admin
Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
FORMER Caps United dribbling menace Alois Bunjira has urged the Premier Soccer League not to present the Golden Boot Award this year, arguing that goals scored so far are too few.
The Golden Boot Winner gets $1,500 and Highlanders’ Charles Sibanda is on course to be the club’s third player to land the award since 1996.
The other two players from Highlanders to win the lethal boot award since 1996 are Zenzo Moyo, who won it in 2000 after scoring 21 goals and Ralph Matema in 2006 with 19 goals to his credit.
Evans Chikwaikwai, of now-defunct Njube Sundowns’ 23 goals scored in 2007, the same tally achieved by Bunjira in the 1990s has not been surpassed.
Writing on his Facebook wall, Bunjira the Golden Boot winner in 1996 with 23 goals suggested that the sponsors, Delta Beverages through their Castle Lager brand, should actually withdraw the award this season and add the prize money to next year’s.
“Our leading goal scorer is on 12 goals from 28 matches, two games to go, am I wrong to suggest that the sponsors should withdraw the award and add it to the one for next year,” asked Bunjira now an analyst with a local radio station.
He said the league should come up with a carrot and stick set up as a way of motivating players to score more goals.
“For example, the 2015 top scorer should score at least 20 goals and if they fail the award and prize money should roll over to 2016 until we have a top scorer on 20 goals or more,” said Bunjira.
Veteran journalist and football analyst Limukani Ncube said what was also interesting was that the leading marksman was not even an out and out striker.
“Charles is not even your number 9 yet he leads our charts. Something isn’t right somewhere with our strikers,” said Ncube.
However, PSL chief executive officer Kennedy Ndebele said cancelling the award this season was out of the question as they have a working document signed at the beginning of the year.
“These things are set at the start of the season. People must venture into finding out why we’ve fewer goals then we can talk to technical guys and come up with a solution to this. Yes we can always negotiate with sponsors to have some inducement like in South Africa but for now, we’re awarding the top goalscorer, regardless of the number of goals scored,” said Ndebele.
In South Africa the league set a target of 26 goals-plus which goes with a cheque of R100,000 but no one has been able to claim the prize in the last 10 years.
The closest to come to that was Zambian Collins Mbesuma who hit the nets 25 times in the 2003/4 season.
Last season, Kaizer Chiefs’ Bernard Parker was the top marksman with a paltry 10 goals, suggesting that the problem is not unique to Zimbabwe alone.
In Zambia, their reigning Golden Boot winner Nkana’s Ronald Sate Sate Kampamba scored 18 goals.
Last season, Tendai Ndoro grabbed the award with 18 goals, the same number scored by the 2012 winner Nelson Maziwisa in 2012.
In Europe’s major leagues like the Barclays Premiership and La Liga in Spain their leading marksmen, Sergio Aguero of Manchester City and Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid have already scored 10 and 17 goals respectively with just 10 matches into the season.
Online Reporter