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JUST four days before FC Platinum’s coronation as the winners of the Castle Lager Premiership, for the fourth time on the trot, ZIFA accepted a US$2500 protest fee, challenging the validity of the champions’ latest conquest.
It didn’t generate headlines across a community consumed by the reality that Norman Mapeza’s men were set for another party, in what is becoming something of routine celebrations, in their hometown.
It’s not an easy feat, four champions on the bounce, and that only Dynamos and Highlanders, had done it before, told the whole story of the complexity, and brutality, of this assignment.
That FC Platinum were the best team in the league, especially once they got into the groove and, with the inevitable chaos erupting at Dynamos again, the path was cleared for them to again march to the fields of glory.
The Chibuku Super Cup final will be played at Barbourfields this weekend in what will officially bring down the curtain on the first full domestic season since the outbreak of Covid-19.
But, will the boardroom issues die with the end of the season?
A number of questions have to be answered:
By accepting Herentals’ US$2 500 protest fee on Tuesday, just days before FC Platinum’s coronation, did ZIFA open a window for the possibility that, in the event the Students win their boardroom battle, the outcome of the championship race could be altered?
Was the acceptance of the protest fee an acknowledgement by ZIFA that there was enough substance for Herentals to pursue their case, in which they claim FC Platinum used their player, Juan Mutudza, without following the proper laid down procedures?
Given that all the registration processes are done at ZIFA, aren’t they the authority who could, using the documents in their possession, made a ruling, that there were no prospects for their appeal to succeed and, by accepting the Students’ appeal fees, they provided them with a rainbow of hope that their case had some merits?
Was it then proper for the coronation to go ahead, as it did last Saturday, given all this cloud now hanging on the validity of the championship race which, by accepting the Herentals appeal fee, ZIFA have opened a window of possibility for this marathon to be decided in the boardroom?
The initial suspicion, within the domestic football scene, was that this whole process was an underhand attempt to try and help Dynamos win the league championship, by the back door, in the event FC Platinum were stripped of their points.
But, the Glamour Boys are no longer a factor, in all this since they ended in third place and, in the event Norman Mapeza’s men lose their points, the only beneficiary would be Chicken Inn, who finished second.
It’s a shadow which will loom large over the off-season.
Online Reporter