Old Nic Mine face the chop over unpaid fees

Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
SOUTHERN Region Soccer League table anchors Old Nic Mine risk being booted out of the promotional league after being walked over four times in seven outings.

Black Boots became the fourth team in the championship after Hwange Juniors, Trumus and Indlovu Iyanyathela to get maximum points on a 3-0 scoreline against the gold miners on Saturday.

Old Nic Mine owe referees match day fees for four outings and the match officials are said to have taken a stand that they will not take up assignments involving the club until they are paid their outstanding allowances.

Division One Soccer League clubs part with $220 referees’ fees every time they play at home.

Tumediso Mokoena, Zifa Southern region board member said a meeting had been arranged with Old Nic Mine who were allowed back into the league even though they were relegated last season, to map the way forward. “As management, we’re worried that they’re struggling to pay referees. We don’t like this thing of teams being walked over but seeing that referees took a stand not to officiate their games until they pay, we hope they clear this sooner than later. We’re meeting them during the week and if we fail to find common ground then the board will have to decide whether to kick them out of the league or keep them,” Mokoena said.

By being walked over in four games, technically Old Nic Mine should be expelled from the league.

This means that just like last season, the league will run with a few teams.

Some of the clubs expressed disappointment about the awarding of maximum points to Black Boots when it was the match officials who decided not to turn-up for duty at Old Nic Mine.

Zifa are also worried that referees have become a law unto themselves, something that compromises the quality of competition in the promotional leagues.

“Certainly we’re worried that match officials have a stand alone board that we don’t have jurisdiction over. Something really needs to be done to address this issue because it’s not fair on teams that pay up when others that they compete with get free points,” said Mokoena.

Those free points garnered from the Old Nic Mine walkover took Black Boots’ points tally to 10, five behind table toppers ZPC Hwange who’ve played a game more than Black Boots.

ZPC Hwange took their unbeaten run to seven games and in the process remained the only team in the league yet to lose when they held Bulawayo Chiefs to a 1-1 draw at Raylton.

Proud Zireni was on target for Bulawayo Chiefs but ZPC Hwange’s perseverance paid off when they got an equaliser through Admire Sibanda towards the end of the match.

Bulawayo Chiefs are second on the table tied on 14 points with Bulawayo City who have an inferior goal difference.

Bulawayo City were 3-0 victors against visiting Hwange Juniors courtesy of goals from Xolisani Moyo and a brace by Humphrey “Muchichwa” Ncube.

Agent Sawu’s Ntabazinduna bounced back from a 1-2 midweek defeat against Black Boots to record a 2-0 win over Casymn.

Nokel Security Southern Region Soccer League top goalscorer for April James Chivasa scored both goals for Ntabazinduna.

Bekithemba “Super” Ndlovu’s Indlovu Iyanyathela handed Amagagasi their first defeat of the season when they beat them 2-1 in Victoria Falls.

Results

Saturday: Mpumalanga 0-0 Trumus, Bulawayo Chiefs1-1 ZPC Hwange, Bantu Rovers 1-0 Makomo FC, Technosphere 0-0 Nust, Bulawayo City 3-0 Hwange Juniors, Ntabazinduna 2-0 Casmyn, Old Nic Mine 0-3 Black Boots

Sunday: Amagagasi 1-2 Indlovu Iyanyathela

Southern Region Soccer League Table

P W D L F A GD Pts

ZPC Hwange 7 4 3 0 9 3 6 15

Bulawayo Chiefs 7 4 2 1 10 3 7 14

Bulawayo City 7 4 2 1 8 1 7 14

Ntabazinduna 7 4 1 2 11 6 5 13

Bantu Rovers 7 3 2 2 6 5 1 11

Makomo 7 3 2 2 6 5 1 11

Black Boots 6 3 1 2 9 5 4 10

Casmyn 7 3 1 3 5 8 -3 10

Amagagasi 6 2 3 1 7 6 1 9