Nengasha booted out of Div 1

Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter

NENGASHA FC has been booted out of the Zifa Southern Region Division One League without kicking a ball after failing to pay affiliation fees.

The Southern Region shut the door on the Hwange-based side after it failed to honour its promise to pay affiliation fees last week.

Zifa Southern Region board spokesperson Mehluli Thebe confirmed they had served Nengasha with their dismissal letter.

“I think we’ve been patient enough with them and after five weekends of action without playing a match, the backlog would have been long. 

“We will play with the 15 teams we have left and have written to Nengasha FC officially informing them that they have been expelled from the league,” said Thebe.

As a newly promoted club, Nengasha were supposed to pay $2 500 affiliation fees, which excludes players and technical team registration fees.

The registration for each player is $20, meaning $500 for a squad of 25 players and $250 for five technical team members.

Zifa also wrote to four other clubs, second-placed Bosso 90, Moto Moto, Ajax Hotspurs and Toronto, reminding them to honour payment plans they submitted.

“Bosso 90, Moto Moto, Ajax Hotspurs and Toronto made a payment plan stating that they were going to pay at month end, which they haven’t done. 

“We’ve reminded them of their obligations and since they owe varying amounts, we’ve given some up to May 23 to settle outstanding instalments and others up to month end. 

“If they fail to pay, we will have no option but to stop them from playing and if they miss three consecutive weekends they will be booted out of the league,” said Thebe.

Meanwhile, former Premiership side Bulawayo City survived a scare in Plumtree, scoring a late goal to share the spoils with Mainline FC in a match that ended 1-1 on Saturday. City have amassed 11 points from five games.

The municipal side is now fourth on the table, with Talen Vision, who beat Toronto 3-1, replacing them at the top with 13 points. 

Bosso 90, whose senior team is struggling in the Premiership without a win in seven games, are tied second on 12 points with CIWU, who edged Ajax Hotspurs 2-0.

Southern Region Division 1 results

Friday: Talen Vision 3-1 Toronto

Saturday:

-Arenel Movers 1-3 Bosso 90

-Binga Pirates 0-1 Makomo

-Ajax Hotspurs 0-2 CIWU

-Mainline 1-1 Bulawayo City

-Moto Moto (Bye)

-ZPC Hwange 0-0 Indlovu Iyanyathela

-Mosi Rovers 0-0 Casmyn

Table

                    P W D L F A GD Pts

Talen Vision 5 4 1 0 8 2 6 13

Bosso 90 5 4 0 1 11 7 4 12

CIWU 5 4 0 1 8 4 4 12

Bulawayo City 5 3 2 0 16 2 14 11

Makomo 5 3 1 1 9 4 5 10

ZPC Hwange 5 2 1 2 3 3 0 7

Indlovu Iyanyathela 4 1 3 0 1 0 1 6

Mainline FC 4 1 2 1 7 4 3 5

Moto Moto 2 1 0 1 4 4 0 3

Ajax Hotspurs 4 1 0 3 4 10 -6 3

Toronto 5 1 0 4 4 13 -9 3

Casmyn 4 0 2 2 0 2 -1 2

Arenel Movers 5 0 2 3 3 11 -8 2

Binga Pirates 4 0 1 3 2 5 -3 1

Mosi Rovers 4 0 1 3 1 10 -9 1

— @ZililoR