over CAPS United who had held their own in the early stages of the matches.

CAPS United appeared to have mastered the art of self-destruction against Dynamos as they handed DeMbare a gift-wrapped first goal.
Midfielder Rahman Kutsanzira attempted to clear the ball and it struck his teammate Asani Nhongo on his back.
Dynamos’ Murape Murape picked up the loose ball and whipped a cross into the box for Farai Mupasiri to force home after CAPS United goalkeeper Muzondiwa

Gonese and his defender Blessing Zabula failed to communi­cate.
Defender Guthrie Zhokinyi added a second goal from a retaken corner kick while a late effort from Cliff Sekete propelled Dynamos to a comfortable win.