adminRay Bande Senior Sports Reporter
MANY will agree that when we all grew up, we used to think that there will not be so many rules.
Back in elementary school, there were rules about what entrance you use in the morning, what door you use going home or when you could talk in the library.
Those who went to schools for the elite will attest that they had rules of how many paper towels one could use in the rest room and how many drinks of water one could get during recess.
More importantly, there was always somebody watching to make sure rules are followed.
Regrettably, what most of us are finding out about growing older is that there are just as many rules about lots of things and painfully, some rules, in their absurdity, militate against the desired or intended goals.
One such rule is the ineligibility of a player to be selected among the season’s best 11 if he accrues at least six yellow cards or two red cards or more during the season.
With all the glitz and glamour that came with the introduction of an electronic voting system whereby a panel of selectors, this author included, for the first time in the history of the process, used computers in a selection process that was witnessed and monitored by qualified auditors, the exclusion of some players owing to the number of cards they received remained a grey area on a predominantly white cloth.
Year in year out, after a fantastic and consistent display throughout the year, numerous players only find themselves nursing the pain, and at times, humiliation, of not being part of the soccer stars of the year finalists list, simply because they received six yellow cards or two red cards during the course of the season.
The objectives of the annual soccer awards fete include recognition of those who were exemplary both on and off the field of play, but above everything else the inclusion of a player on the soccer stars of the year list is a simple confirmation of an exceptional and consistent display during the season.
For example, in the just-ended season, ZPC Kariba’s Pride Tafirenyika was the stand out hub of creativity for Kauya Katuruturu, but owing to a diabolical rule, he was deemed ineligible for selection since the midfield magician had accrued more cards than those stipulated.
The list of those who went through the same experience from the past is just inexhaustible!
What renders the rule irrelevant is that on the field of play there are players whose positions demand more a physical approach to the game than others.
It needs no sports scientist to teach us that an effective anchorman cannot be expected to get the same number of cautions from match officials with those of an outright striker.
We are living in a global village, learning from the more developed is not only wise but inevitable hence the need to take a leaf from the world best player award — Ballon d’Or — rules and regulation. With all the yellow cards that he got last year, Tafirenyika was eligible for selection for the Ballon dOr, only that his talents, club, league and country cannot match the standards.
Refreshingly, the Castle Lager soccer stars of the year convener of selectors, Steve Vickers, conceded that the law needs to be revised with the aim of improving the credibility of the process.
“We are very happy with the way that things have gone in recent years. There is always room for improvement of course. The 2014 process broke new ground as voting was done electronically with the panellists using computers.
“This is a rule that we have looked at several times, as it is very significant in determining the final 11, as some leading contenders are ruled out on occasions. We would like to review the rule again, as some feel that it is a disadvantage for defenders,” said Vickers in a recent interview with this newspaper.
Zimbabwe soccer legend, Moses “Bambo” Chunga, is also of the same opinion as he sang from the same hymnbook, saying the yardstick of six yellow cards and two red cards which is used to disqualify some players from the soccer stars of the year selection is not only unfair, but also denies selectors from coming up with the real 11 best players of the season.
Apart from this absurd rule, the timing of the selection exercise is also a bone of contention.
Over the years, the selection process has always been conducted on a Saturday, a day before the final round of league matches.
While the misleading assumption is that selectors must have had made up their minds on who deserves to be on the calendar by the time the season reaches Matchday 29, the brutal truth about the game of football is that it’s never over until it’s over.
Only last season, Saul Chaminuka was voted as the coach of the year, simply because his ZPC Kariba project had done ‘enough’ to convince all and sundry that they would win the coveted title and come the final day of the season, he would finish off the Cinderella story they wrote since the start of the season.
Unexpected unto many, the next day, Kalisto Pasuwa made history, history that left many neutrals convinced that he deserved the gong.
Vickers agreed that timing is a challenge.
“This is a fair point. The constraint is that the sponsors, Castle Lager, need time to prepare for the soccer stars awards dinner, so we have to work within their time frame,” he said.
The Castle Lager soccer stars of the year convener of selectors added that the Under-20 player of the year award also needed to be broadened to accommodate runners-up.
“We would like to take this forward. We have had some very close contests for the Under-20 player of the year award, and it would be good to have awards for the runners-up in this category, rather than only the winner being recognised,” he added.
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