The ManicaPost
THE decision by the Premier Soccer League to reverse the approval of the use of Vengere Stadium in Rusape as a top flight league football match venue is a sad development.
Elsewhere in this newspaper, we extensively cover issues surrounding the recent approval of Vengere Stadium by Zifa FIB committee and the subsequent reversal of that decision by PSL.
Ironically, some of the renovation works that PSL still insists are not yet done at Vengere Stadium have already been covered and that explains why FIB approved the use of the match venue.
As the Vengere stadium drama unfolds before us, it is interesting to note that PSL is an affiliate of Zifa and how PSL then finds the clout to reverse a decision made by a committee appointed by Zifa to inspect Vengere Stadium is mind-boggling.
Surely, how can a committee, made up of qualified men, mandated to inspect grounds, a committee that included two officials from PSL, go on the ground to inspect the match venue, approve it and suddenly the PSL chief executive Kenny Ndebele overturns their decision from his office?
If this is not undermining the basic tenets of corporate governance, then nothing is!
After all is said and done, the biggest loser in all this fiasco is the game of football and not the egoistic personalities we see flexing muscles.
It is the people of Mutare and Manicaland that now have to make do with a Premiership team they call their own but will hardly ever have a chance to watch it on the field of play as Manica Diamonds continue playing their home games some 300km away from home at Gibo Stadium in Triangle.
Lest we forget, this is not the first time that the people of Manicaland have been subjugated when it comes to hosting Castle Lager Premier Soccer League matches.
At one point, the now defunct Mutare based Eastern Lions had a torrid time to get approval to use Sakubva Stadium back then as football politics prevailed over the good of the game.
What is crystal clear to us this time around, just like in the past experiences with Sakubva Stadium, is the fact that there is more to this Vengere Stadium drama than meets the eye.
While we all appreciate the need to meet and maintain world class standards of our football match venues in line with the Fifa Club Licensing demands, we still have unanswered questions over the stadium inspection criterion.
After all, why does it always have to be about Manicaland and would this be happening if the match venue in question was Luveve Stadium or Rufaro Stadium?
Is there no room for top flight football authorities to show appreciation even when effort and determination by local authorities to improve facilities has been displayed?
Given the effort put in the refurbishment of Vengere Stadium by Rusape Town Council, it is clear that there is more to the continued ban of Vengere Stadium than just simple football matters.
What the PSL might not have realized is that maintaining heavy handedness on Vengere Stadium even after extensive renovations by Rusape Town Council, they have set a wrong precedent that might result in local authorities seeing no value in refurbishing their sports facilities.
Rusape Town Council — a smaller local authority in almost every aspect compared to their counterparts in cities like Mutare — went out of its way to spruce up Vengere Stadium but still some offices do not see the need to reward the council by at least allowing them to host Premiership football matches.
We sincerely hope that when the dust finally settles, the beautiful game of football will be the winner.
