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Tadious Manyepo Sports Reporter
THE Castle Lager Premier League match between Sheasham and CAPS United might fail to take place after the former threatened to boycott the fixture in protest over the contentious ban of their home, Bata Stadium, by the PSL.
The game between Makepekepe and the Gweru side has been slated for Mandava on Sunday, where Sheasham have hosted their guests since the beginning of the season while they were working on renovating Bata Stadium.
The Gweru facility was subsequently cleared to host top-tier matches by the ZIFA First Instance Body two weeks ago.
That paved the way for Sheasham to host their first game at home against giants Highlanders a fortnight ago.
But they got the shock of their lives last week when the PSL informed them that Bata, which had opened its doors to top tier football after three decades, had been suspended from hosting Premiership matches.
That meant they would be forced to revert to Mandava, with the PSL this week releasing the fixtures confirming they would host Makepekepe in Zvishavane.
However, the club have questioned the motive behind the banning of Bata Stadium especially after the FIB, which is made up of grounds inspection experts, had okayed the staging of high-profile local matches.
That the stadium hosted the Bosso match without any disturbance even threw more questions on the sincerity of the PSL ban.
And the team have written back to the PSL chief executive Kenny Ndebele questioning the motivation behind the suspension of Bata Stadium.
“1. As you are aware our stadium was approved for use by the FIB following the inspection they did and on the 7th of May 2023 we hosted Highlanders FC without any incident.
“1.1 To our knowledge Highlanders did not lodge any complaint against the use of Bata Stadium, if they did may you favour us with the letter of complaint.
“We therefore are shocked on what basis would you seek to usurp the powers of FIB and reverse the approval of the use of our stadium when it is approved and hosted a match of the magnitude of Highlanders without any incident, “read the response.
“What makes it more disturbingly painful is that the purported reversal comes against the background of us being busy fulfilling the conditions imposed by the FIB.
“And we are still within the time limits set to fulfil the conditions. Highlanders FC having played at Bata Stadium and not having filed a formal complaint we therefore inquire the interest of stakeholders that you seek to protect.
“It is also interesting that the decision is made without providing us with an opportunity to make any representation before your arrival at that decision and neither do you provide us with detailed reasons for your decision.
“As you are aware we were on a short-term lease for use of Mandava Stadium and the lease expired following the approval of our own Stadium by FIB. FC Platinum had reluctantly acceded to the use of their stadium on the basis that we would get our stadium approved in April 2023 due to the fact that they have three teams using the stadium.
“Therefore, until we secure an alternative stadium, we are unable to host Caps United. Furthermore, your decision coming late as it did on 12/03/2023, it has serious budgetary implications and we will not be able to raise the funds immediately to play outside Bata Stadium as we had planned along that Bata is now our Home Stadium and we never anticipated a reversal of the FIB decision.
“Above all as you are aware our club president has written to ZIFA seeking clarification on the reversal of the approval of Bata Stadium. Therefore, until that clarification is made it difficult for us to fulfil our home matches outside Bata Stadium.”
The club has also written to the ZIFA acting chief executive Xolisani Gwesela seeking clarity.
PSL spokesperson Kudzi Bare told The Herald yesterday that they had received the letter from Sheasham which they were in the process of replying.
“We have received the letter from Sheasham and we are responding to them,” she said.
Online Reporter