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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE Premier Soccer League governors have accused their chairman, Farai Jere, of making unilateral decisions that affect clubs without their input.
Governors accuse Jere, who is the league’s representative on the Zifa board and also a member of the Zifa emergency committee, of agreeing to “un-football like” decisions that affect clubs. Jere was part of the meeting that agreed to an upward review of referees’ fees from $270 to $700 for the centre official and match commissioner as well as $600 for the assistants and fourth official, up from $240.
The fees, which the PSL has rejected, were backdated to September 1.
The PSL governors were also angered by Zifa Referees’ Committee chairman, Bryton Malandule’s, revelations that they have begun engaging provinces and regions with a view to effecting changes for match fees for match officials in all lower tier leagues. Proposed changes in the lower tier are to be effected next year.
“Surely this is not an animal farm where some animals are more equal than others. They have the audacity to publicly state that they are consulting the provinces and the regions with regards to increase of match fees yet the PSL was never consulted. Unless if they did agree with the league chairman (Jere), but Jere has no right to agree to un-football like decisions without consulting fellow board members. As PSL governors, we are all leaders of our clubs and Jere mustn’t make decisions alone,” said a PSL governor.
“There is an element of disrespect shown to the PSL by Zifa because in as much as there is a need to review referees’ fees, they can’t impose on PSL. We (PSL) are also a key stakeholder in Zifa and we deserve the respect accorded to provinces and regions. That is why we ordered the CEO (Kennedy Ndebele) to write to Zifa and tell them we will not be paying the said fees.”
Another governor said some company teams seemed content with the increase of referees’ fees and are dormant in debates that affect community and individually-owned clubs.
“Big decisions require everyone’s input. The problem is that some governors are afraid of straight talk as well as victimisation, hence they choose to keep quiet and accept everything they’re told. Maybe it’s because these governors come from company teams where their companies simply foot the bills, but what about us who belong to the community who have to run around to make sure we get that last dollar to pay? What about individual teams? Did they consider that when they made their decisions?
“The good thing is that Jere is aware that the majority of the governors are not happy with him making unilateral decisions. He once did that when he agreed to a season change without consulting us. Even the lower leagues refused that,” said a governor.
Repeated efforts to get a comment from Jere and Malandule on the snub of the upward review of referees’ fees were fruitless. — @ZililoR
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